Legal Topics in Nonprofit Technology

Erin McClarty

Legal topics I'll Cover

• Privacy
• Security
• IP
• Other Concerns
• Workarounds

Scope
Not to make you a legal expert.
Each slide includes the topics triggers, concerns and why it matters.

What is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit
- 501(c)(3) is a federal tax exemption
-nonprofit refers to the state entity

Privacy
What information to collect, keep private, and when?

Privacy

• Trigger: Collecting personal/sensitive info.
• Concerns: Keep info private and secure
• Why it matters: State & International privacy laws
• Comes Up: With newsletters, user accounts, payment processing.

Security
How to keep sensitive info private.

Security

• Trigger: Collecting sensitive or confidential info.
• Concern: Protecting, maintaining secrecy, access in the right hand.
• Why it Matters: State and Fed. security law. Can lose protection if not reasonable.
• Comes Up With: Hosting, donations, service databases.

Intellectual Property

Intellectual Property

• Trigger: The creation or use of something.
• Concerns: Ownership, rights to use where not owned.
• Why it Matters: State and Fed. IP protection. Private claims for violation.
• Comes Up With: Website creation, interface customizations

Other Concerns

Other Concerns

• Think about who, what, when, where, why
• Trade/export
• What demographic accesses the technology?
• How is the technology used?

Workarounds

Workarounds

• Use Opt-in's and collect what's needed.
• Use current technology
• Policies and contracts
• Embed work-flows and approvals into technology.

The End