About the cohort
NTEN’s Nonprofit Technology Readiness for Security cohort offers a hands-on, supportive space to make immediate improvements to your organization’s digital security, identify areas of improvement for processes or policies, and advance data privacy projects to support community members and program sustainability. Thank you to the France-Merrick Foundation for supporting this crucial cohort.
The goal of these cohorts is to significantly advance the functional security of nonprofits while building cybersecurity leadership, management, and confidence for nonprofit staff. The closed cohort program works with 20 organizations at a time to provide peer engagement and professional development as a group alongside individualized security assessments, priority planning, and service implementation. This cohort is open to grantees of the France-Merrick Foundation free of cost in organizations focused on the equitable use of technology to advance their missions, with particular emphasis on those who have vulnerable missions, programs, or communities.
Participants and their organizations will benefit from comprehensive assessments, nonprofit-specific training and resources, and personalized guidance, ensuring they emerge as effective technology leaders with more secure organizations. By the end of the program, participants will be equipped with the skills and confidence needed to address complex technology challenges and maintain security and privacy goals in their organizations.
Schedule
Plan for a six-month time commitment, with 8–10 hours per month for program work.
Orientation
September 2025
Ask questions and explore the online learning and community space.
Sessions
September 2025–February 2026
Take part in educational and mentorship activities.
Conference
March 11–13, 2026
Attend the 2026 Nonprofit Technology Conference virtually or in Detroit, Michigan, for free.
Celebration
March 2026
Celebrate achievements and hear from inspiring guest speakers.
Sessions
You'll be supported as you move your customized technology project from the idea stage to a full-blown action plan and get the guidance you need to implement the project. You do not need to have a project decided or in mind when you start.
Session assessments
Direct review of organizational needs and support with planning, culture change, and implementation.
Open office hours
Drop-in opportunities to get direct support.
Educational series
Training sessions that cover the core competencies of technology planning, budgeting, implementation, and evaluation.
Leadership opportunities
Facilitated process for discussing feedback and practicing and modeling experiences you can replicate at your organization.
Interactive workshops
Working sessions to build your project planning skills and develop connections with your peers.
Topics
The curriculum is tailored to the cohort participants’ needs, and new courses are added as available. Topics include:
- Nonprofit threat assessments
- Digital security workshops
- Incident response support
- Secure messaging & communications training
- VPN and anonymous browsing setup
- Legal assistance on data protection
- Data minimization and secure storage
- Anonymous & secure fundraising
- Proactive monitoring for threats
Additional benefits
You'll get free enrollment in NTEN’s Nonprofit Technology Professional Certificate. After the cohort ends, you'll also continue to have access to the materials and online community space.
You'll also have opportunities to:
- Include colleagues in workshops and coaching sessions.
- Receive continued coaching after the cohort concludes.
- Gift a Nonprofit Technology Professional Certificate
Apply for the cohort
Who should apply
Applicants for the program should be invested in enhancing their security and privacy leadership skills and building their capacity to manage technology systems effectively. This cohort is open to grantees of the France-Merrick Foundation working in organizations focused on the equitable use of technology to advance their missions, with particular emphasis on those who have vulnerable missions, programs, or communities. Applicants can be in any role or have any job title that includes responsibilities for advancing and implementing security or privacy projects at their organization. Board members and volunteers are not eligible. If you have any questions about your eligibility, please email Gary Williams at gwilliams@france-merrickfdn.org or Jeremy Garcia at jeremy@nten.org.
Note: Program delivery and materials are in English and event scheduling is based on Pacific Time Zone (PST).
Application
Application deadline: July 16, 2025
