How long do I need to keep these homeschool group records?

From the I Am a Homeschool Group Leader Facebook group (if you’re not a member yet request to join us. We’d love to have you!)

How does your group handle old financial records? What do you keep, what gets tossed and when?

When I began as treasurer, I received tons of files, receipts, bank statements, old insurance policies, order forms and the like. Our group is 30 years old. It’s a lot of stuff! Don’t want to toss anything that’s needed, but thinking that much of this is not necessary anymore.

Julie

I found some helpful lists of what to keep and for how long:

Document Retention for US Nonprofits: A Simple Guide

Document Retention Policies for Nonprofits

Both of these lists are for large nonprofits with employees, buildings, etc. so the lists are crazy long and overly detailed for most homeschool groups.

So I culled it down to this:

Keep these records permanently

• Articles of Incorporation
• Determination Letter from the IRS
• IRS Tax Exempt Application Form 1023/1023-EZ
• Employer Identification Number (EIN) from the IRS
• Bylaws
• IRS Information Returns, Form 990/990-EZ or 990-N
• State Information returns or annual reports

Keep for 7 years

• Financial statements (year-end)
• Canceled checks
• Bank Statements
• Leases (5 years after lease ends)
• Background checks
• 1099-MISC  given to Independent Contractors
• Employment Tax records (Form 941, W-2s etc)
• Payroll records (although one list said to keep these permanently!)

Keep for 3-5 Years

• Minutes of board meetings (although one list said to keep these permanently!)
• Invoices
• Reimbursements
• Receipts of expenses
• Insurance  policies

Where do you store these documents and papers? Most of the documents will probably be stored at the Treasurer’s and Secretary’s homes.

But the documents to be kept permanently should be stored in a board members’ binders and passed down to future board members. Each board member should have a copy of the important “Keep permanently” documents.

I have created a Homeschool Organization Board Manual. It is a template to create a board member binder. It has:

• A list of important documents to keep in your binder
• Section dividers so you can organize the important papers
• Tools to help you run your meetings smoothly including
• A sample agenda that you can use over and over again
• A calendar of board meetings