This non-disclosure agreement applies to all University Advancement and affiliated Foundation staff (a.k.a., “Advancement personnel”) as well as other University personnel who have a business need to access confidential, advancement-related information (“Confidential Information”) in the course of their work. Failure to abide by this agreement may result in disciplinary action under the policies of the University of Virginia and the Commonwealth of Virginia.

For the purposes of this Agreement, “Confidential Information” shall consist of:

Personally identifiable information, in any form, about faculty, employees, students, patients, donors, and potential donors to the University of Virginia or the University-related Foundations;
Information about the University's internal planning; Information about giving or approach strategies;
Methods of analyzing University needs and selecting potential donors;
Personal health information, in compliance with the HIPAA Privacy Rule; and
Data exempt from the public release provisions of the Virginia Freedom of Information Act.

The designated University official (or Data Steward) with ultimate responsibility is the AVP for Advancement Operations. For more information about data privacy, please read the UVA Advancement Privacy Statement.

In general, prospect or donor information obtained by Advancement personnel (or other University personnel) as a function of employment should not be shared outside of the normal course of business, and access to systems and records is limited to business-related circumstances. Systems, data, and other records are not to be accessed for casual browsing of donor information.

There are certain circumstances in which non-employees may obtain permission to access certain information; non-employees must first read and sign a non-disclosure agreement and are generally not given any system access. Anticipated ways in which information about the University of Virginia's advancement program, donors, and prospects may be shared with non-employees of the University are as follows:

Personally identifiable information about faculty, employees, students, donors, and potential donors

Volunteers are sometimes provided with information regarding donors and prospects to assist them in their volunteer role. Such information may include lists of names, contact info (e.g., addresses and phone numbers), giving interests, gift club memberships and other relevant information including, but not limited to, those found in the "Volunteer Briefing.” Personal financial information (e.g., ratings, giving details) should not be provided to non-employees. Volunteers must sign the Volunteer Non-disclosure Agreement.

From time to time, the University will transmit data to third-parties (usually private businesses or consultants) who provide essential services, such as: data cleansing; data analysis; and other software, tools or services that enhance the University’s ability to achieve advancement objectives. Generally, the University Advancement Technology Steering Committee will evaluate new products and tools for the Advancement Community, and make recommendations to the VP for University Advancement regarding such investments. In the event that a third party service is being considered by any school, program, unit or affiliated foundation that would result in the transmission of the University of Virginia’s advancement data, a request must be directed to the AVP of Advancement Operations prior to the finalization of contracts that would commit said transmission of data to the third party. In these circumstances, contract language will be reviewed and edited to ensure non-disclosure, privacy and other data management issues meet the University’s standards.

Information about giving & approach strategies, methods of analyzing University needs, and selecting potential donors

Information about program structure, systems and strategies is often presented at professional conferences and shared among professional colleagues. This information would be general in nature, not specific to a particular donor, unless presented in case study form with a name change and data masking to protect the donor’s privacy.

"Information about the University's internal planning..." would not be included in this general category and would in any event be available only to those involved in planning at the highest levels.

Descriptive information may be shared with volunteers to provide more complete understanding of their role within the "big picture" of the organization and to permit them to articulate informed answers to prospect or donor questions.

Data which is exempt from the public release provisions of the Virginia Freedom of Information Act (FOIA)

In the event that a request is made under the purview of FOIA, the recipient of the request shall not directly provide the data requested, but should immediately contact the University’s FOIA Officer. Additional information regarding your responsibilities regarding FOIA requests can be found on the University Communications website.