Cheap Volunteer Background Checks

COVID has had a huge impact on not-for-profits, as well as most organizations unless you are Amazon or UPS, so it makes perfect sense that you would be looking for cost savings wherever you can find them.  And I would agree that this is the perfect time to be auditing all of your policies and programs, making sure you are getting a quality product at a reasonable price.

However, selecting a background check provider because they offer cheap volunteer background checks is not the only criteria you should be concerned with.  Cheap rarely means quality. 

As we are moving out of COVID, we may experience a perfect storm of risk with increased domestic violence, child abuse, suicide and suicidal ideations and the need to backfill many volunteer positions that are open because of volunteers who are no longer willing or able to volunteer.

Volunteer background checks require a checks and balances of solutions.  How do I know if my volunteer background check is quality?

1. Does it include an SSN Verification to identify the volunteer?

2. Does your screening package include Alias Names and Former Names?  Or do they charge you for each name which results in a $10 report becoming $30 with two alias names?

3. Do they use more than a national criminal database?  Some states provide very good criminal data to database providers.  However, most states do not.  And even if your candidate lives in your state now, that provides good data, they may have lived in states OR traveled to states that do not.

4. Does it include a Federal Criminal Search?  The federal courts are separate and distinct from state courts and include criminal records that are white collar, internet-based like child solicitation or drug related.

5. Does it include Real-Time Arrest Notifications?  What happens if your volunteer is arrested a month after starting to serve for a prohibitive crime, would you know this?

The good news is that a background screening firm that utilizes cutting edge technology can offer cheap volunteer background checks that are also high quality.  Many volunteer background screening firms that provide volunteer background checks hide behind confusing marketing, using terms such as “national background check” which has no standard definition.

Transparency in background screening is important.  Our teams audit background screening programs every single day for not-for-profits and the majority of them are not getting what they thought they were getting.  We pointed one prospect back to their current providers website to show them that the background screening firm said they should not use the exact screening package they sold them in the state where they operated.  That becomes less about transparency and more about integrity.  And risk.  Why would they sell them a background check that they publicly acknowledged would not protect them?  Profit.

So do your homework.  Make sure you conduct research and find a viable screening partner that will provide a service at a decent price and are also doing all they can to protect your organization.

I would like to learn more about volunteer background checks