Secure Collaboration for a Leading Philanthropic Foundation

Background

This well-known philanthropic foundation is dedicated to creating positive change in early childhood development, education, and community welfare. To achieve its mission, the organization works with a large network of community partners, educational institutions, and service providers — all requiring access to sensitive data like beneficiary information, funding records, and program results.

The foundation’s impact depends on sharing this information securely and efficiently, without exposing sensitive personal or financial details. As their work expanded, so did the challenge of managing growing data volumes and partner access while staying compliant with strict privacy standards.

Challenges

The foundation needed a modern, secure mechanism for sharing confidential files — including personal identifiable information (PII) — with dozens of trusted external partners and community organizations. Existing file-sharing methods were inconsistent and lacked the granular access controls required for sensitive data. This created potential security gaps, increased administrative workload, and made it difficult to track who had access to what information at any given time.

Solution

The foundation chose Govern 365 Enterprise Edition, extending its Microsoft 365 environment with robust data governance and Zero-Trust security controls. Govern 365 made it easy for staff to:

• Set up secure data rooms and folders for partner collaboration.
• Define granular permissions to control who can view, download, or edit sensitive files.
• Monitor and audit file sharing activity with detailed logs to ensure compliance.
• Reduce IT involvement by enabling self-service onboarding for trusted partners.

This allowed the foundation to share critical documents confidently, knowing their community partners could access the information they needed — and nothing more.

Benefits

• Enhanced Data Security: Protected sensitive personal and program data with Zero-Trust policies and real-time monitoring.
• Operational Efficiency: Cut administrative overhead by empowering teams and partners to manage access independently.
• Seamless Collaboration: Enabled secure, compliant information sharing with a wide network of community organizations, improving service delivery and program outcomes.
• Better Compliance: Strengthened the foundation’s privacy posture while working within the familiar Microsoft 365 ecosystem.

Govern 365 helps philanthropic organizations protect sensitive data, simplify compliance, and build stronger partnerships. Request a Demo and see how your non-profit can collaborate securely.