CEO to CEO.
Q: How do you maintain confidentiality of member information, and what responsibility does an organization have to do so?Our policy is that we do not release any names, addresses, or telephone numbers to the public. All information in our database is confidential. There are requests from organizations for mailing lists, which we sell for a minimal fee. The organization signs an agreement not to use the lists except for its original purpose. We do not send out any e-mail addresses. An association has the responsibility of maintaining confidential member information. There should be a policy that all staff members are familiar with so that any requests from external sources will be handled in a manner consistent with policy.
John S. Jordan, CAE Executive Vice President and Chief Executive Officer. Pennsylvania Academy of Family Physicians, Harrisburg; jjordan@pafp.com
We are a small, statewide organizational membership, and as such desire as much visibility as possible due to our relationship with the state government. Therefore the requirement for confidentiality is minimal. Our registry is on the Internet with basic information accessible to the public, which is advantageous to the members for marketing. From our perspective, not releasing certain information that we collect (payroll, budget, etc.) is the way we maintain its confidential nature.
Janice C. Rossi Executive Director, North Carolina Association of Rehabilitation Facilities, Raleigh; jrossi@ncarf.com
Confidentiality is extremely important to our members. They are small-business people who often provide us with sensitive information about their operations so that we may compile, consolidate, and analyze industry trends. We make confidentiality of sensitive member information a matter of culture. We do not release any individual member's information to anyone. Associations depend on information and have a responsibility to protect that information and ensure that it is used only as the member understood it would be used.
Michael Molino, CAE President, Recreation Vehicle Dealers Association, Fairfax, Virginia; mmolino@rvda.org
In today's environment, members expect that their information will be kept confidential, and it is our responsibility to make sure that their expectations are met. We have incorporated instructions on the handling of members' information into the association's Policies & Procedures Manual, which clearly outline not only how the information is handled once it is received but also lists who has access to the information. We also constantly remind employees that all information that they come across in their official capacity is confidential and is the property of the association.
Horacio Gavilan Executive Director, Association of Hispanic Advertising Agencies, McLean, Virginia; hgavilan@ahaa.org
As a trade association, we have a very real responsibility to maintain the confidentiality of member information. Trade associations allow competitors to come together to resolve industry problems and expand industry markets. These competitors must have confidence that information that they provide to the association on a confidential basis will not reach anyone else. Maintaining this confidence is critical in maintaining current members and developing new members. Once gained, such confidence will extend to other areas of the association's work and will forge stronger bonds between staff and members, which will ultimately increase our successes.
We maintain confidentiality by having specific written policies on how information will be handled, who will see it, how it will be maintained, how long it will be retained, and how it will be disposed of. We then make sure that we consistently follow these policies.
Rich Gottwald Executive Director. Plastics Pipe Institute, Washington. D.C.; rgottwald@plasticpipe.org
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| Title Annotation: | maintaining confidentiality of association member information |
|---|---|
| Publication: | Association Management |
| Article Type: | Brief Article |
| Geographic Code: | 1USA |
| Date: | Sep 1, 2002 |
| Words: | 576 |
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