Case study: Making cyber security one less thing to navigate alone

For small not-for-profits, cyber security is essential – but rarely anyone’s only job. NFP leaders,staff and volunteers are often managing programs, people, finances, fundraising and operations at the same time, without a dedicated technology or cyber security team – and certainly didn’t sign up to be a cyber expert.

This year, Infoxchange expanded its support through our cyber security mentoring program, providing small not-for-profits (NFPs) most at risk with their cyber security,  one-on-one guidance and an assessment to understand their risks and progressively strengthen their digital environment. Infoxchange works alongside NFPs through each stage – getting to know their technology, resources, ways of working and organisational values.

For Farm My School, which transforms underutilised school land into regenerative gardens, technology has become increasingly important as the organisation has grown. CEO James McLennan and his team are primarily focused on farms, schools and communities – but they’ve quickly recognised the need and expectation to have some fluency in cyber security and digital infrastructure to scale.

“We’re a small organisation and wear different hats. I specialise in regenerative farming, but as we’ve scaled, I’ve realised that also means specialising in digital infrastructure, technology adoption and cyber security management. This mentoring helped us understand where our biggest risks were, prioritise what needed attention and work through practical options that made sense for an organisation of our size. It gave us a much clearer pathway forward without expecting our team to suddenly become cyber security experts,” – James McLennan, CEO of Farm My School.

Infoxchange helped Farm My School identify several important gaps and prioritise practical protections they can maintain ongoing, particularly securing staff devices and establishing reliable backups so the organisation could recover if a serious incident occurred.

The support was also tailored to Farm My School’s environmental values. When considering backup options, the team wanted to understand the environmental impacts of cloud computing and data storage. Infoxchange researched solutions that met agreed security requirements while considering onshore storage, environmental impact information and affordability. This enabled Farm My School and its Board to weigh cyber risk alongside environmental considerations and determine an approach they were comfortable implementing.

For other NFPs, Farm My School’s experience demonstrates the value of starting with an assessment, addressing the biggest risks first and seeking support rather than navigating cyber security alone.

The mentoring program intends to ensure good security is achievable for resource-constrained organisations – giving people confidence that the right protections are being put in place so they can focus on the work they are actually there to do.