05/08/2026 Important Notice: Data Security Incident Affecting the ECHO Database

Dear Member,

We want to inform you of a data security incident involving the ECHO database, provided by Beacon, which may have affected some of your personal information.

Beacon has informed us that this incident has impacted approximately 1,500 charities that use its platform. As soon as we were made aware of the issue, we took immediate steps to secure the ECHO system, began a thorough investigation and started assessing whether any information relating to our organisation had been affected.

We have also notified the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO).

Our investigation is ongoing, and we are working closely with Beacon to establish exactly what information held within ECHO may have been accessed.

ECHO members who’s information may have been affected, we wanted you to be aware of the situation and can take appropriate precautions if necessary.

We would also like to reassure you about the type of information we hold within the ECHO database. We only store the information necessary to support our relationship with our members and donors. This may include:

• Personal information: your name, postal address, telephone number and email address.
• Medical information: the name of any heart condition you have shared with us. We do not hold medical records, clinical notes or detailed medical information.
• Donation history: records of previous donations, including donation amounts and dates. We do not store bank account details, payment card information or other financial account details.

Please be assured that ECHO will not contact you by telephone, email or text message to ask for donations, bank details, passwords or any other personal or financial information.

If you receive a communication claiming to be from ECHO requesting this information, please do not respond, click on any links or provide any personal details. Please contact us using the details below or contact us from the our people page on the ECHO website; www.echo-uk.org

As a precaution, we recommend that you:

• Be vigilant for any unexpected emails, telephone calls or text messages requesting personal or financial information.
• Be cautious of phishing attempts or scams that may reference Beacon or ECHO.
• Never share passwords, PINs or banking information in response to an unsolicited request.
• Monitor your accounts and report any suspicious activity to the relevant provider immediately.

We understand that this news may be concerning and sincerely apologise for any worry or inconvenience this may cause. Protecting the personal information entrusted to us is a responsibility we take extremely seriously. We are working closely with Beacon to understand the cause of this incident and to help ensure appropriate measures are in place to prevent similar incidents in the future.

If you have any questions or concerns, please contact us at hello@echo-uk.org or telephone 020 7998 4710.

Thank you for your understanding and patience.

Kind regards,

Samantha CEO

For further information on this please read this article:

Charities’ data ‘likely’ to have been downloaded in security breach, CRM company warns | Third Sector