Conceptualizing Sociotechnical Changes in Higher Education Institution Fundraising Practices Resulting from POPIA Compliance

Conceptualizing Sociotechnical Changes in Higher Education Institution Fundraising Practices Resulting from POPIA Compliance

Accra, Ghana and Virtual

This qualitative inquiry investigates the sociotechnical changes in fundraising practices of Higher Education Institutions (HEI) resulting from compliance with the Protection of Personal Information Act (POPIA) Act No 4 of 2013 in South Africa. POPIA imposes strict regulations for collection, processing, sharing and storage of personally identifiable information (PII). As the South African government continues to reduce subsidies in HEIs, a third-income stream has become important to support operational activities. A major source of a third-income stream for HEIs is fundraising. Fundraising practices are largely mediated through donor management systems (DMS) or Customer Relationship Management Systems (CRM) that rely on donor or alumni PII. However, compliance with POPIA introduces sociotechnical changes to fundraising ecosystems in HEIs. The study collected data from 12 participants involved in HEI fundraising across the 26 South African HEIs. Through thematic analysis, the study found that compliance with POPIA affects employee roles – it requires employees to upskill themselves on data governance competencies. Tasks related to data collection and processes are transformed, given the consent component of POPIA. The majority of the HEI introduced new structures and departments to facilitate compliance with POPIA. All systems related to collecting donations needed to be configured to ensure that they were POPIA compliant. The findings of the study highlight the need for the actors involved in HEI fundraising processes to critically reflect on sociotechnical changes that emerge from organisational transformation which is prompted by data protection regulations such as POPIA.