Run background checks

Every check costs $5 — one credit. There are three ways a check happens:

From a volunteer's profile.Open the volunteer and click “Run Background Check.” You'll see what's included and your remaining credits, then confirm with “Run check.”
Direct check (no invite).Use “Run background check” to screen someone you already have written FCRA authorization from. Enter their details — a middle name (or initial) is required— set the misdemeanor/traffic options, confirm the disclosure attestation, and click “Run Check.” A direct check with an SSN includes the same SSN trace/address-history lookup as an invited applicant's check (shown on the check's report page). On that report, the SSN Trace card also lists names and aliasestied to the SSN that share the subject's first name and date of birth — so a maiden name or last-name change can appear even when the last name differs. The middle name is still required because a direct check has no independent identity verification, so it's what confirms identity and prevents false matches on common names. Don't have a middle name for them? Invite them to apply instead — they enter their identity on the signed application.
Volunteer pays their own fee. When enabled, the volunteer pays $5 at apply time and the check runs automatically — your organization spends no credit, and the results still stay with you.

Screening several people at once.You can run a batch rather than starting them one at a time. A batch needs enough credits to cover everyone in it — if you have 8 credits and select 12 people, we'll tell you how many credits the batch needs and how many you have, and nothing is charged until you either buy more or run a smaller group. Anyone in the selection who has already been screened is skipped at no cost and doesn't count toward the total. If you ask Victor to screen a roster, he runs up to 15 per request and will tell you who is still waiting so you can run the next group.

Verify yourself once before screening (free, 2 minutes)

On new organizations, before you can invite a volunteer to apply, run a direct/instant check, or view any submissions (applications, SSN-traced address history, identity-verification evidence, or background-check reports), the admin doing it completes a free, one-time identity verification. You can still share your public application link and QR code and collect submissions right away — but the personal data stays locked until you verify. Go to Settings → Verify identity, confirm your identity with a government ID and a quick selfie (powered by Didit), and you're set — you won't be asked again, and a trust badge shows next to your name. This is how VolunteerBadge makes a reasonable effort under the FCRA (§607(a), 15 U.S.C. §1681e(a)) to verify who is requesting consumer reports — protecting you and the people you screen. Signing up stays quick; this step only appears the first time you actually invite, check, or open a submission. (Existing organizations are unaffected.)

What's included in every $5 check

A national, FCRA-compliant criminal search across county, state, and federal court records, plus sex-offender registries in all 50 states and federal watchlists (FBI Most Wanted, OFAC). Standard checks also include an SSN trace for identity verification and address-history enrichment. Results usually arrive in minutes.

Address history & what “Gaps” means

When an application is submitted, VolunteerBadge runs an SSN address-history trace that shows in the Address Verify column. It's informational — it cross-checks where an applicant has lived so the background check is more accurate. “Gaps” is not a red flagand shouldn't be used to disqualify anyone; it usually just means not every past address was on file, since people often don't list their full history. Your first 4 applicants get this address-history trace free; after that it comes only with a paid $5 background check (which always includes it), or you can switch it off under Settings → Screening. Either way you can keep collecting applications — but approving a volunteer still requires running their check.

An address on the trace that isn’t theirs

Occasionally the SSN trace attaches an address a person never lived at — a “mixed file,” where a data broker or credit bureau linked someone else's address (an old roommate, a typo, an identity mix-up). It's informational and doesn't affect a clearresult or approval: our CRA reviewers match every criminal record to verified identity, so a stray address can't attach another person's record. If a volunteer disputes one, you don't have to live with it — just ask Victor(“that address isn't hers — remove it”) and he'll remove it from the report and block it from returning on future pulls, or email support@screenforgelabs.com. This is the consumer's FCRA right to dispute the accuracy of their file, and we honor it.

No U.S. SSN?

If your organization enables screening without a U.S. SSN, applicants and direct checks can opt in for foreign nationals currently in the U.S. Same $5 pricing; U.S. records only — no SSN trace.

Approving a volunteer requires a completed check

You can't mark a volunteer Approveduntil a background check has actually been run on them through VolunteerBadge. “Approved” is your organization's attestation that you screened the person — so identity verification and address history alone won't unlock it. If you try to approve someone who hasn't been checked, we'll prompt you to run the $5 check first (and to top up credits if you're out). Ask Victorand he'll run it for you. After you Approve, a one-time drawer may invite you to follow VolunteerBadge on LinkedIn. You can dismiss it; it is not required.

Approval is also blocked while a check is still processing or under CRA review — you can only approve once the screening is finished and the result has been released to you. If the latest search is Unverifiable (records could not be confirmed at the courthouse and you have not yet acknowledged the notice), Approve is blocked because there is no finished report to act on. You can order a replacement check before acknowledging; if that newer search comes back clear or released, the newest result governs approval readiness — an older unverifiable check does not keep blocking Approve. If records are found, review the released report and use the Complianceadverse-action workflow to decline; never approve over a check that hasn't come back yet.

Changed your mind? Undo an approval — and how to decline afterward

Approving a volunteer isn't a one-way door. To walk one back — you decided too soon, or new information came up — open the volunteer's profile and click Revert approval. That undoes the approval and returns them to review (their screening result stays on file, so a records-found volunteer goes right back to Consider). The volunteer is not notified.

If you then decide to decline the volunteer, a “Decline / Send Adverse Action” button appears on their profile. Because turning someone away based on a background report is an adverse action, that button runs the FCRA-required steps for you: it prepares the pre-adverse notice(a copy of the report plus the “Summary of Your Rights Under the FCRA”) to send them, gives them a reasonable window (commonly about five business days) to review and dispute, and then prepares the final adverse-action notice. You'll also find all of this under Screen & Protect → Compliance. Approve and decline are always your organization's decision — VolunteerBadge never sets a volunteer's status for you.

We'll remind you who's ready to screen

When you've verified volunteers or collected their applications but haven't run their checks, VolunteerBadge surfaces a “ready to screen”banner on your Volunteers page and sends a weekly email digest listing exactly who's waiting. Victor will also point it out and offer to run the checks for you — just say the word.

Fixing a mistake on an application

If a volunteer mistyped something when they applied — a wrong birth year, a typo in their name, or an out-of-date address — you can correct it right from their profile, or just tell Victor in plain English (“her date of birth is wrong, it should be 10/07/1947”) and he'll fix it after you confirm. Contact details (email, phone, address) can be updated anytime.

Legal name and date of birth are identity fields. Before a check runs they're freely correctable — and fixing the DOB updates the exact value the $5 check will read, so screening runs against the right person. Once a check has run, name and DOB lock — that report is tied to the identity it was run against (an FCRA requirement). If the wrong identity was screened, add the person again as a new volunteer with the corrected details and re-screen.

A volunteer who already has a VolunteerBadge

Some applicants arrive already holding an active VolunteerBadge— they've passed an FCRA background check through VolunteerBadge (often self-paid, or run by another organization). When they do, your roster shows a green Badgechip next to their status, and their profile shows a “brought their own badge” panel. This is a status-onlytrust signal — you see that they're cleared and when it expires, never their report.

A brought badge doesn't automatically pay for or complete yourapplication. The volunteer still finishes your application (including signing the FCRA authorization), and to put them on your own books you either accept their badge or run your own $5 check — that's what your “Approved” attests to. So it's normal to see someone with an active badge still sitting at Pending in your list until they finish your application: the status reflects yourscreening, not their badge. If a volunteer says “I already paid,” they most likely paid for their own portable badge — a separate thing from your organization's screening.

After a direct check finishes, the on-screen report and Download PDF showSearch coverage — DEEP on known addresses and WIDE everywhere else — plus an appendix that names every repository. The report page also has a Screening Scopebutton next to “Show me around.” It opens a searchable drawer of the full named-source register (every source VolunteerBadge searches), with deep coverage on known addresses called out, and Download (PDF) saves a scope document — not the consumer report, and it contains no records. Volunteer-linked checks show the same coverage on the profile report and Full Report PDF. Download the scope PDF from the Download Report PDF menu on the volunteer profile, or open Screening Scope from the report's Browse every named sourcelink, or the button next to “Show me around.”

Archiving direct checks

Finished reviewing a direct check (no volunteer profile)? Open the check from Background Checks, scroll to the bottom, and click Archive this check. The report stays on file for compliance — it just disappears from your active list. You cannot archive while a check is processing or while FCRA adverse action is still in progress.