CAOS Document Retention Policy
CAOS Document Retention Policy
Purpose
This policy establishes how CAOS creates, retains, and — where appropriate — disposes of organizational records. It serves two equally important goals: meeting our legal obligations as a California nonprofit, and preserving the institutional memory that makes open governance possible.
At CAOS, “document retention” is not primarily about cleaning out old files. It is about making sure the right records exist, are findable, and endure.
Scope
This policy applies to all CAOS directors, officers, staff, volunteers, and contractors. It covers all organizational records in any format — digital files, email, Git repositories, meeting notes, contracts, and physical documents.
Policy Statement
Our governance repository is the canonical record
CAOS manages its governance documents, policies, decisions, and meeting records in a version-controlled Git repository hosted at center4aos. Git history is itself a retention system: every version of every document is preserved, timestamped, and attributable. We rely on this by default for governance records.
This means:
- Documents committed to the repository are retained indefinitely unless explicitly archived or removed under this policy
- Git commit history constitutes the official record of when and how documents changed
- Deletion from the repository is a governance action requiring appropriate authorization, not a routine housekeeping step
Institutional memory is a priority, not an afterthought
Governance decisions, the reasoning behind them, and the context in which they were made are organizational assets. The CAOS decision record system (see GOVERNANCE.md) is specifically designed to preserve this institutional knowledge for future leaders and community members.
Meeting notes, decision records, and proposal histories are retained permanently. We do not discard the record of how we got here.
We keep what we are required to keep
California nonprofit law and IRS regulations require certain records to be retained for defined periods. We comply with those requirements in full. The minimum retention periods are listed in the Procedures section below.
We do not keep what we do not need
Records that have no legal, governance, or institutional value and that have exceeded any applicable retention period should not accumulate indefinitely. Unnecessary records create noise that makes the important records harder to find.
Litigation hold supersedes everything
If CAOS is, or reasonably expects to become, involved in litigation, all potentially relevant records must be preserved immediately — regardless of any retention schedule or destruction plan. This obligation applies to all directors, officers, staff, and volunteers as soon as they become aware of a potential dispute.
Responsibilities
Board of Directors
- Adopt and maintain this policy
- Authorize any deletion or destruction of records outside of routine retention schedules
- Ensure litigation holds are communicated promptly when potential disputes arise
Executive Director / Board President
- Oversee compliance with this policy
- Maintain or delegate maintenance of the governance repository
- Issue litigation holds when appropriate
- Ensure contracts, tax records, and other legally required documents are retained per the schedules below
Policy Maintainer
- Maintain the governance repository as the canonical record of CAOS policies and decisions
- Ensure documents are committed with clear commit messages that serve as an audit trail
- Coordinate periodic review of archived materials
Staff and Volunteers
- Save records with governance, legal, or institutional value to the appropriate location (repository, designated file system, or physical file)
- Do not destroy records that may be subject to a litigation hold
- Direct questions about retention to the Executive Director or Board President
Procedures
The governance repository
All governance documents — policies, bylaws, decision records, committee charters, meeting notes, proposals — are maintained in the CAOS governance repository. These records are retained permanently. The repository’s Git history is the authoritative record of document versions and changes.
Documents should be committed with meaningful commit messages. A commit message is part of the institutional record.
Minimum retention periods for specific categories
The following minimum periods apply to records not managed through the governance repository. Where a record also belongs in the repository (e.g., Board meeting minutes), the repository copy is the primary record and should be retained permanently regardless of the minimums below.
| Record Type | Minimum Retention |
|---|---|
| Articles of Incorporation, Bylaws, IRS Form 1023 | Permanent |
| Board and committee meeting minutes | Permanent |
| Audit reports (external) | Permanent |
| Insurance policies, accident reports, claims | Permanent |
| Press releases and publicly filed documents | Permanent |
| Tax records (payroll, expenses, contributions, accounting) | 7 years |
| Employment and personnel records | 7 years |
| Accounts payable ledgers, invoices, bank records | 7 years |
| Contracts and legal agreements | 3 years beyond expiration |
| Legal files | 10 years (consult legal counsel for specifics) |
| Internal audit reports | 3 years |
| Board and committee materials (other than minutes) | 3 years |
| Employment applications | 3 years |
| General correspondence | 2 years |
| Retirement and pension records | Permanent |
Email with governance, legal, or operational significance should be preserved by one of the following methods:
- Committed to the governance repository (for policy-relevant communications)
- Saved to an organizational file system in the appropriate category
- Printed to PDF and retained per the applicable category above
The retention period for email follows the subject matter. An email about a contract is retained as long as the contract; an email about a Board decision is retained permanently.
CAOS uses mailbox.org for organizational email. Account-level email is retained for two years unless the subject matter falls under a longer retention period specified elsewhere in this policy (e.g., email relating to a Board decision is retained permanently; email relating to a contract is retained three years beyond the contract’s expiration). The Board President and any designated administrator have access to organizational email archives.
Record destruction
Records that have exceeded their retention period and have no ongoing legal, governance, or institutional value may be destroyed. Destruction of physical documents containing sensitive information should be by shredding. Destruction of digital records should be documented with a brief note in the organizational record indicating what was destroyed and when.
No records may be destroyed once a litigation hold has been issued.
Any record destruction outside of routine housekeeping requires explicit sign-off from the Board of Directors.
Litigation hold
When a litigation hold is required:
- The Executive Director or Board President issues written notice to all relevant directors, officers, staff, and volunteers identifying the scope of records to be preserved
- All routine destruction of potentially relevant records stops immediately
- The hold remains in effect until the Executive Director or legal counsel confirms it has been lifted
- The existence and scope of the hold is documented in the organizational record
Related Documents
Revision History
| Version | Date | Summary |
|---|---|---|
| 0.1 | 2025-08-27 | Original policy drafted |
| 0.2 | 2026-06-29 | Complete rewrite; aligned with git-based governance repository and institutional memory priorities; pending Board adoption |