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  • 1.  sharing donation amount?

    Posted 06-04-2024 08:32 AM

    Hello everyone,

    I have a situation that is questioning a long standing policy my organization has held up for years and would love your professional input!

    A fund was set up in the name of a living professor who is a director of a center at our school.  This fund has NO association with his center, it is a fellowship that is in his honor. This professor is actively soliciting donations for the fund from his friends and connections, but he does not over see the spending of the fund and it is not tied to his center or the center's budget. Currently, we inform the professor when a donation has been made to the fund sharing the name and contact information of the donor for stewardship purposes, but we are NOT sharing the gift amount.  Every organization I have worked with has operated under the policy of we share "who donated but not how much", and this is the policy of my current organization.

    What do your organizations do in this situation?  Do you share gift amounts?  

    Thanks so much!

    Molly



    ------------------------------
    Molly Kaszuba
    New York Law School
    mollykaszuba@gmail.com
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  • 2.  RE: sharing donation amount?

    Posted 06-04-2024 09:02 AM
    Your policy is correct as it is tied directly to the Donor Bill of Rights. Donors have the right to know their donations will be kept confidential (Article VI.). In fact, some organizations go one step further and do not share contact information unless plans to do so are mentioned at the outset.

    John

    John H. Taylor, Principal
    John H. Taylor Consulting, LLC
    2604 Sevier Street
    Durham, NC     27705

    919.816.5903 (cell/text)

    Serving the Advancement Community Since 1987




    Original Message


  • 3.  RE: sharing donation amount?

    Posted 06-04-2024 10:03 AM
    Thanks John.  Do you know which law the Donor Bill of Rights refers to?  Section VI. states "To be assured that information about their donation is handled with respect and with confidentiality to the extent provided by law." I checked the 2023 IRS  Charitable Contributions Tax Exempt and Government Entities EXEMPT ORGANIZATIONS Substantiation and Disclosure Requirements documentation, but can't find a section that refers to confidentiality. 

    This would be so helpful as an outside consultant at a huge consulting firm disagreed that this was part of the Donor Bill of Rights! (Which left me speechless.)

    Thanks!

    --
    Molly Kaszuba

    262-490-7425



    Original Message


  • 4.  RE: sharing donation amount?

    Posted 06-04-2024 10:16 AM
    It is a generic reference in the Donor Bill of Rights for over 50 years. It is intended to address any state or federal laws that might exist.

    The accepted norm is that specific donor amounts are never shared without the donor's specific (not implied) permission.

    John

    John H. Taylor, Principal
    John H. Taylor Consulting, LLC
    2604 Sevier Street
    Durham, NC     27705

    919.816.5903 (cell/text)

    Serving the Advancement Community Since 1987





    Original Message


  • 5.  RE: sharing donation amount?

    Posted 06-04-2024 11:08 AM
    Molly, the "to the extent provided by law" is a limiter, saying that privacy will not be maintained in the face of laws requiring disclosure. An example of a mandated disclosure is the requirement to disclose to the IRS the names of donors giving $5k+, or recent laws in CA and NY (since repealed) that required disclosures to the State AG.

    The tricky part is that the Donor Bill of Rights doesn't address operational issues with regard to confidentiality. Revealing contribution information to an active fundraiser may not be considered a breach, even if that fundraiser is a professor, rather than a member of Advancement. That may be why your consultant disagreed on the applicability of the Donor Bill of Rights. I've found that there can be a pretty wide disparity between the official privacy statements of organizations and their internal controls. Public privacy statements typically do not go into what will get shared internally with board and staff, and to the extent that they do, they typically reserve the right to share as broadly as deemed necessary, internally. However, internal policies typically restrict donor information much more tightly.

    I think what your case demonstrates is the importance of documented policies, both internal and external, to address likely cases that arise. 


    Thank you,
    Isaac Shalev
    Data Strategy Expert
    Sage70, Inc.
    (917) 859-0151
    isaac@sage70.com

    Schedule a 30-minute consultation now:





    Original Message


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