8.9 Data

Data Protection

Your organisation is very likely to maintain a database of members and their contact information. As such, you must comply with the Data Protection Act and maintain the privacy of all the data that you hold on behalf of your members.

Put link to act here (document)

Being a data controller carries with it serious legal responsibilities, so you should be quite clear if these responsibilities apply to you or your organisation. If you are in any doubt, or are unsure about the identity of the data controller in any particular case, you should consult your legal adviser or seek the advice of the Data Protection Commissioner.

For more information on holding data and your responsibilities in this area, log onto www.dataprotection.ie

All about databases, importance, types and how to set up

In order to keep a register of your members it is critical that you have a database to manage these contacts. This could be using a basic Excel spreadsheet or similar tool, or a dedicated database such as Access. The critical thing here is to ensure that a process exists to ensure the membership data is up to date and accurate.

In order to be relevant to members, a National Governing Body should be able to communicate directly with them. This could be updates, via a newsletter or e-zine, reminders when subscriptions become due, notifications about AGMs/EGMs and in some cases members may register to be a member online.

Some National Governing Bodies work on a provincial system where the members pay their subscriptions directly to the province. However, this does not mean that these records should only be available in the province.

It is crucial that members are engaged with regularly to ensure that they feel a part of your association as well as being aware of exactly what the National Governing Body is delivering for them as members. This ensures that the National Governing Body remains relevant to members.

The Importance of Putting Key documents of the org on the website for members to download and become familiar with.