Sometimes it is the unexpected things that impact us the most. We are not looking for anything unusual to occur, it just does.
Like many people, I receive dozens of emails each day. I try to look at most of them and briefly evaluate their relevance. The majority get a second or two of my time before being deleted with little thought.
Recently, the unexpected happened. I received an unsolicited email invitation to participate in a webinar. It stopped me in my tracks. I remained focused on it for several minutes.
Although nicely designed there was nothing particularly unique about the visual presentation of the email. It was the potential implications of the topic that attracted me.
I was suddenly very uncomfortable with the words cybersecurity and philanthropy being so closely aligned in the same sentence.
The seeming juxtaposition of the words cybersecurity and philanthropy initiated a flurry of thoughts in my mind. For a few minutes, I could not think of anything but those words. It was almost as if my brain was temporarily unable to accept the fullness of the challenges I suddenly realized by their close association.
Within minutes of opening the email, I signed up for the webinar. It was outstanding! I became aware of things I had never even thought about before.
The State of Cybersecurity in Philanthropy, presented by nonprofit cybersecurity thought leader Fluxx Labs, was narrated by David Goodman and featured Arthur Meulstee from the Ikea Foundation and Chris Andreen from the MacArthur Foundation. Those guys are experts and have the stories to prove it.
Perhaps most importantly, the webinar helped me to understand just how closely linked the words cybersecurity and philanthropy have become in our modern world. Like everyone else, nonprofits are at risk. Some are even under attack. There is no immunity. Your mission or your size will not exempt you. Protective measures are required.
My business focuses on awareness. My job is to help make people and organizations more aware of the realities of their current and future opportunities and challenges. Knowing how to use our awareness makes us better at what we do. Cybersecurity is now very high on my list of awareness concerns for nonprofits.
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For more information about how your awareness can make you better at everything you do, please contact us. mcmillanrose.com
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