Data Usage
The Washington Scholarship Coalition (WSC) is a public/private partnership that includes nonprofit organizations, private foundations and
state agencies committed to increasing access to scholarships and financial aid for Washington students. In January 2010, the WSC launched
theWashBoard.org, a free, web-based scholarship matching clearinghouse for Washington residents and students attending college in Washington.
In order to fulfill its mission to advocate for improvements in the practice of scholarship philanthropy, the WSC will access and analyze
the data gathered from theWashBoard.org.
The WSC outlined the "analytics" available in the Product Design, Launch and Support Plan. As stated in this document,
"The guiding principle for analytics is to tell the underlying stories about scholarship philanthropy, not the individual seekers and
providers participating in it. Its purpose is to describe the philanthropic environment and not to disclose specific practices or profiles.
This is an important distinction that, as the services evolve over time, should provide a metric by which to measure the appropriateness of
the information being shared."
The data extracted from theWashBoard.org provides an analysis of activity in the system such as volume of providers, seekers, and diversity
of these constituents. The data can be useful for providers to understand their potential applicant pool and for future philanthropists to
target funding to an unmet need.
Database Ownership
The data entered into theWashBoard.org is owned by the Washington Scholarship Coalition and is not publicly shared without permission from the WSC.
Confidentiality and Non-Disclosure
Scholarship providers and their review committees shall treat each application confidentially and shall not share seeker information obtained
through the application with anyone outside of the review committee. When the selection process is complete, paper materials must be shredded
or returned to the scholarship provider in a timely manner, and electronic materials must be permanently deleted. Selection committee members
may only retain student names and award amount. Seeker personally identifiable information will never be shared by the WSC without explicit
permission from the seeker.
In addition, data will not be disclosed that identifies specific providers. The broad categories of provider types are higher education
institutions, community foundations, service organizations, civic organizations, government agencies, Scholarship America affiliates, high
school foundations, and "other." Providers will not be segmented beyond the broad categories above.
Notification of Data Usage
Seekers and providers are notified of theWashBoard.org's privacy practices at the time of initial registration. Users are also notified of
the Coalition's intent to use data collected from theWashBoard.org for analysis and to present non-identifiable data to stakeholders.
More information can be found in the Terms of Use and Privacy Policy
under Terms & Conditions on theWashBoard.org.
Data Segregation
Data from theWashBoard.org will not be matched to other databases without explicit permission from seekers and providers.
This policy is approved by the Executive Steering Committee of the Washington Scholarship Coalition.
July 2012