Document Retention Policy - French for the future

Last updated on June 4, 2021

Under federal privacy legislation, organizations are required to develop detailed procedures to govern the retention of documents in our possession that contain personal information. In addition, good business practices call for retention procedures to ensure that we keep personal information and sensitive business documents for the appropriate length of time for reference and continuity, but that we do not retain such information beyond the period required to fulfill the purpose for which it was collected or developed.

To make record retention as easy as possible the recommended time for record retention is seven years. After that time, records can be destroyed as outlined in the Record Destruction section below. In a few instances, record retention requirements will vary, as required by law.

Note: Electronic documents are subject to the same Document Retention Policy as paper documents, dependent upon content.

Note: While privacy law requires that personal information be kept only as long as needed to carry out appropriate services or programs associated with that information, it is permissible to use anonymous data from French for the Future records for statistical purposes.

Exception: If the French for the Future is notified that its records are subject to litigation or potential litigation, then those records must be preserved until legal counsel determines the records are no longer needed.

Record Retention	Time Frame
GOVERNANCE
By-laws Regulations	Indefinitely¹
Board minutes	Indefinitely¹
Board committee minutes	Indefinitely¹
Annual general meeting minutes	Indefinitely¹
Policies procedures	Indefinitely¹
FINANCE
Official donation receipts for Income Tax purposes	2 years from the end of the calendar year in which the donations were made
Records for 10-year gifts (donations that are subject to a donor’s written trust or direction)	Indefinitely¹
Paid invoices	7 years from the time of payment
Accounts receivable	7 years from time of issue
Pledge sheets and pledge books	2 years from date on sheets or books
General ledgers and other final summaries	CRA requirement: 6 years from end of the last tax year to which they relate while charity is registered, and for 2 years after the date the registration of the charity is revoked.
Audited financial statements	Indefinitely
T3010 filing information	CRA requirement: 6 years from end of the last tax year to which they relate while charity is registered, and for 2 years after the date the registration of the charity is revoked.
HUMAN RESOURCES
Former employee records	7 years from the time the person ceased to be an employee or as required by law
Payroll records	7 years or as required by law
VOLUNTEER MANAGEMENT (BOARD AND NON-BOARD)
Inactive volunteer records	7 years, from the time the volunteer ceased to be active
PARTICIPANTS MANAGEMENT
Inactive participants records (registration documents)	7 years from the time the participant ceased to receive services
Sensitive information collected for a specific event (ex: allergies, medical information, etc).	1 month after the end of the event
Inactive clients records (shop)	7 years from the last order
FUNDRAISING
Inactive donors	7 years from time of last donation
Planned giving-expectancies	Until notification that gift has been received/realized
Planned giving-realized	Until 7 years after final gift in donor’s will received
Fundraising strategy documents and plans (final versions)	Indefinitely
Do not call lists	Indefinitely
Do not mail lists	Indefinitely
MARKETING COMMUNICATIONS
Annual reports	Indefinitely
Official newsletter	Indefinitely

RECORD DESTRUCTION

French for the Future records that contain personal information and sensitive information as outlined above must be destroyed in such a manner so that information cannot be reconstructed or retrieved. Paper documents must be shredded.

Electronic files must be permanently and thoroughly deleted from all online and offline storage media using existing digital shredding techniques to prevent data reconstruction. If detailed historical transactions are to be retained, all personal identifiable data (name, home address, home telephone number) must be destroyed.

DEFINITIONS

Canada Revenue Agency regulations require records be kept as long as the charity is registered and for a minimum of two years after the date the registration of the charity is revoked. For simplicity sake, this period is referred to as “indefinitely” in this documents.