Free kit · Policies and risk
Whistleblower and Document Retention Policy Templates: free nonprofit policy and retention schedule template in Word, Excel and PDF
Answer the two Form 990 policy questions with policies your staff can use. Name who receives a report, protect the person who makes it, and log each one without names. Keep each record as long as the law, your funders and your insurer require, record each destruction, and stop it the day a lawsuit or an audit begins.
Word, Excel and PDF · 13 pages · For board chairs, treasurers and executive directors
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What is inside
- Policy choices worksheet. Twelve choices for both policies, from who receives reports to the month the board reviews them, to fill in before drafting.
- Whistleblower policy. Ten sections that invite reports, protect the person who reports and name who receives them, the three things the Form 990 instructions describe.
- Report intake and log. Six steps for the day a report comes in, an intake page and a log without names, with a filled example.
- Retention and destruction policy. Who keeps which records, how they are destroyed, holds for a lawsuit or an audit, and email and messages, with a yearly checklist.
- Retention schedule. Twenty types of record, each with your period beside the federal minimum and its source, and rows for your state's, funders' and insurer's rules.
- Destruction record and hold notice. A record of each destruction, a hold notice for staff and the wording to lift a hold.
How to use it
- Before drafting: the executive director and the board chair make the choices in Form A and take them to your attorney.
- Adopt both: the board adopts the whistleblower policy (Form B) and the retention policy (Form D) by resolution, with the schedule (Form E).
- When a report comes in: the person who receives it follows Form C; a report about the executive director goes to the board chair.
- Before records are destroyed: the custodian checks that no hold covers them and enters each destruction in Form F.
- Each year: in the review month, the board reviews both policies and the custodian updates the schedule.
Not legal advice. These are templates. Federal law, your state's law and your grant agreements decide how long records must be kept and what protects a person who reports, and the rules differ from state to state: several states protect whistleblowers beyond federal law. Have an attorney licensed in your state review both policies and the retention schedule before the board adopts them.
Questions
Is the kit free?
Yes. Enter your name, email and organization once, and every kit in the library opens on this browser.
Can I edit it?
Yes. The Word and Excel files are fully editable: name the people who receive reports, set the days to acknowledge a report and to tell the board chair, and add your state's, funders' and insurer's periods to the schedule.
Does it work in Google Docs?
Yes. Upload the Word file to Google Drive and open it with Google Docs; the tables and ruled lines carry over.
Can I share it inside my organization?
Yes. Copy it, adapt it and share it with your board and staff.
Read the guide
More kits for boards
Conflict of Interest Policy and Disclosure FormA policy based on the IRS sample, an annual disclosure statement and the minutes for a member who steps out
Nonprofit Financial and Reserve Policy TemplatesSigning, reimbursement, gift and reserve policies, a controls checklist and a reserve worksheet
Board Resolution TemplatesA blank resolution, samples for bank signers, the budget, pay and policies, and a resolution register
With these two policies, the wording is rarely where it goes wrong. The conversations are: the board chair taking the first report, about the executive director, and a board that would rather keep the matter quiet. A coach helps the board chair or the executive director prepare for them.
Six sessions of executive coaching: $300, $400 or $600, set by your organization's yearly operating expenses.
