Who pays for a check is your choice. Set a default for the whole organization, decide per invitation, or decide per check — the most specific choice wins.
| Option | How it works |
|---|---|
| Organization pays | You buy credits in advance; each check uses one $5 credit. |
| Volunteer pays | The volunteer pays their own $5 at apply time. Your organization spends no credits, and results & access still stay with your org. |
- For everyone: open Settings → Screening and turn on “Volunteers pay their own $5 background-check fee.”
- Per invitation: in “Send Application,” set “Who pays the $5 fee?” to Volunteer or Organization — this overrides your org default for that one person.
- Per check: on a volunteer's profile, click Run Background Check and use the “Who pays?” choice. Pick “{name} pays” and instead of spending a credit, we email the volunteer a secure link to authorize and pay their own $5; the check runs automatically once they pay.
Only some volunteers should pay for their own check?
You don't have to switch your whole organization to volunteer-pays. Keep your org default as organization pays, and handle the exceptions one at a time: for a new person (say a family member covering someone's shift), invite them and set that invitation to Volunteer pays. For someone already on your roster, open their profile, click Run Background Check, and choose “{name} pays” — they get a secure link to pay their own $5. Your credits are never touched, and everyone else stays on your default.
Your screening settings (Settings → Screening) also control what appears on reports. All default off except the interval:
| Setting | Default | What it does |
|---|---|---|
| Include misdemeanors | Off | Felonies are always included; turn on to also include misdemeanors. |
| Include traffic violations | Off | Minor citations are excluded; DUI/DWI are always reported. Turn on to include traffic. |
| Require identity verification | On | Free government-ID + selfie check that ties the real person to their report. |
| Volunteers pay their own $5 fee | Off | Volunteers pay at apply time; your organization spends no credit. |
| Auto-run the check when a volunteer applies | Off | Orders the check automatically on submit (1 credit, or $0 when the volunteer pays). |
| Re-screen interval (months) | 3 | How often you intend to re-screen volunteers. |
Do you still need credits if volunteers pay?
No — when the volunteer pays, you don't need credits for those checks. Credits are only used for checks your organization pays for.
A volunteer says they paid $5 but you don't see a check?
First, who pays is decided per invitation — a single volunteer's application can be set to “volunteer pays” even if your organization-wide default is “organization pays,” or vice-versa. So the setting on your Screening page may not match what that specific applicant saw. If the invitation was set to organization pays, the volunteer was never shown a $5 step and wasn't charged by VolunteerBadge for that application — no check runs until you click Run Background Check (or you have auto-run on with credits available). If the invitation was set to volunteer pays and the volunteer was charged but you see no check, the payment didn't finish confirming — email support@screenforgelabs.com with the volunteer's name and the approximate charge date and the team will either run the check they paid for or refund the $5. You should never have to pay out of pocket to cover a charge a volunteer already made.
Want the full rundown of every option on this screen? See Screening settings, explained.