Personally identifiable information is any detail that can point to a specific person. Some details do this on their own, such as a name, an email address or an ID number. Others do it in combination. A postcode by itself says little, but a postcode plus a date of birth can narrow things down to one person. If a piece of information could help someone work out who a person is, either alone or with other facts, treat it as personally identifiable information.
Why it matters
Small organizations hold a lot of it. Donor records, client case notes and staff files are full of names, contact details and personal histories. If someone pastes that material into an AI tool to get a summary or a draft thank-you letter, it leaves your files and goes to the tool’s provider. Keep it out of AI tools unless the tool, the plan you pay for and its settings have been approved for this kind of data. Before you approve a tool, ask the vendor how it stores, uses and deletes what you type in. The course lesson on protecting donor and client data covers the next steps.
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