Over time, nonprofit organizations accumulate a lot of paperwork. Eventually, someone is going to want to simplify and reduce the amount of paperwork – but what do you keep and what can you toss?

Nonprofit organizations should have a document retention policy on file as a guide for what to keep and specifically identify what can be destroyed (and when), as well as in what form that file storage takes.

These Document Retention Guidelines are minimum guidelines – your organization may choose to retain certain records for a longer period of time.

IMPORTANT NOTE: “Digital” means that you should permanently retain DIGITAL records of the documents, regardless of whether you can dispose of paper records.

Click here to view or download the guidelines as a PDF.