Nonprofit compliance in Delaware

Delaware requires a fingerprint-based SBI and FBI check plus a DSCYF Child Protection Registry check for volunteers with regular, unsupervised access to children at any child-serving entity, including public schools, licensed child care, youth camps and DSCYF programs (31 Del. C. § 309). Since July 1, 2026, private schools must check such volunteers the same way (§ 312). Volunteer fire departments must run state and federal checks on members and applicants (16 Del. C. § 6647), and we found no general mandate for other nonprofits.

• Background checks for child-serving entities (31 Del. C. §§ 309, 311) — Every child-serving entity, including public schools, licensed child care, youth camps and DSCYF programs, must obtain a fingerprint-based SBI and FBI check and a DSCYF Child Protection Registry check for prospective employees, volunteers and contractors; a covered volunteer is one with regular, unsupervised access to children. Noncompliance is a class A misdemeanor with a civil penalty of $1,000 to $5,000 per violation.
• Private school background checks (31 Del. C. § 312 (85 Del. Laws c. 197, HS 1 for HB 47, approved Sept. 2, 2025)) — Since July 1, 2026, with compliance due by Sept. 1, 2026, private schools must obtain the same SBI, FBI and Child Protection Registry check for employees, contractors and volunteers with regular direct access to children, including school-run summer schools and youth camps; the law repealed the name-based and opt-out alternatives private schools and youth camps had used.
• Volunteer fire department membership (16 Del. C. § 6647 (84 Del. Laws c. 405, HB 411, approved Sept. 19, 2024)) — After a state and federal background check, membership must be denied or revoked for listed offenses unless the member proves extraordinary circumstances; applicants pay no SBI fee, and a denied or revoked member may appeal to the State Fire Prevention Commission within 15 days.
• DHSS employees, contractors and volunteers serving children (29 Del. C. §§ 7998–7999 (83 Del. Laws c. 491)) — Department of Health and Social Services volunteers who visit children in their homes or community, or have regular direct access to minors, must obtain a criminal background check, at their own cost; a disqualifying criminal conviction or a Child Protection Registry entry at Level III or IV bars the role (29 Del. C. § 7999(a)–(b), (e)).
• Long-term care and home care hiring checks (16 Del. C. §§ 1141, 1145) — Nursing homes and home care, hospice and personal assistance agencies must obtain a Background Check Center criminal history before hiring; the statutes cover applicants for employment and do not name volunteers.
• Who it reaches: Volunteers with regular, unsupervised access to children at any child-serving entity: DSCYF and its contractors, DSCYF-run or contracted residential child care, public and charter schools and the Department of Education, licensed child care, youth camps and summer schools, CCDBG-registered providers and early intervention providers (31 Del. C. § 309(b)(4), (b)(17), (c)); Private school volunteers with regular direct access to children, including at summer schools and youth camps a private school runs (31 Del. C. § 312, in force July 1, 2026; compliance required by September 1, 2026); Members and applicants of Delaware volunteer fire departments, after a state and federal check, with no SBI fee (16 Del. C. § 6647); Licensed child care center volunteers serving more than five days or 40 hours a year, and all adult volunteers at licensed youth camps, fingerprinted before starting (14 DE Admin. Code 933 § 25.2.4; 938 § 28.2); Department of Health and Social Services volunteers who visit children at home or in the community or have regular direct access to minors (29 Del. C. §§ 7998–7999); Prospective foster, adoptive and respite parents and their adult household members (31 Del. C. § 309(b)(9)); Court Appointed Special Advocate volunteers of the Office of the Child Advocate (29 Del. C. § 9010A(1)); Optional, not required: child-welfare organizations not covered by § 309 may opt in to the same SBI, FBI and Child Protection Registry checks at their own expense (31 Del. C. § 309(c)(8)); Optional, not required: we found no statute requiring checks of volunteers at nursing homes, home care agencies, adult day programs or community youth sports leagues.
• Check types in use: Fingerprint-based Delaware State Bureau of Identification (SBI) criminal history check; FBI national criminal history check; Child Protection Registry (CPR) check via DSCYF; National Sex Offender Registry and other-state registry searches in DELACARE comprehensive checks for licensed child care (14 DE Admin. Code 933 § 3.0); licensed youth camps add out-of-state criminal and child-abuse searches (938 § 22.3); Adult Abuse Registry check before hiring at health-care providers and licensed child care (11 Del. C. § 8564(c)); Ongoing SBI and Rap Back notices for current employees and contractors (31 Del. C. § 309(e)(6)); for volunteers, DSCYF’s Criminal History Unit shares later history when continued eligibility is in question (9 DE Admin. Code 301).
• Administered by: Delaware State Police, State Bureau of Identification (fingerprinting and criminal history); DSCYF (Child Protection Registry checks and Criminal History Unit eligibility decisions for child care, youth camps and DSCYF programs); Department of Education Office of Child Care Licensing (child care and youth camp licensing); State Fire Prevention Commission (volunteer fire membership appeals).
• Typical processing: Not set by statute. We could not verify State Police processing times; a child-serving entity may place a volunteer conditionally while results are pending, subject to setting rules (31 Del. C. § 309(c)(7)).

Yes. Delaware requires all persons to report suspected child abuse without naming any professions at all — so a volunteer's role is irrelevant to the duty. Everyone in your organization — teen volunteers included — is a mandated reporter. Confirm Delaware's current statute before writing your policy — these are amended often.

• In every state, territory and the District of Columbia, ANY person is permitted to report suspected abuse even when not required to. A volunteer who is not a mandated reporter can still call, and should.
• The safest operating posture, whatever the statute says, is to train every volunteer on what to report and to whom — a policy that only trains "mandated" staff leaves the person most likely to witness something untrained.
• Reporting duties are personal. A volunteer who is a mandated reporter cannot discharge the duty by telling a supervisor and stopping there in most states.
• Screening and reporting are different obligations. Clearing a background check does not satisfy a reporting duty, and no reporting policy substitutes for screening.

Delaware does not require charities or professional solicitors to register before soliciting; we found no registration statute. Instead the Delaware Charitable/Fraternal Solicitation Act makes deceptive solicitation an unlawful practice that the Attorney General enforces under the Consumer Fraud Act (6 Del. C. §§ 2595, 2597). Anyone soliciting must give their own name and the charity’s name and purpose before asking, must disclose on request how much of a gift goes to the charity, and may not solicit before 8 a.m. or after 9 p.m. without prior permission (§§ 2595(b), 2596); paid professional solicitors must keep records and a written contract with the charity for at least 3 years after the contract ends, and a charity’s own volunteers are not professional solicitors (§§ 2593(6), 2594). A Delaware nonprofit corporation that is an exempt corporation pays no franchise tax but files the annual franchise tax report by March 1 with a $25 fee (8 Del. C. §§ 391(a)(18), 501, 502). Bingo and other charitable games need a Board of Charitable Gaming license at $15 per occasion, and a $300 annual raffle license covers up to 20 raffle events (28 Del. C. §§ 1501, 1514, 1535A).

• A Delaware charity does not register with the state to solicit, but each solicitor must give their name and the charity’s name before asking, and a Delaware nonprofit corporation files its annual franchise tax report by March 1 with a $25 fee (6 Del. C. § 2595(b)(1)–(2); 8 Del. C. §§ 391(a)(18), 502).
• 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.