How to protect your charity from cybercrime

As a result of the pandemic, the last few years have seen charities rely more heavily on digital operations, including fundraising.

While digital fundraising is a quick, easy and effective way of soliciting donations, it brings with it an increased risk of cybercrime.

The evidence

Recent research from the Charity Commission found that, one in eight charities experienced a cyber-attack in 2022. This is a 38% increase on the previous year. The survey also highlighted a lack of awareness from charities of the risks they face, with just over 24% having a formal policy in place to manage them.

Cyber-attacks affecting a charity's services, funds, or compromising the sensitive data of donors can be devastating financially and reputationally, so, it’s crucial that charities protect themselves.

Types of cyber fraud

Phishing

Phishing is where cyber criminals, also known as hackers, use fake emails or text messages to trick users into sharing personal information such as bank details. Phishing attacks are often part of an impersonation scam i.e., criminals pretend to be real businesses to tempt people into sending money. 

If you or one of your staff click on a link in a phishing message, it will take you to a fake website. Viruses can then be downloaded onto your computer or mobile phone. A virus is malicious computer code that can corrupt systems, destroy data, or steal passwords.

Once your computer is infected, criminals can steal money from your charity. They can also access information such as donor email addresses and phone numbers.

How to spot phishing messages

• Check the sender details in the message as it could be a spoof email pretending to be from a genuine person. Look for spelling alterations in the name, email address or website domain name

• Check for grammar and spelling errors. They can indicate it’s not from a legitimate organisation

• If the message includes a link, hover over it, but don't click, so you can see the preview of the site it’s sending you to

• If it looks too good to be true, it probably is. Hackers will try to hook you in with irresistible offers

This article from IT Governance provides some handy tips and advice of what to look out for, along with some real-life examples.

Malware

Malware is malicious software that can destroy, damage, or exploit computer systems.
There are various types of malware including:

Viruses

A virus is malicious software that attaches itself to a computer attachment or file. It stays dormant until the attachment/file is opened. It can then spread throughout your computer system causing damage and data loss.

Viruses can be spread by scam email and text message attachments, and internet and app downloads.

Signs that your computer has been infected by a virus

• Your PC runs slowly and programmes take a long time to open

• It regularly freezes or programmes crash

You get unexpected pop-up windows that encourage you to visit unusual websites

Unknown programs start when you switch on your computer

Ransomware

Cyber criminals use ransomware to lock a device or steal information. They then demand a ransom to restore access or return the information. Payment is usually demanded via a crypto currency such as Bitcoin.

Ransomware can spread in various ways. Methods include clicking on malicious links in an email or using an infected USB flash drive.

A famous example of ransomware is the 2017 WannaCry attack. It targeted computers running the Microsoft Windows operating system. Users were told to pay Bitcoin to get access to their computer systems, effectively shutting down operations for many organisations.

Signs of ransomware

• You receive suspicious emails that show signs of criminal activity (see the phishing section above for more information)

• New file extensions are added to the end of your file names

• Your computer is locked with a message demanding a ransom

The Government’s Cyber Essentials website has useful tips for defending against an attack, including securing your online connection with a secure firewall, ensuring devices are set to secure, using strong passwords, two-factor authentication, and encryption.

Educate yourself

One of the most effective ways of looking after your cyber security is to educate yourself and your team about the different tactics of cyber criminals.  

There’s lots of information, advice and free cyber security training on the National Cyber Security Centre website. There’s more advice and recommendations in the NCSC’s Cyber Threat Report for the charity sector.  

Looking for a savvy fundraiser who can sniff out a scam? We’ve got you covered. Give us a call on 020 3750 3111 or email us at info@bamboofundraising.co.uk to get the ball rolling.

Social Media Fundraising: Part One

If you’re new to social media fundraising, or you don’t have a digital bod on your fundraising team, listen up!

Over the coming months, we’re going to publish a series of posts to equip you with the tools and knowledge you need to succeed at social media fundraising. We’ll look at the demographics, pros and cons, and fundraising capabilities of each platform, and help you figure out which one/s to use for your fundraising campaigns.

While we’re at it, we’ll highlight some successful campaigns to get your creative juices flowing.

But before that, let’s look at why social media is an indispensable tool for charities.

Did you know that there are 4.7 billion social media users worldwide, spending a combined ten billion hours on social media every day? Or that 350,000 Tweets are sent every minute on Twitter, users spend an average of 2 hours and 31 minutes on Facebook every day, and 40% of LinkedIn users visit the site every day?

It’s hard to get your head around the numbers, isn’t it? But one thing’s for sure. With that many people at your virtual fingertips, you’d be foolish not to utilise social media as part of your fundraising strategy, particularly if you consider that 55% of people that interact with charities end up taking some sort of action, and 59% of these individuals go on to donate.

The benefits of social media

If the numbers haven’t convinced you of the importance of social media as a fundraising tool, maybe the benefits will.

Here are just a few of the many things social media enables charities to do:

• Raise awareness: with more than half of the world's population active on social media, it’s safe to say your charity has the potential to reach a LOT of new donors for little to no cost.

• Demonstrate impact: the power of social media lies in its potential for storytelling. Using photos and videos to show your charity in action and tell the stories of your beneficiaries is a powerful way to show donors how their money is helping your organisation achieve its mission.

• Non-targeted fundraising: unlike direct mail, social media is a great way to share information about your organisation and ask for donations without donors feeling like they’re being targeted or solicited.

• Forge emotional connections: text on a page is great for getting information across, but images, videos and human reactions bring the scope of your work to life. Potential volunteers are more likely to get involved if they can picture the people they will help. And donations will be more forthcoming if people can identify with the human angle – the idea that their donation could help someone like them/their mum/child/friend.

• Generate income: Facebook has a suite of free fundraising tools to help you collect donations and enable supporters to fundraise on your behalf.

Final Word

Now you know why you should be utilising social media for fundraising; we’ll move on to how you can utilise it. Keep an eye on the Bamboo blog for the next post!

Don’t forget, if you’re looking for a digital whizz to help you manage your social media fundraising, we can help. Give us a call on 020 3750 3111 or info@bamboofundraising.co.uk to find out more.

Good Jobs Project

As we all know, the UK is faced with multiple social and environmental crises, from the cost-of-living crisis to climate change. Most of the proposed solutions focus on the role of government and charities, but few focus on the role business can play.

The ReGenerate Trust aims to find purpose-driven opportunities for business to play its part in tackling a range of societal issues, from housing shortages and poverty to modern slavery, by delivering solutions through a profitable model.

The Good Jobs Project

One of the charity’s initiatives, the Good Jobs Project, aims to tackle the UK’s labour shortage.

The problem

UK businesses have a record 1.3 million vacancies, following the effects of Covid-19, Brexit and the ‘great resignation’.

The aim of the Good Jobs Project is to fill some of these vacancies with people who have been frozen out of the job market due to social or geographic barriers (i.e., people that are living in poverty, or are sustained by the UK’s social safety net).

The goals of the Good Jobs Project

1. To identify opportunities for businesses to increase their positive contribution to society by recruiting individuals that are overlooked in hiring processes. This includes people in caring roles, single-parents, ex-offenders, people with disabilities, long-term illnesses, and many others.

2. To raise awareness of the opportunities available to stakeholders, including businesses, civil society groups, the government, investors, and the individuals themselves.

3. To inspire the government and investors to incentivise businesses to take advantage of the opportunity.

4. To establish baseline statistics that demonstrate the potential impact that businesses could have through recruiting those with social barriers to work.

ReGenerate are launching a large-scale research and market activation project, to identify ways that businesses can be incentivised and supported to recruit from these disadvantaged groups.

How you can help

The goals of the project are supported by a wide range of organisations, from businesses to charities. Want to show your support? There are several ways you can do so:

1) Share your thoughts.
2) Participate in interviews or focus groups.
3) Partner on the project and provide funding.
4) Add your logo to demonstrate your support for the project goals.

Final Word

At Bamboo, we’re passionate about helping people from marginalised communities get into work. In our opinion, the Good Jobs Project is an innovative way to achieve this, while generating a fresh labour pool for sectors struggling to hire. It’s a win-win!

To share your thoughts on the initiative, or sign up for an interview or focus group, email harry.brown@re-generate.org

Amazon Axes AmazonSmile

Is your charity signed up to AmazonSmile? If so, and you didn’t get the memo, we hate to be the bearers of bad news, but the online shopping giant has announced it’s scrapping the scheme, as of February 20.

In an email to customers, the retailer said AmazonSmile, (an online donation service which enables shoppers to donate to a charity of their choice when making purchases), “had not grown to create the impact that we had originally hoped,” adding “with so many eligible organisations — more than 1 million globally — our ability to have an impact was often spread too thin.”

A financial blow

Amazon’s announcement has left thousands of local and national UK charities wondering how they are going to replace the funding which has been a lifeline, particularly amid the backdrop of the cost-of-living crisis.

Two charities that have relied on the extra income stream are the RSPCA, and the Royal British Legion, who raised £430,000 and £310,000 respectively, through the scheme.

The good news

However, it’s not all doom and gloom. For one thing, Amazon has pledged to provide participating AmazonSmile charities with a one-time donation equivalent to three months of what they earned in 2022 through the programme (to help with the transition).

Secondly, there’s a plethora of other brands that provide a similar service.

Here’s a few for starters:

easyfundraising

easyfundraising has raised over £43 million for thousands of causes across the U.K since launching in 2005.

The brand makes money through affiliate marketing. The brand has over 7,000 retail partners, including John Lewis, M&S, Expedia, Amazon, eBay, and all the major supermarkets. Each time a sale is made through the easyfundraising website, the retail partner pays them a commission, at least 50% of which is passed on to a charity of the shopper’s choice.

Charities can register on the site, and it’s free to use. Providing they have raised over £15, easyfundraising totals up all the donations raised by those supporting every three months and sends them by bank transfer or cheque. There’s no charge for this. If £15 hasn’t been raised in the previous three months, the amount rolls into the next payment.

FundUgive2

This unique company is putting a charitable spin on the mortgage market.

FundUgive2 offers free advice to help clients re-mortgage and save money.

The best part? When customers re-mortgage through them, the organisation donates 25% of the fees they receive from lenders to a charity of the customer’s choice.

They make the donations through Work for Good, which is free for charities to sign up to.

Charitable Travel

Charitable Travel is a social enterprise travel agency. They donate around half of the commission they make on each holiday to charity. Customers can also choose to donate 5% of their holiday price to a charity of their choice, providing it is registered on JustGiving. Once the donation has been paid, the organisation discounts the cost of their holiday by 5%, effectively making the customer’s donation free.

The organisation also offers a range of marketing and promotional opportunities for its charity partners (including free promotion in its magazine).

Looking for a talented fundraiser to help you identify alternative income streams? We can help. Give us a call on 020 3750 3111 to get the process started!

Are you a Disability Confident Employer?

Over 7.7 million people of working age in the UK are disabled or have a health condition.

Many of them are more than able to work, but the disability employment gap (which measures the difference between the employment rate of disabled people, compared to that of non-disabled people) is sitting at 29%, meaning that more than two million qualified candidates are missing out on job opportunities, and employers are missing out on top talent.

Industry leaders

The good news is research shows that charities have consistently been ahead of the pack when it comes to recruiting disabled workers. The number of disabled people employed in the charity sector has risen from 14.1% to 20.6% in the last decade. Compared to a 15.4% average across other sectors in the UK.

The stats are encouraging but there’s room for improvement …

Want to improve the stats andwiden your candidate pool? You can start by becoming a disability confident employer.

The Disability Confident Scheme

The Disability Confident scheme is a free, voluntary government initiative designed to support organisations in employing and retaining disabled people.

Developed by employers and disabled people’s representatives, it was introduced to increase understanding of and challenge attitudes towards disability and remove barriers to ensure disabled people are able to reach their full potential in the workplace.

The scheme has three levels of accreditation. All employers start at Level 1 and progress through the others at their own pace.

Level 1: Disability Confident Committed

Level 2: Disability Confident Employer

Level 3: Disability Confident Leader

The benefits of becoming Disability Confident

Encouraging applications can help you to:

• Increase the number of high-quality applicants applying for roles

• Create a workforce that reflects the diverse range of customers it serves and the community in which it is based

• Improve staff morale, commitment, and loyalty by demonstrating that you treat all employees fairly

Simply put, being Disability Confident could help you discover someone your business just can’t do without.

How to make your recruitment process more accessible

If you want to find out more about the scheme and sign up, you can do so here. In the meantime, here are a few things you can do to make your recruitment process more accessible.

Ensure your hiring staff have disability awareness training

Unconscious bias can come into play when assessing or interviewing applicants with disabilities. By providing appropriate training, you’ll reduce the likelihood of discrimination.

Training can also avoid staff unintentionally offending disabled applicants by using inappropriate language and/or etiquette.

It goes without saying, if you’re using a recruiter, it’s important they understand the disability employment market.

Make it clear you want a diverse workforce

Disabled people might be put off applying for jobs over concerns that their accessibility needs won’t be met during the interview process, so make it clear in your job adverts that you’ll make adjustments where needed.

Make your job adverts accessible

It’s important that people with disabilities can read your job ads, so make sure they’re posted on websites that are compatible with screen readers. If you don’t, your ads will be inaccessible to some applicants, (such as those with sight impairments). You should also make the information available in different formats such as audio format, braille, and large print.

Make the interview accessible

Ahead of the interview process, ask applicants if they have any access requirements and make adjustments as necessary. And if the interview involves a test, be clear about what is involved and ensure candidates have access to any adjustments they might need (e.g., dyslexic candidates may need extra time, sight impaired candidates may need assistive technology). This will ensure no-one is unfairly disadvantaged.

Here are some things to consider:

Create an accessible environment

Is your building accessible? Do you have an access ramp? Are there any stairs people in wheelchairs or with vision impairment should be aware of? Is the physical space for the interview large enough to welcome a person in a wheelchair?

If there are barriers for wheelchair users, can you conduct the interview by video call instead?

Provide a quiet area for candidates to wait before the interview

A quiet waiting area can help people with disabilities feel more at ease. Candidates with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD), for example, can be sensitive to noise and their surroundings. A bustling waiting room could make them uncomfortable, which is not going to put them in the right mindset to ace an interview.

Offer the opportunity to break

For some people with disabilities, concentrating for long periods of time can be challenging. So let them know at the beginning of the interview that they can ask for a break whenever they need one.

Final Word

Recruiting disabled staff isn’t an act of charity - it’s what smart employers are doing to get ahead of the competition.

We have a diverse pool of candidates ready and willing to help your charity grow. Call us on 0203 750 3111 to discuss your requirements.