The Institute of Operational Privacy Design (IOPD) was incorporated as a membership based not for profit corporation on January 7th, 2021. It retroactively received status as a 501(c)(6) non-profit professional membership organization on September 8th, 2023.  It is managed by a five person Board of Directors and a Leadership Team. The IOPD’s mission is to promote the adoption of common, free, and comprehensive privacy standards.

Initial discussions for a standard identified the need for two complimentary standards. The first is holistic and covers the organization’s privacy by design process and the second is focused on the design of specific products or services. Defining these two distinct needs was a major milestone for the concept of privacy by design. Clarifying the scope and purpose of the standards were the first step to making them a reality. 

The Institute’s first standard, the Design Process Standard, which focuses on the injection of privacy into an organization’s design and development process, was published on January 3rd, 2023. This was followed by the March 1st, 2025 introduction of the Design Assurance Standard, which focuses on privacy in products and services. The Institute currently has two committees, its Standards Committee, working on a privacy control catalog, and an Article 42 Ad-Hoc Committee focused on a data protection inspired version of the Design Assurance Standard for the EU market. Additionally, the Institute operates several initiatives including the Privacy Wiki, Privacy Calendar, and the Privacy Engineering & Technology Education Discussion (PETed).