Nonprofit Compliance
Compliance for Nonprofits
Grant compliance, PCI-DSS for donation processing, state data protection laws, and IRS record retention — nonprofits face a growing web of compliance requirements. BrightWorks IT helps you build and document the policies, controls, and procedures your organization needs to stay compliant and keep funding flowing.
Compliance Requirements Nonprofits Can't Ignore
Nonprofits face compliance obligations from multiple directions — and the penalties for non-compliance include lost funding, legal liability, and damaged reputation.
Grant Compliance
Federal and state grants increasingly require documented data security plans, access controls, encryption policies, and incident response procedures. Failure to meet these requirements risks current funding and disqualifies you from future grants. Some grants include clawback provisions for non-compliance.
PCI-DSS for Donation Processing
If your organization processes credit card donations — online, by phone, or at events — PCI-DSS compliance applies. This means specific requirements for network security, access controls, encryption, vulnerability management, and security policies. Non-compliance can result in fines of $5,000–$100,000 per month.
State Data Protection Laws
All 50 states have data breach notification laws. Many states have enacted comprehensive privacy laws that apply to nonprofits handling personal information. If you have donors, volunteers, or beneficiaries in multiple states, you may need to comply with multiple regulatory frameworks.
HIPAA (Healthcare Nonprofits)
Nonprofits that provide healthcare services, mental health counseling, or substance abuse treatment must comply with HIPAA. This requires specific technical safeguards for electronic protected health information (ePHI), including encryption, access controls, audit logging, and business associate agreements.
IRS Record Retention
The IRS requires nonprofits to retain financial records, 990 filings, employment tax records, and donation receipts for specific periods — typically 3–7 years. Your data backup and retention policies must ensure these records are preserved, accessible, and protected from alteration.
Board Fiduciary Obligations
Board members have a fiduciary duty of care that extends to technology governance. Demonstrating that your organization has documented IT policies, security controls, and compliance procedures protects board members personally and the organization legally.
How BrightWorks IT Helps Nonprofits Stay Compliant
We build the policies, implement the controls, and produce the documentation — so you can prove compliance to grantors, auditors, and your board.
Policy Development & Documentation
We develop comprehensive IT policies tailored to your organization — acceptable use, data protection, incident response, remote access, BYOD, password requirements, and data retention. These policies are written in plain language and formatted for board approval.
Security Control Implementation
Policies are only useful if the corresponding technical controls are actually in place. We implement encryption, access controls, MFA, audit logging, data loss prevention, and network segmentation — then document each control for compliance evidence.
Grant Compliance Reporting
We produce the documentation grantors require — data security plans, access control matrices, backup verification reports, and incident response procedures. When audit time comes, you have everything organized and ready.
PCI-DSS Readiness
For nonprofits processing credit card donations, we assess your current PCI compliance posture, remediate gaps, help you complete your Self-Assessment Questionnaire (SAQ), and implement the technical controls required to maintain compliance year over year.
Compliance Documentation We Provide
Every compliance engagement produces tangible, auditor-ready documentation. These aren't generic templates — they're specific to your organization's systems, data, and risk profile.
Written Information Security Policy (WISP)
Incident response plan with communication templates
Data retention and disposal policy
Access control matrix for staff, volunteers, and board members
Backup verification and disaster recovery test reports
PCI-DSS Self-Assessment Questionnaire (SAQ) completion
Annual security risk assessment report
Nonprofit Compliance — FAQ
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