Keep What and for How Long?

The redesigned Form 990 asks a number of new questions about policies and procedures. One of the policy questions asks if the organization has a written document retention and destruction policy?

Why is this important to an organization? Maintaining formal documents and records requires space, however these documents substantiate transactions and decisions of organization. Some documents should be retained for the life of the organization and some should be discarded in the short-term.

What should be kept and for how long should be included in the organization’s Retention/Destruction policy. The policy should identify the record retention responsibilities of staff, volunteers, board members and outsiders for maintaining and documenting the storage and destruction of the organization’s documents and records.

For additional information from the IRS, see this article.