Nonprofit compliance in Colorado

We found no Colorado statute requiring every nonprofit volunteer to be background checked. Checks are required in specific settings: licensed child care, including day camps (CDEC rules require CBI and FBI fingerprints and a TRAILS child abuse check for volunteers who care for or supervise children or have unsupervised access, or who count toward staff-child ratio for 14 days or 112 hours a year); private youth sports organizations, which since August 7, 2024 must run a consumer-reporting-agency background check on every paid or volunteer coach, manager or supervisor before they start (C.R.S. 26.5-4-403); licensed neighborhood youth organizations (C.R.S. 26.5-5-308); and programs funded by the state Domestic Violence Program (12 CCR 2512-2). C.R.S. 24-72-305.3 separately lets any organization that provides care to children, the elderly or people with disabilities request CBI and FBI fingerprint checks on volunteers through the VECHS program, but it does not require them. Colorado’s school fingerprint law (C.R.S. 22-32-109.8) covers employees, not volunteers, and its ban-the-box law, the Chance to Compete Act (C.R.S. 8-2-130), is written for employment applications.

• Youth Sports Coach Background Checks (SB 24-113) (C.R.S. 26.5-4-401 to 26.5-4-403) — Since August 7, 2024, a private youth sports organization must obtain a background check from a consumer reporting agency on every paid or volunteer coach, manager or supervisor before they begin. The statute lists what the check must cover, including sex offenses and felonies, a Social Security number trace and a Colorado court records search. Organizations that rely on the results in hiring and employment decisions are immune from civil liability unless they know the information is false or act with reckless disregard, and from July 1, 2025 every coach must complete mandatory-reporter training each year (26.5-4-402(1)(a)).
• Child Care Licensing Background Checks (C.R.S. 26.5-5-316; 8 CCR 1402-1 §§ 2.120, 2.121, 2.412(E)) — Licensed child care, including day and summer camps (which Colorado law defines as child care centers, C.R.S. 26.5-5-303), must obtain CBI and FBI fingerprint checks and a TRAILS child abuse check for volunteers who care for or supervise children or have unsupervised access, or who count toward staff-child ratio for 14 days (112 hours) or more a year (§ 2.121(D)(2)-(3)). TRAILS and FBI checks renew every five years. The volunteer triggers come from CDEC rule, not statute, and CDEC redrafted these rules in 2026 — confirm the current version with CDEC.
• Domestic Violence Program Rules (12 CCR 2512-2 § 12.201.8) — Programs funded by the state Domestic Violence Program must have a written criminal background check policy and a completed criminal background check for every volunteer before the volunteer’s start date.
• Private Access to Criminal History Records of Volunteers and Employees of Charitable Organizations (VECHS) (C.R.S. 24-72-305.3) — Lets a qualified entity (a public, private, for-profit, not-for-profit or voluntary organization that provides care or care placement services to children, the elderly or individuals with disabilities) ask the CBI for state and FBI fingerprint-based checks on its employees and volunteers. The statute says a qualified entity “may” request these checks; it does not require them.
• School District Background Check Requirements (C.R.S. 22-32-109.8) — Requires a person selected by a school district for a position that does not need an educator license to submit fingerprints for a CBI and FBI criminal history check. It covers employment applicants; we found no statute in Title 22 requiring school volunteers to be checked.
• Colorado Chance to Compete Act (Ban the Box) (C.R.S. 8-2-130) — Since September 1, 2021, bars employers other than state and local government from saying in a job ad or application that people with a criminal history may not apply, and from asking about criminal history on an initial application. It does not apply where law requires a criminal history check for the position. Its text covers employment positions and applicants; we found no provision extending it to unpaid volunteers.
• Who it reaches: Child care volunteers, including at day camps, who care for or supervise children or have unsupervised access, or who count toward staff-child ratio for 14 days (112 hours) or more a year (8 CCR 1402-1 § 2.121(D)(2)-(3)); Paid and volunteer coaches, managers and supervisors of private youth sports organizations, before they start (C.R.S. 26.5-4-403); All volunteers of programs funded by the state Domestic Violence Program, before their start date (12 CCR 2512-2 § 12.201.8); Resident camp volunteers who count toward staff-child ratio, or who work 14 days (112 hours) or more a year (8 CCR 1402-1 § 2.412(E)); Volunteers who work directly with youth five or more days a month at a licensed neighborhood youth organization, before starting and every two years (C.R.S. 26.5-5-308(4)); Optional, not required: CBI and FBI fingerprint checks through VECHS for organizations that care for children, the elderly or people with disabilities (C.R.S. 24-72-305.3); Optional, not required: a CAPS adult protective services check on volunteers who give direct care to at-risk adults (C.R.S. 26-3.1-111(6)(a)(IV)).
• Check types in use: Fingerprint-based CBI criminal history check; FBI fingerprint check (required through CDEC licensing for child care; optional through VECHS for other care organizations); Consumer-reporting-agency check with SSN trace and Colorado court records search (youth sports coaches, C.R.S. 26.5-4-403); Sex offender registry check; TRAILS child abuse and neglect check (child care); CAPS adult protective services check (required for adult-care employees; optional for volunteers).
• Administered by: Colorado Bureau of Investigation (CBI), Biometric Identification and Records Unit, with fingerprints taken by CBI-approved vendors (IdentoGO and Colorado Fingerprinting); Colorado Department of Early Childhood for child care checks.
• Typical processing: CBI’s name-based online check returns results immediately (a $13 manual search can take up to 3 business days, then results are mailed); CAPS checks return within 5 business days. CBI does not publish a fingerprint turnaround time..

Colorado requires a charitable organization to register with the Secretary of State before soliciting contributions, and to file annually (C.R.S. § 6-16-104); the Secretary of State charges $10 for a new registration, an amendment or a renewal. An organization that raises no more than $25,000 a year in gross revenue (not counting government or 501(c)(3) grants), or that receives contributions from ten or fewer people, need not register unless it has contracted with a paid solicitor (§ 6-16-104(6)(c)).

• Small Colorado charities under the § 6-16-104(6)(c) thresholds are exempt, but the exemption does not apply once you contract with a paid solicitor.
• 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.