Financial institutions do not take a fund administration vendor on faith. Banks and community foundations evaluating Give Interactive asked for the assurance their own regulators and risk teams expect: an independent examination of security controls operating over time, not a policy binder. For a focused team running a growing platform, the demand was real and so was the constraint. The observation window, evidence collection, and auditor management all had to happen without pulling the team off the product that makes the platform worth buying.
BD Emerson ran the program from readiness through report. Controls were designed to fit how the team already worked, the policy set was written to match practice, and evidence accumulated through the observation window with BD Emerson managing collection and auditor requests. The engagement closed with two reports from the independent CPA firm: the SOC 2 Type 2 for customers under NDA, and a SOC 3 the company can hand to any prospect without one, because a public-facing summary shortens security reviews that would otherwise wait on paperwork.
Give Interactive completed its SOC 2 Type 2 with the SOC 3 issued alongside. Vendor reviews that used to require calls now start with a report, and the annual cycle is set up to renew on the same evidence base.
