How long does your office keep the copies of Donor Acknowledgement Letters?

Jennifer Neer

Does your office have a retention policy on how long they keep the copies of the letters? At one time, I was told you NEVER shred or destroy them. We recently heard that you can shred anything over 7 years old.

Debra Watford

Jennifer Norris:
Does your office have a retention policy on how long they keep the copies of the letters? At one time, I was told you NEVER shred or destroy them. We recently heard that you can shred anything over 7 years old.

Our auditor says 7, we keep for 10.

JoAnn Strommen

Jennifer Norris:
Does your office have a retention policy on how long they keep the copies of the letters? At one time, I was told you NEVER shred or destroy them. We recently heard that you can shred anything over 7 years old.

Can you be more specific?  What exactly do you mean by donor acknowlegement letter?  Is it a 'thank you for your pledge'?  A receipt documenting their gift and your tax statement?  Are you keeping hard copies of every letter you send?

Honestly, I've never heard of having to keep letters that long.  We keep documentation for credit card payments for 7.   RE can document any gifts received, the date, date of receipt / acknowledgement etc.  We keep computer file of receipt letter for a several years.  I've never been told I need to keep them 7 or longer.  I'll probably check with our finance office and auditor but that's all I've ever been told I need to keep.  Am going to check it again. 

Maybe it's different from state to state also if you're dealing with state income tax. 

Nicole S

JoAnn Strommen:

Can you be more specific?  What exactly do you mean by donor acknowlegement letter?  Is it a 'thank you for your pledge'?  A receipt documenting their gift and your tax statement?  Are you keeping hard copies of every letter you send?

Honestly, I've never heard of having to keep letters that long.  We keep documentation for credit card payments for 7.   RE can document any gifts received, the date, date of receipt / acknowledgement etc.  We keep computer file of receipt letter for a several years.  I've never been told I need to keep them 7 or longer.  I'll probably check with our finance office and auditor but that's all I've ever been told I need to keep.  Am going to check it again. 

Maybe it's different from state to state also if you're dealing with state income tax. 

 We keep everything for 7 years for single installment gifts.  If it was a pledge or something multi-year, I would keep it until 5 years after it was finished; you don't want to be on the last year of a 10-year pledge and find that you don't have the beginning documentation.

JoAnn Strommen

Nicole S.:

 We keep everything for 7 years for single installment gifts.  If it was a pledge or something multi-year, I would keep it until 5 years after it was finished; you don't want to be on the last year of a 10-year pledge and find that you don't have the beginning documentation.

Everything?  Guess I'm fortunate with the retention policies set by our business office and auditor.  Not required to keep thank yous / receipts (keep for one/two year should a donor have a question on the letter they received). 

Yes, we keep pledge card/pledge documentation.  Our policy is all pledge cards for pledges to a fund are retained until the audit is completed for the year of the last payment to that fund.  So if five year pledge with last payment made in 2013.  Audit done in 2014 and approved. Pledge records can be destroyed.  This has been our policy for at least 15 annual campaigns and 4 capital campaigns. 

Yes, you want to maintain what is needed, but I'm not a proponent of keeping more than or beyond what's required. What 'development/RE' may need to keep also depends on what business/finance has copy of - no need for duplication.

Just how we do it here.... 

Nicole S

JoAnn Strommen:

Everything?  Guess I'm fortunate with the retention policies set by our business office and auditor.  Not required to keep thank yous / receipts (keep for one/two year should a donor have a question on the letter they received). 

Yes, we keep pledge card/pledge documentation.  Our policy is all pledge cards for pledges to a fund are retained until the audit is completed for the year of the last payment to that fund.  So if five year pledge with last payment made in 2013.  Audit done in 2014 and approved. Pledge records can be destroyed.  This has been our policy for at least 15 annual campaigns and 4 capital campaigns. 

Yes, you want to maintain what is needed, but I'm not a proponent of keeping more than or beyond what's required. What 'development/RE' may need to keep also depends on what business/finance has copy of - no need for duplication.

Just how we do it here.... 

 We've actually started using PaperSave so keeping all these copies isn't that bad.  With paper files you have to have space for everything. And then you have to have time to purge everything to make more space.

 

And by everything I mean gift documentation and acknowledgements.  We are the only office that has a copy of these.  Copies of batch commit reports, deposit forms, or other things are shredded at the end of the audit.  I have PDF files and the business office has copies.