Most background check companies were built for corporate HR and priced accordingly. VolunteerBadge is built for nonprofits: $5 FCRA-compliant national criminal checks, free address history, biometric identity verification, and grant-ready reporting — no per-seat fees, no contracts.
When nonprofits evaluate background check companies, four things matter most: price per check (you are screening volunteers, not funding an enterprise HR budget), record coverage (national criminal plus all-50-state sex-offender registry), FCRA compliance and adverse-action support, and whether the provider actually confirms a volunteer's identity. Many well-known providers do the screening well but price for corporations and stop at a name-and-date-of-birth match.
VolunteerBadge was built specifically for the nonprofit and volunteer use case. A full national criminal check is $5 — county, state, and federal courts, sex-offender registries in all 50 states, FBI Most Wanted, and OFAC watchlists — with a free address-history check on every application and adverse-action notices included. There are no per-seat fees, so a small nonprofit pays only for the checks it runs.
It also adds what most providers do not: biometric identity verification that ties a real, verified human to every application, plus grant-ready PDF and CSV reporting and an AI grant-writing assistant on Pro. One platform handles applications, screening, identity, compliance, and reporting — purpose-built for how nonprofits actually recruit and vet volunteers.
How nonprofits use VolunteerBadge to screen, verify, and track volunteers affordably — with FCRA compliance built in.
¹ Urban Institute (2017), analysis of 1.7 million employment background checks
Other platforms charge extra for these. We don't.
We search 650M+ court records across all jurisdictions — county, state, and federal courts, sex offender registries, FBI Most Wanted, OFAC sanctions, and global watchlists. If county records exist but can't be verified under FCRA guidelines, we tell you and refund your fee. No games.
Every volunteer application includes a free address history pull. We verify what they report against what we find. Gaps, inconsistencies, or addresses they "forgot" to mention get flagged before you spend a dime on a criminal check.
Go beyond name-and-date-of-birth. Verify each volunteer with a government-issued photo ID and a biometric liveness selfie, matched against the identity they provide — so you know the human behind the application is who they claim to be.
Fully documented REST API and webhook support. Plug VolunteerBadge into your CRM, volunteer management software, or AI tool of choice. One API key. 1 credit = 1 background check, however you access us.
VolunteerBadge is the only volunteer screening platform that ties a real, verified identity to every application: a biometric face match against a government photo ID, then triangulated against the SSN trace and address history behind the check. A borrowed clean identity can't get through.
Biometric facial match
A live liveness selfie — proof a real person is present, not a photo.
Government photo ID
The selfie is matched face-to-face against their official ID document.
SSN + address triangulation
Identity cross-checked against the SSN trace and address history on the report.
Enterprise-grade verification at a nonprofit price. The same rigor banks use — built into every $5 check.
Application to cleared volunteer in three steps.
Create a digital volunteer application with built-in FCRA authorization. Send a link or embed it on your site.
A free address-history check and biometric ID verification confirm the applicant before you spend a dollar.
A full national criminal check returns an FCRA-compliant report — with adverse-action notices if needed.
Pay per check for screening. Subscribe to run your whole volunteer program.
Buy credits one at a time. No commitment, no expiry.
Save 20% vs single-check pricing. Credits never expire.
Unlimited admin users, flat. Checks billed separately at $5.
Every check follows an FCRA-compliant process, with applicant authorization captured up front and adverse-action notices generated for you when a record is found. The guardrails that protect your volunteers and your organization are included — not sold separately.
Create a free account in minutes. No contracts, no monthly minimums, no sales call. Just $5 per check when you're ready.
The right provider for a nonprofit balances low per-check cost, broad record coverage, FCRA compliance, and identity verification. VolunteerBadge is built for this use case: $5 national criminal checks, all-50-state sex-offender registry, free address history, biometric identity verification, and grant-ready reporting — with no per-seat fees. See our comparison pages for a feature-by-feature look at the major providers.
Many providers charge $20–$80 per report. VolunteerBadge offers full national criminal checks for $5, with free address-history checks and adverse-action notices included — and bundles that bring it as low as $4 per check.
Most stop at a name-and-date-of-birth search, which cannot confirm the person is who they claim to be. VolunteerBadge adds a government photo ID and biometric liveness selfie matched to the applicant, so a borrowed clean identity cannot pass.
Yes. VolunteerBadge is a licensed Consumer Reporting Agency and every check follows an FCRA-compliant process, with applicant authorization captured up front and adverse-action notices generated automatically.
The nonprofit-built screening platform.
Feature-by-feature against the major background check companies.
The clear-rate data and the markup most providers add.
What compliance actually requires.
Roughly 94% of background checks find no criminal record — which is why screening every volunteer should be affordable, and why confirming the person's real identity matters as much as the record search itself. The research and industry data below back that up.