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 → Screeningand 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 newperson (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 paysand the volunteer was charged but you see no check, the payment didn't finish confirming — email support@screenforgelabs.comwith 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.
A volunteer sees Pay $5 but the dashboard still says Pending?
They have not finished the application. Payment is offered only after they electronically sign the FCRA authorization. If they completed identity verification and then landed on a payment screen too early, they should reopen the same apply or resume link and finish Authorization & Signature — then pay. Until they sign, no $5 is collected and no check runs.
Want the full rundown of every option on this screen? See Screening settings, explained.