Personally identifiable information (PII) is sensitive donor and volunteer data, such as home addresses, personal email addresses, or tax identification numbers. PII masking in Reporting Studio gives organizations more control over who can see this information, making it easier to expand reporting access to broader teams while reducing privacy and compliance risk.
Managing PII visibility
PII masking changes what users see based on their access level.
- Users with PII access can view PII in reports as normal.
- Users without PII access see [REDACTED] anywhere PII appears in a Look or dashboard.
- Non-PII fields continue to display normally.
- Masking applies whether the user creates the Look or dashboard or views one created by someone else.
Seeing PII in reports as a new user
PII access is not included by default for newly added users of Reporting Studio. If a user without PII access creates or opens a Look or dashboard that contains PII, the PII values display as [REDACTED] instead of the underlying data, and the rest of the report remains available. At this time, admins cannot update Reporting Studio user roles or permissions. To request changes to PII access for specific users or groups, contact Benevity Support and provide the users (or group criteria) to update.
Following best practices for PII visibility
Use these best practices to broaden reporting access without exposing PII:
- Restrict PII to approved roles. Grant PII access only to users who need PII for their work, such as program administrators or compliance-approved analysts.
- Validate what non-PII users see. Review key dashboards and Looks using an account without PII access to confirm PII fields display as [REDACTED] and the remaining data still meets reporting needs.
- Design reports for masked audiences. Use non-PII fields for required filters, groupings, and identifiers so reports remain usable when PII is masked.
- Share PII-free versions when needed. Create dashboards and Looks that exclude PII fields for broader audiences to reduce confusion and support self-serve exploration.