Faithful to churches for 20 years — but it never learned to verify who’s really applying.
Protect My Ministry has long served the faith community with screening and training. We honor that mission. But its checks confirm records, not people, and its pricing sits well above what a modern platform can offer.
Price per background check
That makes VolunteerBadge up to 6.0× cheaper per check — base around $17.95 plus mandatory add-on fees; per-check pricing often sales-gated.
Protect My Ministry built real trust in the church world: background packages, training resources, and integrations with church management systems. For many congregations it’s been a faithful tool.
The blind spot is the same one across legacy screening — it never confirms that the person applying to serve in your children’s ministry is who they claim to be. And package pricing typically runs several times a VolunteerBadge check.
VolunteerBadge brings the same ministry-minded care into a modern platform: $5, identity-verified, with a refund on any record we can’t stand behind.
| Capability | VolunteerBadge | Protect My Ministry |
|---|---|---|
| Price per criminal check | $5 | $17.95+ add-ons |
| Biometric identity verification | ID + live selfie + SSN-trace triangulation | |
| Portable volunteer badge profile | ||
| Built for faith & nonprofit volunteers | ||
| FCRA adverse-action workflow | Varies | |
| Modern self-serve platform | Legacy | |
| Volunteer roster & recruiting tools | ||
| Sex-offender registry search | ||
| Verifies reportable records (all FCRA CRAs) | ||
| Free address history check | Free, always | |
| Free volunteer application templates |
What Protect My Ministry does well
- Two decades of trust in the faith community
- Training and abuse-prevention resources alongside screening
- Integrations with several church management systems
- Familiar to many denominational networks
Where VolunteerBadge pulls ahead
No identity verification
For a children’s ministry, this is the gap that matters most: the applicant’s real identity is never biometrically confirmed.
Legacy pricing and packages
Package and add-on pricing commonly lands well above $5, with upsells that add up across a volunteer roster.
No portable badge or modern roster
Volunteers can’t carry a reusable cleared badge, and the volunteer-management layer is thin compared with a modern platform.
We verify the human, not just the paperwork.
A church’s duty of care starts with knowing who is actually standing in front of its children. Protect My Ministry verifies records, but never the living identity of the applicant. VolunteerBadge does — a liveness selfie matched to a government photo ID, triangulated against the SSN trace and address history — so no one can serve in your ministry under a borrowed name.
Live biometric selfie
A real liveness capture — not a photo upload — proving a live person is present.
Government photo ID match
The selfie is matched face-to-face against their official ID document.
SSN-trace triangulation
Identity is cross-checked against the SSN trace and address history behind the check.
Why it matters: a name-, DOB- and SSN-only search can be passed with a borrowed clean identity. Tying a verified, living identity to the application is how you stop someone from screening as somebody else.
Everything you need — no add-ons, no surprises.
Free address-history check
An address-history lookup is included free with every application — no add-on fee.
Free volunteer application templates
Ready-to-use, sector-specific application templates at no extra cost.
Built-in FCRA workflow
Digital consent, disclosures, and automated pre-adverse & adverse-action notices with a full audit trail.
Money-back guarantee
If we can't confirm a record belongs to your applicant, we refund the check.
“It never sat right with me to watch nonprofits get charged enterprise prices to screen the very volunteers who keep their missions alive. Our margins are honestly razor thin — and we’re completely at peace with that.”
Matt Angerer · Co-Founder, VolunteerBadge
Read why we priced it this way — the full storyCommon questions
Does VolunteerBadge understand church volunteer screening?
Yes — faith-based templates and workflows are built in, and the platform is used by churches and ministries for exactly this purpose.
Can volunteers reuse their clearance across ministries?
Yes — a cleared volunteer carries a portable VolunteerBadge profile they can share, without paying for a new check each time.
Is it FCRA-compliant for a church?
Yes. Volunteer screening is governed by the FCRA, and VolunteerBadge includes the required consent and adverse-action workflow.
An online volunteer background check for every kind of organization
Wherever you serve, VolunteerBadge is the affordable volunteer background check service that switches organizations off Protect My Ministry — a $5 volunteer background check with verified identity and built-in FCRA compliance for nonprofits.
Church volunteer background checks
Children’s ministry, youth groups, and missions teams — run a church volunteer background check that verifies identity before anyone serves.
Youth sports volunteer background checks
Coaches, team parents, and league officials. A youth sports volunteer background check at $5 keeps every season covered without blowing the budget.
School volunteer background checks
Classroom helpers, chaperones, and PTA volunteers. Meet school volunteer background check requirements with FCRA-compliant reports.
Background checks for nonprofits
From food banks to disaster relief, VolunteerBadge is the affordable volunteer background check service built for nonprofits of every size.
Compare other volunteer background check services
See how VolunteerBadge stacks up against the rest.
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Sterling Volunteers
$5 vs $19–$39
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Checkr
$5 vs $29.99+
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GoodHire
$5 vs $29.99–$89.99
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NCSI
$5 vs Quote / package
Make the switch from Protect My Ministry — for $5 / check
Create a free account, invite a volunteer, and run a fully FCRA-compliant, identity-verified check for $5. No contract. No monthly fee. No catch.