Leadership and Vision

​Long before founding the 501Secure program, I served as an Executive Service Corps member with 501 Commons providing IT consulting to nonprofits in eastern and western Washington. Later, I had the privilege of developing and leading for 501 Commons one of the nation's first high-touch cybersecurity support programs for nonprofits, Tech Outreach and Education (TechOE). I also served as IT Program Manager and Chief Information Security Officer, growing as I served, becoming a member of ISACA and the Washington State InfraGard.

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When TechOE first launched in 2023, there were virtually no other nonprofit organizations providing combined services in cybersecurity support, planning, and education tailored specifically for nonprofit leadership. We were pioneers in this space, building a program from the ground up to address an unmet need. The model earned a track record of success helping nonprofit leaders chart a path to strengthen their organization's defenses and build sustainable security programs.

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Since then, we’ve seen a rapid increase in the number of organizations offering cybersecurity resources for nonprofits. This is a clear indicator of the growing need and importance of this work. Many of these new offerings provide valuable, broad-based foundational resources, such as online courses and cohort programs. It is gratifying to see our sector rise to the occasion of unprecedented cyber threats to help its own.

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My years of nonprofit technology consulting taught me one critical lesson: when it comes to cybersecurity, implementation is everything. Building knowledge and a roadmap through training courses, free resources, and cohort programs, while essential, can only take an organization so far. We all need someone to get into the weeds with us as we're putting new cybersecurity policies, vendors, controls, and trainings in place. Despite security-related technology improvements, organizational culture change remains a central component of cybersecurity. Lowering cyber risk requires nonprofit teams to work differently (to a greater or lesser degree) to address human vulnerabilities inherent to everyday business processes. 

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This conviction led me to launch 501Secure in March 2025. As a program sponsored by the Mabel G. Ragland Institute, 501Secure represents a substantial evolution of that successful, hands-on model. We designed it to deliver free and low-cost, high-touch support that is completely vendor-neutral and free from the constraints of a large institutional structure. 

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This allows us to be singularly focused on building long-term relationships, guiding nonprofits as they establish an integrated and sustainable security foundation. Implementing an integrated technical security and awareness program from the beginning, builds an organization's capability to self-manage cybersecurity risk. We work with organizations ready for the implementation phase by providing on-going guidance that goes beyond the 'why' and 'what' to the 'how' for each organization we serve.

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​A core pillar of our approach is a deep understanding of adult learning. Cybersecurity is not a 'one-and-done' task; it's a field of continuous learning and skill-building. Effective nonprofit cybersecurity awareness programs continually demonstrate their relevance by explaining 'why', directly connecting general principles to the specific technologies and processes used and clients served. This approach cultivates a sense of ownership and personal meaning regarding the protection of devices, cloud applications, and data.

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We don't just advise; we walk with nonprofit leaders and their team through the entire process of building an integrated program of security, guiding as much or as little as needed. We're here to help you assess your unique risks, adopt a guiding security framework, and nurture your staff's security capabilities and confidence. ​

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Our team looks forward to learning how we can be of service to your organization.

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My inbox is always open, kai@501secure.org.

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All the best,

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Kai Dailey, 

Program Manager

501Secure