How long do we need to keep hardcopies of membership records?

How long do we need to hold on to hard copies of some of the membership records? In particular the membership transaction report and the membership record update reports?

JoeHaroldsen wrote:How long do we need to hold on to hard copies of some of the membership records? In particular the membership transaction report and the membership record update reports?

The current record retention policy for membership records is quite simple: Records should be stored only as long as they are needed, and then they should be destroyed.

And, for us, a 1-inch binder fits the bill nicely. When the binder gets full, we shred the oldest month's transaction reports. I have needed to look back that far, but no further in the past 5 years (if memory serves correctly).

I understood that there was no clear policy that hard copies even need to be printed. Am I missing something?

greggo wrote:I understood that there was no clear policy that hard copies even need to be printed. Am I missing something?

I don't think there's any requirement to print them, but you should be aware that if there's any confidential information (such as a current disfellowshipment) you won't see it on the screen, but will see it on the printed copy. The Bishop should be made aware of anything like that on membership records moving into the ward.

So by failing to print or print preview, you may be missing something important.