Nonprofit compliance in Alabama

Alabama has no law requiring every nonprofit to screen volunteers. Chapter 38-13 of Title 38 (Act 2000-775) requires ALEA and FBI fingerprint checks, with a written DHR suitability determination, for volunteers in DHR-licensed or approved child care (including church-exempt child care ministries), DHR-licensed adult care, child-placing agencies, foster and adoptive homes and DHR-contracted programs, and § 38-15-5 extends the same check to volunteers at registered youth residential programs, including faith-based ones. Youth sports have no background-check law; coaches instead take an annual injury-prevention course under the Coach Safely Act. From October 1, 2026, §§ 41-9-650.1 to 41-9-650.5 authorize ALEA to provide background checks for noncriminal justice purposes through a new Alabama Background Check Service — including to “[a]ny nonprofit or volunteer organization to screen a prospective or current volunteer of the organization” (§ 41-9-650.1(a)(3)) — and to establish an Alabama Rap Back Program; ALEA had not published a request route or fee schedule for it as of October 1, 2026, so confirm availability with ALEA before relying on it.

• Alabama Code § 38-13-3 — Background Check Requirement (Ala. Code § 38-13-3 (Act 2000-775, as amended by Act 2018-278)) — Requires covered employers, child care facilities (including church-exempt facilities), adult care facilities, child-placing agencies and DHR to have ALEA run fingerprint-based state and FBI checks on employees, applicants and volunteers, and on foster and adoptive parents; DHR reviews the results and issues a written suitability determination. Personnel, students, mentors and volunteers of DHR contractors whose essential function includes unsupervised access are covered, with DHR paying the fee. DHR-exempt adult care facilities may use the process voluntarily.
• Alabama Code §§ 38-13-4, 38-13-5 — Notice, Provisional Service and Suitability (Ala. Code §§ 38-13-4, 38-13-5 (as amended by Act 2019-322)) — Requires a signed criminal-history statement with the statutory notice before service and a check request to ALEA within five business days, lets a volunteer serve provisionally until DHR’s suitability letter arrives, and requires removal of a volunteer DHR finds unsuitable. Volunteers must report any later conviction (§ 38-13-5(b)); knowingly, willfully and intentionally failing to do so is a Class A misdemeanor (§ 38-13-9(a)(4)).
• Alabama Code § 38-15-5 — Youth Residential Facility Abuse Prevention Act (Ala. Code § 38-15-5 (Act 2017-374)) — Every employee and volunteer of a registered religious, faith-based, nonprofit or for-profit youth residential program must pass a criminal background check under § 38-13-3(a)(1) before unsupervised contact with children.
• Alabama Code § 38-7-3 — Church-exempt child care (Ala. Code § 38-7-3 (Act 2018-278)) — Child care that is an integral part of a church ministry or religious school is exempt from licensing unless it takes state or federal funds or runs for profit. It must still file staff criminal history under § 38-13-3 with DHR every year, pass inspections, notify parents, and post that it is not DHR-licensed.
• Alabama Code § 15-20A-13 — Sex offender volunteer bar (Ala. Code § 15-20A-13 (as amended by Act 2025-201)) — Adult registrants may not volunteer at schools, child care or organizations serving primarily children, within 2,000 feet of a school or child care facility, near parks and athletic fields (for child offenders), or as first responders. Knowingly giving a registrant a volunteer position at a child care facility or an organization serving primarily children is a Class C felony.
• Alabama Code §§ 41-9-650.1 to 41-9-650.5 — Alabama Background Check Service (Act 2026-374, effective October 1, 2026) — ALEA may run name-based or biometric checks for any nonprofit or volunteer organization screening volunteers, with the volunteer’s express permission kept for at least three years. The record fee is capped at $30, and Rap Back alerts are optional.
• Who it reaches: Volunteers in DHR-licensed or approved child care, including church-exempt child care ministries (our reading of § 38-13-2(9)): ALEA and FBI fingerprint check with a DHR suitability letter, plus, for those with unsupervised access, child abuse/neglect and sex offender registry checks, renewed at least every five years in licensed and subsidy programs (§§ 38-13-3(a)(1), 38-7-3(c)(2); DHR child care rules); Employees and volunteers of DHR-registered youth residential programs, including faith-based programs, private alternative boarding schools and outdoor or treatment programs that house children more than 24 hours, before any unsupervised contact (§ 38-15-5); Foster and adoptive parents and adult household members; volunteers in licensed child-placing agencies, residential child-care facilities and DHR-licensed adult care; and students, mentors and volunteers of DHR contractors whose essential function includes unsupervised access (§ 38-13-3(a)(1)-(3), (5)); Volunteers with one-on-one contact at assisted living, home health, hospice, hospital, nursing, rehabilitation and designated adult group-home providers: the provider must query DHR’s Elder and Adult Abuse Registry (§ 38-9G-5; a registry query, not a fingerprint check); From January 1, 2027: all staff, including volunteers, at overnight camps with cabins for campers 16 and under may not have a sexual or violent conviction as disclosed by ALEA or an approved screening contractor (Act 2026-368, § 4(a)); Optional, not required: youth sports coaches and league volunteers. Alabama has no youth-sports background-check law; coaches of high-risk sports for ages 14 and under on public property must instead complete an annual injury-prevention course (§ 22-11F-3); Optional, not required: school volunteers and chaperones. The school law covers employees only (§ 16-22A-5); follow your local board or private school policy; Optional, not required: other nonprofits working with children, elders or people with disabilities outside DHR licensing, although § 38-13-2(17) defines employer broadly enough that counsel should confirm; from October 1, 2026 § 41-9-650.1(a)(3) authorizes ALEA to provide a background check to any nonprofit or volunteer organization to screen a prospective or current volunteer, though ALEA had not published a request route as of October 1, 2026.
• Check types in use: ALEA and FBI fingerprint check for Chapter 38-13 settings, taken by DHR’s vendor Fieldprint ($47.20 per application); DHR issues a written suitability determination (§ 38-13-7(b)); DHR Child Abuse/Neglect Central Registry clearance (Form DHR-DFC-1598, no fee), plus other-state registry checks for anyone who lived elsewhere in the past five years (child care); Alabama sex offender registry search (free, immediate) and National Sex Offender Registry search (child care); DHR Elder and Adult in Need of Protective Services Abuse Registry query for adult-care volunteers with one-on-one contact (§ 38-9G-5); ALEA personal criminal history record review: $25 (ALEA asks for fingerprints and photo ID; DHR says a mailed request takes at least 4–5 weeks); the $25 statutory fee (§ 32-2-61) is repealed Oct. 1, 2026, and ALEA’s new fee power is § 41-9-650.3; From October 1, 2026: Alabama Background Check Service for nonprofits, name-based (Alabama records only) or biometric, record fee capped at $30 plus any FBI cost, optional Rap Back alerts up to $12 per year (§§ 41-9-650.1 to 41-9-650.4).
• Administered by: Alabama Department of Human Resources (DHR) Office of Criminal History issues suitability determinations for Chapter 38-13 checks (fingerprints taken by Fieldprint and processed by ALEA and the FBI) and runs the Child Abuse/Neglect Central Registry and the Elder and Adult Abuse Registry; ALEA holds Alabama criminal records and the sex offender registry and, from October 1, 2026, runs the Alabama Background Check Service.
• Typical processing: We found no published turnaround for DHR fingerprint checks; volunteers may serve provisionally pending DHR’s suitability letter (§ 38-13-4(b)). ALEA personal record review by mail: at least 4–5 weeks..

Alabama requires a charitable organization located in the state to register with the Attorney General before soliciting and to pay $25 (Ala. Code § 13A-9-71(a), (d)), then file an annual report or IRS Form 990 with another $25 within 90 days after its fiscal year ends, extendable up to 180 days (§ 13A-9-71(g)). Religious organizations, educational institutions, listed fraternal and similar groups, and civic groups soliciting only their members are exempt, and so is any charity that neither intends to receive nor receives more than $25,000 in contributions in a fiscal year if all of its fundraising is done by unpaid people; a charity that crosses $25,000 must register within 30 days (§ 13A-9-71(f)).

• An Alabama charity that raises $25,000 or less a year using only unpaid fundraisers, or any religious organization, does not register with the Attorney General (§ 13A-9-71(f)(2), (7)).
• Soliciting residents of other states can trigger registration in those states regardless of where you are based — an online donate button reaches all fifty.
• Exemptions exist in most registering states (small organizations, religious organizations, membership appeals) but they are specific and usually must be claimed rather than assumed.
• Confirm current requirements with your state charity office before relying on this — thresholds and exemptions are amended frequently.

These apply regardless of which state you operate in, and they are the ones most commonly missed by small organizations that assume state registration is the whole picture.

• Annual Form 990, 990-EZ, or 990-N. Three consecutive years of non-filing revokes exempt status automatically — this is the single most common way small nonprofits lose their status.
• If you run background checks on volunteers, the Fair Credit Reporting Act applies to you as a user of consumer reports: a standalone written disclosure, separate written authorization, and the pre-adverse and adverse action sequence before acting on a result.
• Public disclosure: your exemption application and recent 990s must be made available on request.
• Employment obligations attach to paid staff regardless of exempt status — payroll tax, worker classification, and wage and hour law all apply.