Best Practices Make Perfect
Finally, you'll want to ensure that you and your partners meet the Payment Card Industry Data Security Standard. This standard, developed by Visa and MasterCard and endorsed by many other payment vendors, requires merchants and member service providers who store, process or transmit cardholder data to:
- Build and maintain a secure network;
- Protect cardholder data;
- Maintain a vulnerability-management program;
- Implement strong access-control measures; and
- Regularly monitor and test networks.
In terms of privacy, best practices often come down to good ethical practices. Let your donors know you will not sell their e-mail address or continue to send them e-mail solicitation if they request to be removed from your list. Place a "permission to e-mail" or an "opt-in/opt-out" check box on the forms they complete so you can keep track of who wants to hear from you via e-mail, and who would rather not.
If you would like to make your organization's commitment to online best practices and ethical standards more public, you can join other nonprofit organizations and the ePhilanthropy Foundation in signing a petition that supports the secure, private and ethical use of the Internet for philanthropic purposes. You can find that petition online at www.petitiononline.com/Ethics/petition.html.
Jackie Christensen is the ePhilanthropy specialist at Campagne Associates. Reach her via www.campagne.com.
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- Campagne Associates
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