Nonprofits
Affordable Background Screening For Non-Profit Organizations
Quickly and easily screen volunteers and employees with GoodHire’s fast, reliable background checks—while also ensuring your organization stays compliant with the law.
Results You Can Trust
Background Checks Are Critical To Achieving Your Mission
Nonprofits and volunteer organizations are mission-oriented and often serve vulnerable populations. Employee background checks are necessary—and often required—to protect your clients and ensure continued funding. Screening also helps protect assets, mitigate risk, and avoid potential liability lawsuits.
Quick & Easy
Onboard Volunteers Faster
Your volunteers and employees are anxious to get to work! GoodHire helps you screen and review background checks quickly—we’ve built the industry’s most comprehensive database, delivering trusted results and fast turnaround times to more than 3,000 non-profit organizations.
- Quick Account Activation
Account setup and organization verification takes just minutes—online or on your mobile device. - Order In Bulk
Request background checks for multiple volunteers and applicants at once to quickly kick off the screening process. - Screen On The Spot
Volunteers can easily begin the screening process wherever they are by using your organization’s custom ordering link.
Peace of Mind
Protect Your Organization
Protect your reputation, your clients, and your mission. We help you run the right background checks and follow compliance guidelines before you make decisions about who to hire and which volunteers to accept.
- Select The Appropriate Screening Package
We understand federal and state compliance requirements and can customize the right package. - Ongoing Monitoring
Increase safety and mitigate risk with automatic monthly background checks on existing employees. - Built-in Compliance
We worry about compliance so you don’t have to. Integrated workflows help you stay compliant with hundreds of federal, state, and local legal requirements and ban-the-box laws.
User-friendly
Treat Volunteers With Respect
Volunteers and employees are the lifeblood of your organization. GoodHire makes background checks easy, convenient, and non-threatening for your applicants with a screening process that treats them the way you do—with respect.
- Custom Messaging
To make volunteers feel more comfortable about background checks, communications about the screening process are written specifically for them. - Comments For Context
This unique feature empowers applicants to share details court records can’t provide—and empowers you to make informed decisions faster. - Easy & Convenient To Use
Our mobile-optimized experience lets candidates enter their own information and digitally sign consent forms on any device.
Learn More About Background Checks For Nonprofits (Frequently Asked Questions)
Nonprofits may use background checks to make more informed decisions when hiring employees or bringing on new volunteers. Partnering with a background check provider to conduct nonprofit background checks can help protect your organization’s reputation, promote a safe work environment, and mitigate the risk of lawsuits. When conducting background checks, it’s important for nonprofits to stay compliant with federal, state, and local fair hiring laws in order to avoid potential legal issues.
What is a background check for nonprofits?
Background checks for nonprofits can look at a candidate’s or volunteer’s education, work history, criminal history, and more. Depending on the type of screening your organization needs, a background check might involve searching public records and databases, checking motor vehicle records, or contacting an individual’s previous schools or employers.
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Get StartedWhat shows up on nonprofit background checks?
Nonprofit background checks can show different types of information related to a candidate’s or volunteer’s history, such as criminal convictions, drug use, and education or employment history, depending on your organization’s requirements or preferences. Nonprofits may choose certain background checks to help mitigate risks associated with their mission or to confirm that candidates are qualified for a role. For example, a nonprofit that works with vulnerable populations might include a criminal records check in its volunteer screening, while a nonprofit that’s hiring for a leadership position might run an education history background check to verify that candidates’ credentials are accurate.
Nonprofit organizations may want to consider the following types of background checks:
Criminal history
A criminal background check provides information about a candidate’s or volunteer’s criminal history as it’s reported in national, federal, state, and county databases in the US. This type of background check may identify felony criminal convictions such as kidnapping, arson, sexual assault, aggravated assault, and theft of values $500 and up. It may also report misdemeanor criminal convictions including vandalism, trespassing, public intoxication, disorderly conduct, prostitution, and theft of values under $500. A criminal background check may also show if an individual has any pending criminal cases, active warrants or arrests pending prosecution, and it may include the individual’s history of incarceration as an adult.
Employment history
Nonprofit organizations may use an employment history check to confirm details about a candidate’s or volunteer’s work history. This screening may contact an individual’s past and present employers to verify job titles held and the start and end dates of each position. It shows if the individual provided accurate information on their resume and can identify possible discrepancies in the account of their work history.
education history
An education history background check is useful for verifying a candidate’s or volunteer’s academic experience and degrees earned. This screening includes searching a database or contacting the high schools, vocational schools, colleges, and universities that an individual listed on their application. It shows whether the individual was enrolled in each educational institution and reports the start and end dates of their attendance. If the school allows students to major in a subject, the background check may confirm the major. An education history check also verifies any degrees, diplomas, or certificates that the individual earned. An education history verification check shows if an individual attended the schools they say they did and informs you if stated credentials don’t match school records.
Reference check
To gain insight into a candidate’s or volunteer’s character and get an assessment of the individual’s general reputation in the workplace, nonprofits can run a personal or professional reference check. This screening contacts an individual’s previous employer or supervisor and asks open-ended questions about their strengths and weaknesses. You get a transcript of the interview, which can help you evaluate the individual’s reputation, soft skills, communication style, and other characteristics.
How to run background checks on volunteers
Nonprofits can conduct background checks for volunteers or job candidates directly, or they can work with a qualified consumer reporting agency (CRA), like GoodHire. Whichever route your nonprofit organization chooses, the first step is to create a background check policy. Best practice for this policy includes stating which searches and screenings will apply to different roles and job positions, and how the findings from these background checks will be used to screen volunteers and candidates. It should also outline when in the application process the background checks will happen.
If your nonprofit decides to perform its own background checks, you’ll likely need to dedicate resources to searching public databases and manually contacting schools, employers, or references for each volunteer and candidate. You’ll also need to monitor the process closely to ensure compliance.
It may save time to partner with a CRA, like GoodHire. Outsourcing this work to a company that offers background checks for volunteer organizations can create a better experience for your candidates while freeing up staff to focus on your mission.
A CRA that’s committed to compliance can provide tools to streamline required tasks like getting consent from individuals and sending adverse action notices. You can integrate these tools into your workflow to help ensure you’re following applicable laws.
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Get StartedNonprofit background check compliance laws
When screening job candidates and volunteers, nonprofit organizations have to follow federal, state, and local laws that apply to background checks. Staying up-to-date on legal requirements is important for preventing legal consequences such as fines and lawsuits. The rules can be complex, so it often makes sense to use background check services for nonprofits that have compliance built into the process.
fair credit reporting act (Fcra)
The Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA) is a federal law that defines an organization’s responsibilities when conducting background checks using a CRA. The FCRA requires organizations to tell candidates or volunteers in writing that they plan to run a background check, and receive written permission from the individual prior to doing so. If an employer decides against moving forward in the onboarding process based on the findings of a background check, the FCRA requires the organization to also follow the adverse action process.
equal employment opportunity commission (eeoc)
The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) is a federal agency that enforces laws against discrimination, including Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964. The EEOC also creates regulations on fair hiring and employment.
EEOC guidance seeks for organizations to conduct background checks in a fair and equitable manner. Organizations are recommended to not conduct background checks based on a candidate’s race, national origin, religion, sex, religion, disability, or other legally protected characteristics or use information found in a background check to illegally discriminate.
ban-the-box and fair hiring laws
Ban-the-box laws are state and local laws that govern when organizations can inquire about a candidate’s or volunteer’s criminal history or conduct a criminal background check, such as waiting until they extend a conditional offer of employment. Nonprofits must comply with any ban-the-box laws and other fair hiring laws that are applicable where they’re located and where individuals will be working.
Why nonprofit background checks should be a part of your process
If you hire employees for nonprofit roles or have a volunteer management program in place to bring on new volunteers, background checks can help you make informed decisions and mitigate potential risks. Background checks can verify individuals’ qualifications and provide additional context about their past experience. Including screenings in your onboarding process can help your nonprofit select candidates and volunteers who are well prepared to take on your organization’s challenges.
Background checks can also help protect your organization from potential liability claims and reputational risks, safeguard your organization’s assets, and maintain your donors’ trust.
Get a nonprofit background check with GoodHire
Background checks for volunteer work can help your nonprofit protect the populations you serve so you can focus on achieving your mission. For many organizations, the most convenient way to run compliant background checks is to work with a qualified CRA, like GoodHire.
GoodHire offers more than 100 screening options and delivers background check reports with speed and accuracy. Learn more about our automated workflows and user-friendly online platform, and find out how GoodHire can help your nonprofit streamline its background check process.