Nonprofit compliance in Virginia

Virginia has no general volunteer background-check law, but it mandates checks for volunteers in specific licensed settings. Every volunteer at a licensed child day center, home-based child care, license-exempt religious child day center or subsidy-funded program must pass a fingerprint-based national check, a Virginia Child Protective Services Central Registry search and out-of-state checks before serving and every five years (Va. Code § 22.1-289.035). Volunteers who will be alone with children at licensed child-placing agencies and independent foster homes (§ 63.2-1720) and all volunteers at children’s residential facilities (§ 63.2-1726) are also covered. Any organization serving children, the elderly or people with disabilities may request a State Police–screened national fingerprint check under § 19.2-392.02, which also defines the “barrier crimes” that disqualify covered volunteers. The Virginia Department of Education licenses child day programs and the Department of Social Services licenses child welfare agencies.

• Child Day Programs and Home-Based Child Care — Volunteer Background Checks (Va. Code § 22.1-289.035) — Bars licensed child day centers, home-based child care, license-exempt religious child day centers and subsidy-funded programs from using any volunteer who will be alone with, in control of, or supervising children if convicted of a barrier crime defined in § 19.2-392.02 or the subject of a founded child abuse or neglect complaint. All volunteers and volunteer applicants must give a sworn disclosure and complete a national fingerprint check, a Virginia Central Registry search and criminal, sex offender and abuse registry checks for any state lived in during the past five years, before serving and every five years after. A volunteer may start early only after a qualifying fingerprint result and while supervised at all times.
• Children's Residential Facilities Background Check (Va. Code § 63.2-1726) — Requires every volunteer at a children’s residential facility regulated or operated by the Departments of Social Services, Education, Military Affairs, or Behavioral Health and Developmental Services to be fingerprinted for an FBI check and cleared through the Central Registry before working. It bars most barrier-crime convictions and pending charges (clause (iv) only within five years) and founded abuse or neglect cases, and the volunteer bears the cost unless the facility chooses to pay.
• National Criminal Background Checks — Care Providers (Va. Code § 19.2-392.02) — Lets any business or organization providing care to children, the elderly or people with disabilities request a State Police–screened national fingerprint check on employees, and on volunteers who have or may have unsupervised access to a child. Defines the barrier crimes used across Virginia screening law. The State Police and the FBI may each charge a volunteer no more than $18, and not requesting a check is not negligence per se.
• Assisted Living Facilities and Adult Day Centers — Employee Checks, Volunteer Supervision (Va. Code § 63.2-1720) — Requires criminal history checks for compensated employees of assisted living facilities and adult day centers and bars clause (i) barrier-crime convictions. Volunteers may serve only with the permission, or under the supervision, of a person who has received a clearance; we found no statute requiring the volunteers themselves to be checked.
• Who it reaches: All volunteers at licensed child day centers, home-based child care, license-exempt religious child day centers and subsidy-funded child care; All volunteers at children’s residential facilities; Volunteers who will be alone with children at licensed child-placing agencies and independent foster homes; Regular volunteers and interns who will be alone with residents in juvenile detention centers and group homes; Foster and adoptive parent applicants and adult household members, before approval by a child-placing agency.
• Check types in use: Fingerprint-based Virginia State Police criminal history check; FBI national criminal history fingerprint check; Virginia Child Abuse and Neglect Central Registry check; Criminal history, sex offender and child abuse registry checks from every state lived in during the past five years (child day programs, Va. Code § 22.1-289.035(B)).
• Administered by: Virginia Department of Education (child day programs); Virginia Department of Social Services (child welfare agencies; its Office of Background Investigations processes fingerprint and Central Registry checks, including for Department of Education providers); Virginia State Police (Central Criminal Records Exchange).
• Typical processing: State Police national checks under § 19.2-392.02: reasonable efforts to respond within 15 business days; other turnaround times vary by agency.

Virginia is one of the 39 states that generally require a charitable organization to register before soliciting contributions from its residents — typically before the first ask, not after the first gift, and usually with an annual renewal.

• Registration is generally required before soliciting, including by mail, phone, email, or a public donate page.
• 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.