Nonprofit compliance in Kansas

Kansas has no general volunteer-screening law, but anyone who regularly volunteers in licensed child care is treated as an employee and must clear state checks before starting. Volunteers counted in the staff-child ratio or left alone with children get a fingerprint check with FBI, sex offender and child abuse registry searches; supervised volunteers get a KBI and DCF name check. Since July 1, 2026 the new Kansas Office of Early Childhood licenses day care, DCF licenses residential and foster care, and KDADS checks adult care home and home health volunteers only when they do direct-access work. Other organizations that care for children, older adults or people with disabilities may request KBI and FBI fingerprint checks under K.S.A. 75-712i.

• K.S.A. 65-516 and the 2025 day care law — child care background checks (K.S.A. 65-503(j), 65-516 (amended 2026); K.S.A. 75-7707, 75-7708, 75-7719 (effective July 1, 2026)) — Bars anyone from knowingly maintaining a licensed child care facility where a person who resides, works or regularly volunteers has listed convictions, a sex offender registration or certain child abuse registry findings. Since July 1, 2026 day care facilities are licensed by the Kansas Office of Early Childhood under a parallel section, and 65-516 still covers residential centers, group boarding homes, foster homes and child-placing agencies.
• K.A.R. 28-4-125 and 28-4-584 — which check each volunteer gets (K.A.R. 28-4-122, 28-4-125, 28-4-584) — Before a regular volunteer starts, the program submits their information. Volunteers counted in the staff-child ratio, or with unsupervised access, get a fingerprint check with FBI, sex offender registry, child abuse registry and five-year out-of-state searches; other volunteers get a KBI and DCF name-based check. A volunteer is 14 or older, and regularly volunteering means on a recurring basis, not guest speakers.
• K.S.A. 75-712i — optional state and FBI checks for care organizations (K.S.A. 75-712i; 75-712j) — A private, for-profit or nonprofit organization that provides care, instruction, supervision or recreation to children, older adults or people with disabilities, and is not already covered by a licensing check law, may ask the KBI for a state and national fingerprint check on employees and volunteers with access to them. The volunteer signs a waiver and self-disclosure, the organization decides fitness, and results may not be shared with anyone not authorized.
• K.S.A. 39-970 and 65-5117 — adult care homes and home health (K.S.A. 39-970(g); 65-5117(g)) — Adult care homes and home health agencies must run KDADS criminal record checks on applicants with direct access to residents or clients. Volunteers are covered only when they perform the same direct-access functions as staff, such as one-on-one contact or handling residents’ money, property or records.
• K.S.A. 38-2223 — mandated reporting of child abuse (K.S.A. 38-2223(a)(1)(F) (amended 2026)) — Names volunteers of any organization that provides social services to pregnant teenagers as mandated reporters, alongside teachers and other school employees, licensed child care providers and their employees. Reports are due promptly to DCF, and willful and knowing failure to report is a class B misdemeanor.
• K.S.A. 50-704 — seven-year limit on reporting convictions (K.S.A. 50-704(a)(5), (b)(3)) — A consumer reporting agency may not report a conviction whose disposition, release or parole date is more than seven years old, except for jobs paying $20,000 a year or more, an exception an unpaid volunteer role does not meet.
• Who it reaches: Anyone who regularly volunteers in a licensed Kansas day care program (child care center, preschool, family child care home, school-age or youth development program, including licensed day camps): a fingerprint check if counted in ratio or left alone with children, a KBI and DCF name check otherwise (K.S.A. 75-7719; K.A.R. 28-4-125, 28-4-584); Anyone 10 or older who regularly volunteers at a licensed residential center, group boarding home or child-placing agency, and volunteers at child advocacy centers (K.S.A. 65-516, 38-2227; K.A.R. 28-4-94, 30-47-905); Volunteers at adult care homes and home health agencies who do the same direct-access work as staff, such as one-on-one time with residents or handling their money or records (K.S.A. 39-970(g), 65-5117(g)); Optional, not required: volunteers of other organizations that provide care, instruction, supervision or recreation to children, older adults or people with disabilities may get a KBI and FBI fingerprint check under K.S.A. 75-712i; Optional, not required: school, youth sports, church and nonprofit summer instructional camp volunteers — we found no Kansas statute requiring a check.
• Check types in use: KBI and FBI fingerprint check with national sex offender, DCF child abuse registry and five-year out-of-state searches (child care volunteers counted in ratio or with unsupervised access; repeated every five years); KBI name-based check (Kansas convictions only; $30 certified from the KBI, or bundled with a DCF registry search for supervised child care volunteers); DCF child abuse and neglect registry check (included in child care checks; whether DCF still accepts signed OBI 1011 releases after 2026 is unconfirmed); KDADS criminal record check (name-based, including Kansas Nurse Aide Registry findings) for direct-access adult care home and home health volunteers; Optional KBI and FBI fingerprint check requested by a qualified care organization under K.S.A. 75-712i ($57 on the KBI request form).
• Administered by: Kansas Office of Early Childhood (day care licensing and background checks since July 1, 2026; KDHE ran the program before and its background-check pages still name KDHE); Kansas Department for Children and Families (foster care licensing for residential centers, group boarding homes, foster homes and child-placing agencies, and the child abuse and neglect registry); Kansas Bureau of Investigation (Kansas criminal history name and fingerprint checks, including K.S.A. 75-712i requests); Kansas Department for Aging and Disability Services (adult care home and home health criminal record checks).

Kansas requires a charitable organization to register with the Attorney General before soliciting in the state, unless K.S.A. 17-1762 exempts it (K.S.A. 17-1761, 17-1763(a)). Each registration costs $25, expires on the last day of the sixth month after the organization’s fiscal year ends, and must include an audited financial statement once contributions pass $500,000 a year (K.S.A. 17-1763(c)–(e)). The Attorney General took the program over from the Secretary of State in 2021; nonprofit annual reports still go to the Secretary of State. Professional fund raisers and solicitors register separately (K.S.A. 17-1764, 17-1765).

• A Kansas charity whose fundraising is done only by unpaid people and that receives no more than $10,000 in its tax period does not register, but must register within 30 days after a period in which contributions pass $10,000; religious organizations and charities that solicit no more than 100 people are also exempt (K.S.A. 17-1762(d), (k), (s)).
• 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.