For food banks, pantries & soup kitchens
Your volunteers handle food safety, donor money, and client data — and many drive meals right to the doors of seniors and families. VolunteerBadge lets you vet the people in higher-trust roles for $5 — identity-verified and FCRA-compliant — without slowing down your big-hearted volunteer base.
Millions of volunteers move billions of meals every year. At that scale, a light, consistent screening layer for higher-trust roles is simply good stewardship — of your clients, your donors, and your mission.
people lived in food-insecure U.S. households in 2024
USDA ERS
U.S. households experienced food insecurity in 2024
USDA ERS
people volunteer at a pantry, kitchen or meal program every month
Feeding America
food pantries & meal programs in the Feeding America network
Feeding America
meals distributed a year — including mobile pantries & home delivery
Feeding America
A background check is one sensible layer — not a guarantee, and not needed for every helper. Sources linked at the bottom of this page.
Most of your volunteers just want to help — and most roles are low-risk. But a handful of jobs carry the kind of access that deserves a second look before you hand it out.
Home-delivery and mobile-pantry volunteers bring meals to the doors of seniors, families, and people with disabilities — often unsupervised, inside the home.
Cash donations, gift cards, and food inventory pass through volunteer hands. Donors expect the people representing you to be vetted.
Intake and distribution volunteers see names, addresses, family details, and immigration or income status — sensitive information about people already in crisis.
Kitchen and pantry leads make food-handling calls that affect thousands of meals. Reliable, accountable people keep everyone safe.
Everything you need to vet a driver or team lead — nothing you don't.
Email a link or share a QR code with the drivers and leads you want screened. They apply from their phone in minutes.
A government ID + selfie confirm the real person; the $5 national check runs with their consent.
A verified badge lands on your roster — with adverse-action handled for you if records appear.
Free guide
A short, practical guide to recruiting a big-hearted volunteer base, keeping food safe, and applying a light screening touch exactly where it counts.
Food work is one of the easiest volunteer asks in the nonprofit world — it's tangible, social, and family-friendly. Lean into that:
You're handling food for people who are already vulnerable — safety is non-negotiable, but it doesn't have to be complicated.
Not every volunteer needs the same scrutiny. Draw a clear, written line between casual and higher-trust roles so your policy is fair and consistent:
Free training: VolunteerBadge Academy has free, certificate courses your volunteers can take — safe boundaries, working with older adults, and more — at academy.volunteerbadge.com.
This is the layer many high-volume pantries skip — and the one your clients, donors, and insurer quietly expect for the roles that matter.
Not every volunteer who sorts cans for an afternoon needs one — but the people in higher-trust roles do. Home-delivery drivers enter the homes of seniors and families, cash-and-donation handlers touch money, and client-intake volunteers see personal data. A light, consistent screening layer for those roles is a reasonable, defensible way to protect the people you serve and your organization.
A national criminal search across county, state, and federal court records, sex-offender registries in all 50 states plus the national registry, and federal watchlists — with biometric identity verification and a free address-history check. Every possible record is reviewed by a trained analyst before it reaches you.
The platform is free for nonprofits — no monthly fees, no contracts, no per-seat charges. You only pay $5 per background check when you actually run one. Credits never expire, and bulk bundles bring the price down for high-volume seasons like the holidays.
Yes. Send a screening link or QR code to exactly the people in higher-trust roles — delivery drivers, cash handlers, intake volunteers, and site coordinators — and leave your casual sorting-line helpers unscreened. You decide who gets a check; the rest of your big-hearted volunteer base is never slowed down.
Yes. Every check is consent-first with permissible-purpose handling and a built-in adverse-action workflow (pre-adverse notice, a waiting period, and a final notice) if you ever decline someone based on a record.
Vet your drivers and team leads for $5 — free platform, no contracts, FCRA-compliant. Set up in minutes.
Create your free pantry account