I’ll probably catch holy heck for this, but here goes …
The IRS attempt to get non-profits to adopt document retention and destruction policies is misguided in nearly every way imaginable. It does little more than create a business for lawyers and other consultants to create policies and systems that are unmanageable, unrealistic, unenforceable and therefore ineffective in almost every way (I agree that it will free up storage space), including legally. It has already cost thousands of charities many thousands of dollars to be able to check “yes” on the Form 990 question that asks, “Does the organization have a written document retention and destruction policy?” The IRS has already succeeded in getting the non-profit sector to adopt such policies, but the whole effort is, as Betty White said about Facebook, a big waste of time.