Federal Law (FCRA)
The Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA) establishes the federal minimum requirements for employment background checks, including disclosure and authorization requirements, consumer rights, and the adverse action process. Many states impose additional requirements that employers must also follow.
Read FCRA OverviewAdditional Compliance Requirements
Beyond the FCRA, several sources determine the requirements for a compliant nonprofit screening program.
State Mandates
Many states require criminal history checks for staff and volunteers working with children, older adults, or people with disabilities.
Grant Terms
Government and foundation funders specify screening requirements in grant agreements and audit compliance with them.
Insurers
Liability and abuse coverage carries screening conditions, and a claim can turn on whether those conditions were met.
National Affiliation
Local chapters of national organizations follow standards set by the parent body for staff and volunteers alike.
Recommended Screening Components
Background check components depend on contact with the people served, access to funds, and whether the role is supervised.
| Position |  SSN Trace |
 Address History |
 Form I-9 |
 County Criminal |
 National Criminal Database |
 Federal Criminal |
 Sex Offender |
 Live Scan |
 Employment History |
 Education Verification |
 Credential Verification |
 Credit Reports |
 MVR |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Program Staff | |||||||||||||
| Direct Service Worker | |||||||||||||
| Volunteer (Unsupervised Contact) | |||||||||||||
| Volunteer (Supervised) | |||||||||||||
| Finance and Bookkeeping | |||||||||||||
| Development and Fundraising | |||||||||||||
| Board Member | |||||||||||||
| Executive Director |
Form I-9 is required for employees. Volunteers and board members are not employees, so no Form I-9 is completed for them.
Determined by state mandates, grant terms, insurers, and organization policy. Sex offender registry searches appear across nearly every role here because most nonprofits serve a population the registry is designed to protect.
Notes on This Package
The level of contact sets the package. A volunteer who tutors a child alone in a library carries different exposure than one who serves food at an event with staff present. Most organizations define two or three contact tiers and assign a package to each. The tier is what determines the searches, and a person moving from one role to another moves into a different tier.
Some organizations can request fingerprint checks through the state. Federal law allows organizations that provide care to children, older adults, or people with disabilities to request national fingerprint-based criminal history checks through a designated state agency, covering volunteers as well as employees. Each state implements this differently, and some route the request through a state police agency while others use a separate office. Availability, cost, and turnaround vary enough that it is worth confirming locally.
Financial access concentrates in one or two people. A small organization often has a single bookkeeper handling deposits, payments, and reconciliation, which removes the separation that catches errors elsewhere. Credit reports are commonly ordered for those roles, and several states restrict when an employer may use one. Check the State Laws Overview for the states where you hire.
Grant agreements carry screening terms. Government and foundation funders write screening requirements into the award, specifying which roles are covered and sometimes which searches are run. These terms are audited, and a finding usually turns on records showing the screening happened rather than on what it found.
Volunteers and Board Members
Two groups in a nonprofit are not employees. What carries over to them, and what does not, is a frequent source of confusion.
What does not apply to volunteers
A volunteer is not an employee, so no Form I-9 is completed, wage and hour rules do not apply, and employment tax obligations do not arise. Onboarding is shorter and the paperwork is different.
What does apply
When an organization orders a background report on a volunteer through a screening company, the FCRA obligations attach to that report. The volunteer receives a standalone disclosure and signs an authorization, and if the report leads to the person being turned away, the pre-adverse and final adverse action steps follow. State restrictions on criminal history use apply in the same way.
Board members
Directors hold fiduciary duty over the organization’s assets and are usually unpaid. Screening them is a governance decision made by the board rather than a hiring requirement, and many organizations adopted it after a funder or insurer asked. A background report on a director carries the same disclosure and authorization requirements as any other report.
Beyond General Nonprofit
Requirements expand depending on who the organization serves and how it is funded.
| Youth-Serving Organizations | State mandates commonly require criminal history and child abuse registry checks for anyone with unsupervised access to minors, volunteers included. National parent organizations frequently set an additional standard for their local chapters. |
| Social Services | Programs serving older adults, people with disabilities, or people in crisis carry state registry requirements and licensing conditions. See Social Services. |
| Clinical Programs | Organizations billing federal healthcare programs check federal exclusion lists and verify professional licenses. See Healthcare. |
| Federally Funded Programs | Federal award terms bring screening requirements along with recordkeeping obligations. Organizations receiving federal funds also verify that entities and individuals they contract with are not federally excluded. |
Screening Considerations
Contact Tiers
Defining two or three levels of contact with the people served, then assigning a package to each, is how most organizations scope screening. The tier travels with the role, so a person changing roles is screened to the new tier.
Volunteer Reports and the FCRA
A background report on a volunteer carries the same disclosure, authorization, and adverse action obligations as a report on a job applicant. Volunteer status changes the onboarding paperwork, not the consumer report rules.
State Registry Requirements
Many states require child abuse or adult protective services registry checks for roles working with those populations. Registries are maintained separately from court records and are searched through the state agency that holds them.
Fingerprint Access
Qualifying organizations can request national fingerprint-based checks through a designated state agency for staff and volunteers. Where the request is submitted, what it costs, and how long it takes differ by state.
Financial Roles
Bookkeeping, deposits, and payments often sit with one person. Credit reports are commonly ordered for those roles, and state restrictions on employment credit checks apply to nonprofits in the same way.
Board Screening
Screening directors is a board decision rather than a hiring requirement, and it is usually adopted in response to a funder or insurer. The FCRA obligations for a consumer report apply to directors as they do to anyone else.
Grant and Funder Terms
Awards specify which roles are screened and how records are kept. Audits examine documentation, so the file showing when each check was completed matters as much as the searches themselves.
Re-Screening Intervals
Long-tenured volunteers may hold a report that is years old. Many organizations set a fixed re-screening interval, which requires disclosure and authorization covering reports obtained over the course of service.
Common Questions
Do volunteers need Form I-9?
No. Form I-9 applies to employees, and a volunteer is not an employee. Wage and hour rules do not apply either.
Does the FCRA cover volunteer checks?
The obligations attach to the consumer report. A volunteer receives the same disclosure and authorization, and the adverse action steps apply if the report leads to a rejection.
Are background checks required by law?
For roles working with children, older adults, or people with disabilities, many states require them. Outside those roles, requirements come from funders, insurers, and organization policy.
Can a nonprofit get fingerprint checks?
Qualifying organizations serving children, older adults, or people with disabilities can request them through a designated state agency. The process and cost differ by state.
Should board members be screened?
Many organizations do, particularly where directors have financial authority or a funder asks. It is a governance decision, and the same consumer report rules apply.
Is a registry check a criminal search?
No. Child abuse and adult protective services registries record agency findings, which can exist with no criminal charge. They are searched separately from court records.
Do supervised volunteers need screening?
Most organizations screen them more lightly than volunteers working alone. A database and registry search is common, with the deeper package reserved for unsupervised roles.
How often are volunteers re-screened?
Many organizations set a fixed interval, and funders or insurers sometimes specify one. Reports obtained during service need authorization covering that period.
Related Positions
For the package that applies to a specific role rather than the industry as a whole:
Agencies delivering licensed care programs are covered under Social Services, where state licensing sets the standard.
Worth Knowing
The FCRA Applies to Volunteer Screening
A volunteer is not an employee, so there is no Form I-9 and no wage obligations. Ordering a background report on that volunteer is a separate matter. The disclosure, the signed authorization, and the adverse action steps are handled the same way they are for a regular employee.