This practice recognizes the importance of a records policy in protecting a land trust’s assets from future legal challenges and in meeting reporting requirements. A records policy should address both organizational records, such as board minutes, and transaction records, such as donor information, property details, deeds and baseline documentation reports. A policy helps identify the organization’s key documents, what documents are needed and in what format, how and when to store documents, how long to keep documents, and when to destroy documents, and it establishes business records practices for the organization. Records should be backed-up electronically and kept in a separate, off-site location. The land trust recognizes that complete record keeping is essential to maintaining the corporate memory of both the organization and the properties it manages. A related practice, 9G, guides recordkeeping for transactions.

The federal and provincial privacy legislation introduced in 2004 will impact the collection and management of private information. Land trusts should be aware of the applicable legislation and integrate a response to that legislation into both a privacy policy and a records policy for their organizations. A complete land trust records policy will address document creation, retention and destruction.