Frequently Asked Questions

All of the above. Any organization that is ready to publicly commit to implementing the responsible data practices contained in the BD4D Standard should consider adopting it. The goal of the Better Deal is to have a simple set of commitments which work well wherever, and whenever, personal and sensitive data are being collected, analyzed, used, or shared. This includes the developers and vendors of technology that enables and hosts these data activities.

A BD4D Endorser is an individual or organization that recognizes that the social sector needs a better deal for data, and believes that the BD4D Standard provides an important, shared foundation for ethical and trustworthy data practices. Any individual or organization that nonprofits look to for advice or leadership on best practices in nonprofit management, data governance, research, software, or technology should consider endorsing the BD4D Standard . This can include organizations that  have become BD4D Adopters (which is an implicit endorsement), organizations that might not be ready or able to fully implement the BD4D Standard in their operations, as well as organizations and individuals that don’t actually collect nonpublic or sensitive data (such as many foundations and nonprofit associations). A BD4D Endorser does not need to take any action beyond agreeing to put their name behind responsible data governance and the BD4D Standard. If that’s you, please join us by selecting “Yes! I agree to be publicly acknowledged as a BD4D Endorser” on our contact form!

Adopting the BD4D Standard is a self-guided process, and we have detailed the steps for adoption in the BD4D Playbook. We recommend reviewing the Readiness Questions, then following the steps in the Implementation Guide once you’re ready to do so. Once you’ve completed the process, we encourage you to link or post the Commitments from your website. We would also love to hear from you! You can tell us about how your organization has implemented BD4D in practice, and share any feedback you might have on how it can be improved, via this short form.

Our goal is to greatly increase ethical data practices across the social sector, and we welcome public support in this mission. BD4D Endorsers have put their name behind the Better Deal for Data movement, recommending that all nonprofits consider adopting the BD4D Standard. BD4D Adopters have gone further by implementing the BD4D Standard in their day-to-day operations. Organizations can be BD4D Endorsers, or Adopters, or both. Some organizations that are planning to adopt the BD4D Standard may become an Endorser as a first step in the process of becoming a full BD4D Adopter.

When an organization represents that it complies with the Better Deal for Data, it should reassure data subjects that their data will be stewarded ethically, responsibly, and transparently. There should be no surprises in the way their data is used!

That is definitely a long range goal. We envision a time when any funder supporting projects that collect or use data from individuals and communities will require their grantees to adopt the Commitments or an equivalent data governance mechanism. Today, no organization working with children can be funded without an adequate child safeguarding plan: it is a prerequisite for donor funding in this field. Shared standards such as the Better Deal for Data will ensure that the data uses being funded are ethical ones, in all social service fields.

Monetization is a complex subject, and we’ve published an issue paper exploring the question of good monetization and bad monetization. After all, most organizations which handle data do still need to find the money to pay for their staff and technology. Accepting donations or selling memberships would generally be compliant with the Better Deal, as long as personal data is not sold or exchanged with third parties beyond the minimum required for payment processing. On the other hand, trading or selling donor lists to a data broker would generally not comply.

It depends. If an AI company trains their models on data submitted in a prompt or the information its tools are summarizing, using those tools to process confidential or sensitive data would not be compliant with the Better Deal. However, if the companies behind the tools offer products that do not retain that data, and the data is processed in a privacy-preserving way, it is likely to be compliant.

The Better Deal is a set of binding promises between organizations that hold nonpublic data, and the people and organizations that data is about. As a result, the primary enforcement of the BD4D Standard is based on legally binding terms in an organization’s agreements with those constituents. We also expect that there will be other sources of pressure on organizations that publicly commit to the Better Deal principles but don’t actually comply with them.

While we are not setting up a certification program at this early stage, let us know if you think that there should be one.

If you feel that an organization is failing to meet its responsibility as a BD4D Adopter, your first step should be to raise your concerns to that organization, clearly explaining how the BD4D Commitments are being breached. An important pillar of the Better Deal is community engagement, and an organization that adopts it should be prepared to respond and rectify the situation, either correcting its practice, or removing your data upon request. As the BD4D author and maintainer, we do not intervene in the relationship between an organization and its data stakeholders. However, if you’ve requested removal of Your Data from a BD4D Adopter, and they refuse to do so, we would like to know.

BD4D is a voluntary standard, and we expect that all organizations adopting Better Deal do so in good faith. Given its newness, we realize that there may be areas for improvement in how the Standard is written, and how it is put into practice, and invite your feedback on both.

Not at this time. There is such a wide variety of laws and regulations across regions, countries, and sectors that it would be impractical to propose a single, standardized data sharing agreement, license, privacy policy, or terms of service. That said, we have successfully implemented the Commitments in the Terraso Terms of Service, and the Tech Matters Privacy Policy. And, we do believe that it should be possible to implement the Commitments in the great majority of jurisdictions.

The short answer is yes. The BD4D Standard offers a foundation for broad data governance that these laws do not provide. It requires certain practices not addressed by these laws, for example prohibiting monetization of nonpublic data, or making research reports available to the people whose data contributed to the research.

At the same time, these laws often have other stringent requirements that are not addressed by the Better Deal. And we think that’s a good thing: there should be no problem with doing more than what BD4D requires when it comes to protecting your stakeholder data.