Industry Overview
Key metrics and compliance landscape.
Key Challenges
Critical security and compliance threats facing your industry.
Grant Compliance & Audit Requirements
Federal grants (HHS, DOJ, NSF) and major foundations require documented cybersecurity controls, incident response plans, and data protection policies. Nonprofits without compliance programs fail grant audits, trigger clawback provisions, lose future funding eligibility. Grants representing 40-70% of annual budget at risk. Real example: Social services nonprofit ($12M budget, 75% grant-funded) received $3M HHS grant audit finding "material weakness" in IT controls, placed grant in jeopardy, required remediation within 90 days or face funding suspension.
Donor Data Protection & PCI DSS Compliance
Nonprofits process millions in credit card donations but lack PCI DSS compliance programs. One credit card data breach triggers $50K-$500K in fines, forensic investigation costs, donor notification expenses, and permanent reputation damage. Major donors stop giving, fundraising campaigns collapse. Real example: Animal rescue nonprofit processed 12,000 transactions annually, stored full credit card numbers in unencrypted MySQL database with default admin password. Breach exposed 8,500 donor cards. Total cost: $850K (21% of annual budget). Fundraising dropped 35% following year.
Limited IT Budgets & Resource Constraints
Nonprofits allocate 5-10% of budgets to IT (vs 15-20% commercial average) due to donor pressure for "program spend." Understaffed IT departments (often 1-2 people for 50-200 employees), no dedicated security role, reliance on volunteers or part-time contractors. Security treated as luxury, not necessity. One breach costs 2-3x annual IT budget. Real example: Youth nonprofit (135 employees, $8M budget, 1 IT director) suffered ransomware attack. Paid $45K ransom plus $125K total incident cost (31% of annual IT budget). Lost 2 months of productivity.
Volunteer & Remote Workforce Security
Nonprofits rely heavily on volunteers (often 2-5x paid staff) and remote workers using personal devices to access donor databases, client information, financial systems. No onboarding security training, no device management, weak passwords, shared credentials. One compromised volunteer laptop exposes 10,000+ donor records. Real example: Environmental advocacy nonprofit (40 staff, 200 volunteers) gave volunteers access to donor CRM with 50,000 contacts. One volunteer laptop stolen from car (no encryption) contained Excel file with 5,000 donor records. Total cost: $335K including breach notification and lost $250K annual donor.
Regulatory Landscape
Mandatory and recommended frameworks with enforcement context.
Audit: Annual Self-Assessment Questionnaire (SAQ) for Level 4; Quarterly Approved Scanning Vendor (ASV) scans; Annual onsite audit for Level 1-2
Audit: Annual A-133 audit for organizations expending >$750K in federal funds; Program-specific audits; Grant compliance reviews
Recommended Solutions
Services mapped to your industry's specific challenges.
Proven Outcomes
Real results from organizations in your industry.
Social services nonprofit ($12M budget, 75% grant-funded, failed A-133 audit) achieved grant-compliant security program in 75 days, passed follow-up audit with zero findings, retained $3M HHS grant, qualified for additional $1.5M federal grant. Investment: $18,500. ROI: 243:1.
Animal rescue nonprofit ($4M donations, 8,500 credit cards breached) implemented payment tokenization, achieved PCI DSS Level 3 compliance, passed acquiring bank audit, restored donor confidence, recovered 90% of lapsed donors within 18 months. Investment: $10,000. ROI: 35:1.
Community foundation ($15M assets, 80% backup tapes failed) implemented cloud backup with automated daily testing, documented 4-hour RTO, successfully restored entire infrastructure during DR test, passed IRS audit, maintained accreditation. Investment: $8,500. ROI: 21:1.