Nonprofit compliance in Nebraska

Nebraska has no general volunteer background check law; checks are required by setting. A licensed child care program must clear every child care staff member, which includes any volunteer who cares for or supervises children or has unsupervised access to them, through a DHHS-requested FBI fingerprint check and registry searches before work and at least every five years (Neb. Rev. Stat. § 71-1912). Residential child-caring agencies fingerprint staff and volunteers 18 and older (§ 71-1928.01; 391 NAC 7), CASA programs screen volunteer advocates (§ 43-3709), and anyone driving vulnerable adults or minors under a DHHS contract, employee or volunteer, is fingerprinted (§ 81-6,120). Adult criminal history records are public (§ 29-3520), so any organization can buy a State Patrol name-based report.

• Child Care Licensing Background Check (Neb. Rev. Stat. §§ 71-1912, 71-1912.02) — Every child care staff member of a licensed program, meaning anyone not related to all the children who is paid or whose activities involve caring for or supervising children or unsupervised access to them, needs a national fingerprint check through the Nebraska State Patrol plus sex offender, criminal and child abuse registry searches before starting and at least once every five years. Since July 18, 2026 a new staff member may start under supervision once the first fingerprint result clears, and a fingerprint-cleared volunteer may count in the staff-to-child ratio for up to ten hours a week through Dec. 31, 2028 (§ 71-1912.02).
• CASA Volunteer Background Check (Neb. Rev. Stat. § 43-3709) — Before appointment, the CASA program director must obtain an FBI criminal history check through the Nebraska State Patrol, a child abuse central registry check, a driving record check and at least three character references, plus the same records from other states if the applicant has lived in Nebraska less than 12 months. Volunteers must be at least 21 and commit to one year of service.
• Residential child-caring agency and foster care checks (Neb. Rev. Stat. §§ 71-1928.01, 71-1903; 391 NAC 7) — Anyone 18 or older working in a residential child-caring agency needs a national fingerprint check and state registry searches at least every five years, and DHHS rules apply this to staff and volunteers 18 and older before any contact with children. Foster parents and household members 18 and older are fingerprinted before placement, except in DHHS-declared emergencies.
• DHHS-contracted transportation (Neb. Rev. Stat. § 81-6,120) — No one convicted of, or facing an unresolved charge for, a felony or a crime involving moral turpitude may transport vulnerable adults or people under 19 under a DHHS contract, whether as an employee or as a volunteer, and drivers need a national fingerprint check through the State Patrol.
• Who it reaches: Volunteers in licensed child care programs who care for or supervise children or have unsupervised access to them (FBI fingerprint check; since July 18, 2026 they may start under constant supervision after a first qualifying result; renewed every five years); Staff and volunteers age 18 and older at residential child-caring agencies (FBI fingerprint check before contact with children and every five years); CASA volunteer advocates (FBI check, child abuse registry, driving record and three references before appointment); Employees and volunteers who transport vulnerable adults or minors under a DHHS contract (FBI fingerprint check); Staff and volunteers age 19 and older at licensed child-placing agencies (criminal history check under 391 NAC 8); Representatives of congressionally chartered youth organizations, such as Scouting groups, before providing activities to students at a school (district-set background check, § 79-297); Optional, not required: church nursery, Sunday school, camp, youth sports, mentoring and school volunteers (we found no Nebraska statute requiring checks; screening is organization policy).
• Check types in use: Nebraska State Patrol name-based criminal history report (RAP sheet; public record, $45 online); FBI fingerprint check through the Nebraska State Patrol, only where a statute authorizes it (child care, residential child care, foster care, CASA, DHHS-contracted drivers); DHHS child abuse and neglect central registry and Adult Protective Services registry checks, with the volunteer’s identity-verified authorization; Nebraska and national sex offender registry searches; Out-of-state criminal, sex offender and child abuse registry searches for each state lived in during the prior five years (licensed child care); CASA: driving record check and three character references.
• Administered by: Nebraska Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS) Children’s Services Licensing for child care, residential and foster care checks, and DHHS for central registry checks; Nebraska State Patrol Criminal Identification Division for fingerprints and name-based reports.
• Typical processing: State Patrol name-based reports return online at once or within 3 business days if reviewed; for child care checks the State Patrol usually receives FBI results in 5 to 10 business days (up to 45), then DHHS decides within 1 to 2 business days and sends the letter within about 2.

Yes. Nebraska names certain professionals AND requires any person to report, regardless of profession — so your volunteers are covered by the universal provision whatever role they hold. Confirm Nebraska'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.

Nebraska does not require charities to register before soliciting; the Secretary of State says its charitable solicitor registration ended in 1996, and we found no current charity or professional fundraiser registration statute. A Nebraska nonprofit corporation files a biennial report with the Secretary of State between January 1 and April 1 of each odd-numbered year (Neb. Rev. Stat. § 21-19,172); one still unfiled when it goes delinquent on June 16 faces administrative dissolution (§§ 21-19,137, 21-19,138). Raffles and lotteries with gross proceeds over $15,000 need a Department of Revenue license under the Nebraska Lottery and Raffle Act, with a $30 biennial organization fee (§§ 9-422, 9-424); a qualifying nonprofit may run raffles totaling up to $15,000 a month without one (§ 9-511). Check your city for any door-to-door solicitation permit.

• A Nebraska charity does not register with the state to solicit, but a Nebraska nonprofit corporation must file its biennial report by April 1 of each odd-numbered year, and a raffle over $15,000 in gross proceeds needs a Department of Revenue license (Neb. Rev. Stat. §§ 21-19,172, 9-422).
• 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.