Write and run a safe-ministry background check policy your board and insurer will trust: FCRA-compliant $5 national criminal checks, all-50-state sex-offender registry coverage, and biometric identity verification for every serving volunteer.
A written background check policy is the backbone of a safe-ministry program — and most insurers and denominations now expect one. A good policy defines who must be screened (anyone working with children, youth, or vulnerable adults), how often re-screening happens, what the check must cover, and how each volunteer's identity is confirmed. The hard part has always been funding it: at $25–$80 per report, screening every nursery worker, youth leader, and small-group host gets expensive fast.
VolunteerBadge lets your policy require screening for everyone without breaking the budget. Each volunteer completes a full national criminal check — county, state, and federal courts, sex-offender registries in all 50 states, FBI Most Wanted, and OFAC watchlists — for $5, with a free address-history check and FCRA-compliant adverse-action notices included.
It also lets your policy go further than name-and-date-of-birth. VolunteerBadge verifies each volunteer with a government photo ID and a biometric liveness selfie matched to the applicant — so your policy can require that you screen a verified person, not just a name on a form. That is the difference between a policy on paper and one that actually protects the people in your care.
How to draft volunteer and screening policies your board can adopt — what to include, how often to re-screen, and how to document it.
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.
At minimum: who must be screened (anyone serving children, youth, or vulnerable adults), how often (typically annually or every two years), what the check covers (national criminal plus all-50-state sex-offender registry), how identity is verified, and how results and adverse-action steps are handled. VolunteerBadge gives you a consistent, documented process to reference.
A full national criminal check is $5 per volunteer through VolunteerBadge, with free address-history checks and adverse-action notices included and no per-seat fees — affordable enough for a policy that screens everyone, not just staff.
We recommend it. A name-and-date-of-birth check 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 your policy can require screening a verified individual.
Yes. Every check follows an FCRA-compliant process with up-front applicant authorization and automatic adverse-action notice generation — the compliance guardrails your policy needs, included at no extra cost.
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.