Cyber Essentials for Charities

Why charities and non-profits get certified

Charities hold donor, beneficiary and volunteer data, often on tight budgets and with limited IT support, and funders increasingly want to see it protected. Cyber Essentials is the recognised, affordable baseline that grant-makers and partners now ask for.

• Grant and funder conditions. A growing number of grant-makers and government funders require Cyber Essentials before releasing funds.
• Beneficiary and donor data. Charities often hold especially sensitive data about vulnerable people.
• Public trust. A breach damages the donor confidence a charity runs on; certification is visible proof you take it seriously.
• Affordable and proportionate. Cyber Essentials is deliberately sized to the organisation, the right level of assurance for a charity's budget.

The security benefit is real and worth having. But the honest reason most charities and non-profits certify is commercial: work, funding or clients increasingly depend on it.

Prepared properly, passed first time

We scope it with you, tell you plainly what needs to change, and prepare a clean submission so you pass first time rather than paying to resubmit. You are guided by a certified IASME assessor for both Cyber Essentials and Cyber Assurance, someone who knows exactly what the assessment checks, not an account manager and not a junior with a checklist.

Cyber Essentials and Cyber Essentials Plus

Cyber Essentials is a verified self-assessment against five technical controls, certified annually. Cyber Essentials Plus covers the same five controls but adds an independent, hands-on technical audit of your systems: the level a growing number of buyers now specify. We will tell you which one your buyers actually require, rather than pushing the higher tier by default.

What it covers

Five controls that block the great majority of commodity attacks: firewalls, secure configuration, security update management, user access control, and malware protection. Straightforward for most organisations, provided someone tells you honestly what needs changing before you submit.

How it works

Certification is largely remote, so it adds no travel to your invoice. We agree the scope with you, we help you get the controls in order and support you through the assessment on the IASME portal. Where Cyber Essentials Plus applies, the technical audit is scheduled around you. Turnaround is days rather than weeks when your controls are already in order.

Where it fits

For most charities and non-profits Cyber Essentials is the right first step. Where clients or funders want evidence of more than the baseline, Cyber Assurance is the next rung and stands in for ISO 27001 at SME cost. If you hold anything genuinely sensitive, test it with a proper penetration test.

Common questions