While a church records management policy can assist you in the efficient use of the records, it should also guide you in the ethical use of those records. You have record of people’s financial giving and other personal details. Privacy must be guarded. Keeping people’s information confidential is an issue of respect.
Keeping records confidential means:
1) You only share their records on a need to know basis.
2) You do not otherwise give out information without their express permission.
3) You guard any lists of personal data from being accessed by anyone outside of the church.
The Steering the Church Toward Christ-like Character Leadership Guide provides examples for each of the above points and also briefly reflects on how confidentiality guards against the misuse of their information.
For More on These Topics:
All Posts about Records and Reporting:
- Record Keeping & Reporting: Measure Your Objectives
- Record Keeping & Reporting: Keep Pulse on Body
- Record Keeping & Reporting: Facilitate Ministry
- Record Keeping & Reporting: Assess Growth
- Church Records Management
- Transparency in Church Records Management
- Confidentiality in Church Records Management
- Responsibility in Church Records Management
- We’ve Been Hacked!
- Record Keeping & God’s Power?
- Record Keeping Based on Human Wisdom
- Records & Reporting Point Back to God’s Grace?
- Record Keeping & Reporting Kept in Check by God’s Grace
- Records Keeping & Spiritual Gifts
- Record Keeping That’s Not Mundane
- Lay It All Before the Lord
- Meaningful Record Keeping
- Whether Good or Bad, Make Records about the Name of the Lord
- Records and Reports from the Resurrection
- Record Keeping Precedence in the Word
- How Biblical Leadership Roles Affect Record Keeping
- Are You a Good Example in the Use of Church Records?
- Records Don’t Lie But …
Is there any GAAP, or standard written policy about confidentiality of donor records? So that if someone wants that info how to respond.
Lucy, I am not an expert in this area so I am not sure where to point you to for a GAAP, standard written policy about confidentiality of donor records. I don’t know that a book like Wiley Not-for-Profit GAAP: Interpretation and Application of Generally Accepted Accounting Principles would have an actual written policy on confidentiality in it (link takes you to an affiliate store). You might want to check with an accounting firm familiar with church finances.
Personally I believe abiding by GAAP is the minimum churches should do, though not all churches, especially small churches, concern themselves with it. Most financial statements within the church are for internal use, not published to outside interests, unless an audit by an outside firm is needed for lending purposes or the like. But, regardless, churches should maintain a high code of ethics that addresses confidentiality. It should be part of a church’s policies whether or not an official GAAP, standard written policy can be found. — “For we are taking pains to do what is right, not only in the eyes of the Lord but also in the eyes of man.” (2 Cor. 8:21)