- Charities & Not-for-Profits Hub
Before sharing a charity spreadsheet, check who needs it, remove information they do not need and inspect every tab, including hidden rows and columns. Government guidance specifically recommends checking hidden data and free-text comments before sharing a file.[1] For a small charity, start with the actual rota or event list waiting to go out, rather than trying to redesign every system at once.
This is practical information for charity staff, trustees and volunteers, not legal advice or a complete data-protection assessment. Follow your charity’s existing information-handling arrangements and ask the person responsible for data protection if you are unsure whether something should be shared.
Start with the job the recipient needs to do
Write one sentence explaining why you are sending the file. Perhaps a volunteer needs the opening times for next week’s collection, or a partner needs the number of places booked at a session. Use that sentence to question what belongs in the shared copy.
A person arranging chairs might need attendance numbers without needing the booking register. Someone covering a shift might need a contact route for the coordinator without receiving everybody’s home address. These are prompts for a conversation with your team, not permission to share particular records. Decide the purpose before choosing the attachment.
Government guidance says to consider who needs access and how they will use the information.[1] Ask whether the recipient needs to edit the file, read it or simply receive an answer. If a short message would meet the need, consider that before sending a whole workbook.
Look beyond the first visible sheet
Open the copy you intend to share and work through it deliberately. Check the sheet names, the column headings and any comments or notes. Government guidance recommends searching for headings such as name, address and email, as well as reviewing free-text columns.[1]
For your charity’s rota, read any handover notes as carefully as the shift times. Ask whether an explanation recorded for the coordinator belongs in a file going to the wider team. If you find something questionable, pause and ask the responsible colleague rather than deciding in a hurry.
Unhide rows, columns and tabs during the review. Hiding information does not remove it from the workbook, which is why government guidance calls for hidden areas to be checked before sharing.[1] Do not assume the first screen represents everything the recipient will receive.
Make a clear copy for this particular purpose
Keep the working record separate from the version prepared for sharing, following your charity’s storage arrangements. Give the shared copy a descriptive name and date so the next person can recognise what it is. Government guidance recommends descriptive filenames and clear version labels.[1]
Avoid changing the original register just to prepare an event list. Instead, agree what the event list needs to contain and have an authorised colleague help prepare it. Before sending, reopen that exact copy. Check that it contains the intended information and that removing columns has not made the remaining details confusing.
Ask another authorised person to check it when possible. A peer review is one of the checks recommended in the guidance.[1] Give them a useful question: can the recipient do the agreed task with this file, and is anything included that they do not need?
Check access as well as the contents
If your charity uses shared links, ask whoever manages the system to help you check the access settings. Confirm the intended recipients and whether they should be able to edit. Government guidance says access to a spreadsheet containing personal information should be limited to people who need it.[1]
Look at the actual destination before sending. Is this the named volunteer, the right partner contact or a larger group? If the recipient has changed, pause for a fresh check. A file prepared for one person may need a different review before going somewhere else.
Agree who will handle corrections. Tell the recipient which version to use and where to raise a question. If your team is uncertain about its sharing tools, ask for a demonstration using a dummy file without personal details rather than experimenting on the real register.
Give the next person a workable routine
Choose one frequently shared spreadsheet and agree who prepares it, who checks it and who sends it. Put those arrangements somewhere the covering volunteer can find. Keep the routine short enough to follow during a busy session.
Before the next send, confirm the purpose, review the exact file and check its destination. If something is unclear, hold it back while you ask. If you discover that the wrong file has already gone out, tell your charity’s responsible contact promptly and follow its incident process rather than quietly trying to fix everything yourself.
For wider practical support with running your organisation, explore MH360’s charities and not-for-profits hub. Start with the task causing difficulty and a clear question about what help you need.
