G.A.I.N. – Powered by Lowe’s
PwC and Duke Energy skilled volunteers delivered a security assessment and recommendations for improvement to A Better World.
A Better World (ABW) is an after-school program for at-risk youth in West Charlotte. ABW equips them with the skills and confidence to be responsible adults by nurturing their physical, academic and spiritual development.
In this final phase of their G.A.I.N. journey, they received security education and were matched to two skilled volunteers, Parker Ramsey (Duke Energy) and Trent Sawicki (PwC), who assessed their current security practices and made recommendations for improvement. The G.A.I.N. program is generously sponsored by Lowe’s and EY.
After the project wrapped up, we checked in with Taylor Justice, Program Manager, to learn about its current and anticipated impact. She shares, “We came into this project with a lot of fears around our security. We’ve recently reopened after COVID, we have sensitive information about our donors and families that we need to protect and we have children using online technology through our iReady program. There is a lot of risk potential. Putting these policies and procedures into place would have taken me so much time and would have cost our organization thousands of dollars.
“Now, we have a technology bible that we can refer to make sure we are doing everything in the safest way possible. I really appreciated the identification of free resources, like Wizer training, and also the timelines that came with the recommendations, so that we know when we need to revisit and update. This will be especially important as we grow. I have confidence that we are keeping our data secure, so I can focus on fundraising to support our growth without worry.”
Project volunteers also shared their appreciation for working together with Taylor.
Parker Ramsey– “It has been very fulfilling and enjoyable to have the opportunity to apply what I’ve learned about cybersecurity in such a personal, practical way.”
Trent Sawicki – “It was very rewarding to me to be able to leverage technology that is traditionally only accessible for larger organizations and customize it to the needs of a smaller nonprofit.”
