Nonprofit compliance in Wyoming

Wyoming conditionally requires background checks for volunteers in licensed child care facilities (including full national fingerprint checks), Medicaid waiver programs, and youth-serving organizations. The Division of Criminal Investigation (DCI) processes checks under W.S. § 7-19-201. No blanket volunteer mandate exists for all nonprofits.

• State or National Criminal History Record Information (Wyo. Stat. § 7-19-201 (2024)) — Authorizes state and national criminal history record information requests for volunteers in youth-serving organizations and domestic violence safe houses. Volunteer checks for youth programs (Big Brothers Big Sisters model) are available at a reduced fee of $10 for state-only checks.
• Child Care Licensing Background Check Rules (Wyoming Administrative Code 048-47, Chapter 47, § 47-17) — Requires a full national fingerprint-based criminal background check and Wyoming Central Registry check for all child care providers, directors, staff, volunteers, substitutes, and household members over 18 in licensed child care facilities. Disqualifying offenses include felony abuse, sexual offenses, violence, and drug convictions, as well as violent misdemeanors within the last five years.
• Medicaid Waiver Volunteer Background Check (Wyoming Administrative Code 048-34, Chapter 34, § 34-10) — Requires all adult volunteers with potential unsupervised access to Medicaid waiver participants to complete a background screening. Volunteers convicted of a sexual offense are categorically barred. Minor volunteers must be under direct supervision of a screened provider.
• Who it reaches: All licensed child care facility volunteers, substitutes, and household members over 18; Adult Medicaid waiver program volunteers with unsupervised access; Volunteers in youth-serving organizations (Big Brothers Big Sisters, domestic violence safe houses); Volunteer fire district members (fingerprinting for state and national check).
• Check types in use: State criminal history check via Wyoming DCI (WIN database); National FBI fingerprint-based criminal history check; Wyoming Central Registry of Child Abuse and Neglect check; Sex offender registry check; Medicaid exclusion list check (for Medicaid program volunteers).
• Administered by: Wyoming Division of Criminal Investigation (DCI) — Office of the Attorney General; Wyoming Department of Family Services (DFS) for child care sector.
• Typical processing: Approximately 2 weeks standard; can extend to 5–6 weeks during high-volume periods.

Yes. Wyoming requires all persons to report suspected child abuse without naming any professions at all — so a volunteer's role is irrelevant to the duty. Every adult in your organization is a mandated reporter. Confirm Wyoming'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.

Wyoming is one of ten states with no general charitable solicitation registration requirement. That is not the same as nothing to do: county or municipal rules can still apply, professional fundraisers are often regulated separately, and registering elsewhere may still be required the moment you solicit residents of another state.

• No statewide registration for the charity itself under current guidance.
• 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.