If you’re looking for Jackson County, GA volunteer background screening services, you likely take coordinating your volunteers seriously. Volunteers are the backbone of many organizations. They are people who donate their time and resources to help make a difference in their community. It is important that we take the necessary steps to protect our volunteers and the people they come into contact with. That’s where volunteer background screening comes in. In this article, we will discuss what volunteer background screening is, the benefits of screening your volunteers, the types of organizations that screen their volunteers, and the laws influencing volunteer screening.

Very similar to a pre-employment background screening, a volunteer background check looks over an individual’s criminal history and searches through the statewide sex offender registries. If an organization wants to be really thorough, they might investigate a volunteer’s educational or work history as well as part of identity and credential verification. The purpose of screening volunteers before they serve an organization is to protect the volunteers themselves, the organization, and the people they set out to help.

Other information sometimes gathered during the volunteer screening process includes:

·      Driving records

·      Reference checks

·      Drug tests

·      Social media presence

·      Immigration status

·      Military status

·      Credit history

·      Legal history

In instances where an organization is under time constraints and they need warm bodies to volunteer for their group, fast, it can be tempting to skip the background screening process for the volunteers, as this can sometimes take several days. However, the benefits far outweigh the cost and the associated wait time, which is why so many organizations take the time to vet their volunteers before allowing them to sign on with their mission. Here are some of the primary benefits of screening your volunteers before allowing them to serve your organization:

1.     It protects the people, animals, or other vulnerable populations you intend to help: If you’ve started a non-profit with the intention of finding forever homes for neglected animals or providing services for differently-abled people, your first priority is to make sure your organization has the intended impact on the community in question. Screening your volunteers before allowing them to interact with the people your organization serves protects them from potential harm and increases the likelihood of a positive experience with your non-profit.

2.     It protects your organization: By screening your volunteers for criminal history, you are putting the mission of your organization at the forefront and setting yourself up for success. If you sign on trustworthy volunteers, you are not only better able to serve your community, you are able to protect your organization from any potential liability as well—including costly legal problems.

3.     It protects your volunteers: Indiscriminately screening all your volunteers helps to promote a culture of positivity and efficacy at your organization by ensuring that you’re selecting quality applicants. Making sure volunteers do not have a criminal history will not only protect your community and your organization, but it will also protect the physical safety of those generous enough to volunteer their time for your cause.

4.     It makes for good Public Relations: If you’ve screened your volunteers like you would screen an employee before hiring them, you can rest assured that you’ve done your due diligence and invested in the security of everyone involved in your organization and the community it serves. This generally leads to a positive reputation, which in turn may mean broadening future outreach, onboarding high-caliber volunteers, and touching more lives.

Most savvy non-profits know that screening their volunteers before onboarding them is a wise move—both in the short term and in the long term. However, certain kinds of organizations are more likely to screen their volunteers than others. These organizations include:

·      Any organization with a medical component where there may be an increased liability, such as the American Red Cross

·      Any organization that in any way interacts with children, like St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital or an elementary school

·      Any organization that protects, rehomes, or rehabilitates animals, like your local animal shelter

·      Any organization that serves a “vulnerable population,” such as recovering addicts or homeless individuals

But nowadays, more and more non-profit organizations are taking the time to screen their volunteers before committing to working with them, as the dividends far offset the inconvenience or cost—so it’s considerably more rare that an organization won’t screen their volunteers before onboarding.

Of course, when it comes to background screening, the first piece of litigation that often comes to mind is the Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA), which generally assesses an individual’s “credit capacity…character…or mode of living”—but this is not the only legal act which influences background checks of employees and volunteers.

One other such act is the National Child Protection Act of 1993 (NCPA); sometimes called Oprah’s Law, this act aimed to crack down on child molesters and other deviants by opening up access to the Federal Bureau of Investigation’s records in regards to childcare, schools, or any other organization impacting the lives of children. The goal of Oprah’s Law was to screen applicants for any potential risk factors for the children they are meant to help.

This was further expounded upon with the Volunteers for Children Act of 1998 (VCA), which amended the NCPA to allow volunteer organizations to request access of FBI files through a state agency, which determines if the query is for a “qualified entity.” This act not only aims to protect children, but other vulnerable populations as well, including the elderly and differently abled individuals.

When it comes to running your own volunteer organization, there are hundreds of decisions you will likely have to make over the course of the day that will determine the success of your non-profit. One such decision is who to trust with the public-facing interactions with the community you intend to serve—a task that should not be taken lightly. Creating a positive culture with your volunteers can have a ripple effect that impacts the whole non-profit, from the people you aim to serve to the Executive Director.

So why chance onboarding volunteers who will not positively embody your mission statement? Trust Alpha & Omega Background Screening Solutions with your Jackson County, GA volunteer background screening needs, or check out our list of services!