The purpose of this policy is to ensure the records and documents of the Foundation are adequately protected and maintained and to ensure records that are no longer needed by or are of no value to the Foundation are discarded at the proper time. The CEO shall include the list of proposed dispositions in a report to the Board for review and approval prior to destruction.

This policy also provides clarification to employees so they understand their obligations in retaining electronic documentation which includes e-mail, web files, text files, sound and movie files, PDF documents, and all Microsoft Office or other word processing formatted files. The Foundation's record retention policies are based on a combination of legal requirements, Foundation by-laws, and the desire to keep records for historical purposes as determined by the Foundation.

Legal requirements:

Record retention is governed by the Income Tax Act and Regulations, CRA requirements, the Foundation's governing corporate statute, applicable privacy and employment laws, limitation periods, restricted-gift terms and any litigation or regulatory hold. The Foundation will identify the privacy statute applicable to each activity rather than assuming PIPEDA applies to every record.

Canadian Law and Regulatory Compliance

The Foundation will retain governing documents, bylaws and minutes for as long as it remains registered and for at least two years after revocation; for a corporation, applicable corporate records will also be kept for the period required after dissolution. General ledgers, financial statements, T3010 returns, source documents and supporting records will generally be retained for six years from the end of the last tax year to which they relate, subject to longer periods for late-filed returns, enduring property, restricted gifts, litigation holds and other legal requirements.

Records supporting official receipts, grants, direction and control, qualifying disbursements, restricted funds, payroll, privacy compliance and the disbursement quota will be sufficiently detailed, readable and accessible in Canada as required by the CRA. Destruction will be suspended for any audit, investigation, claim, litigation, access request or preservation notice.

Personal information will not be kept longer than reasonably necessary unless another law or legitimate legal need requires retention. Approved destruction will be secure, documented and applied consistently to paper, email, cloud systems, backups and devices.

Application note: This template must be read with the Foundation's articles, bylaws, gift terms and the federal, provincial or territorial laws that apply to its incorporation, activities and operating jurisdictions. Organization-specific facts and provincial requirements require lawyer confirmation before adoption.

Monitoring: This policy will be reviewed every three years.

Board Acceptance: This policy was approved/reaffirmed at the ________Board meeting.