Colorado Volunteer Background Check Requirements

Since August 7, 2024, a private youth sports organization must obtain a background check from a consumer reporting agency on every paid or volunteer coach, manager or supervisor before they begin. The statute lists what the check must cover, including sex offenses and felonies, a Social Security number trace and a Colorado court records search. Organizations that rely on the results in hiring and employment decisions are immune from civil liability unless they know the information is false or act with reckless disregard, and from July 1, 2025 every coach must complete mandatory-reporter training each year (26.5-4-402(1)(a)).

Licensed child care, including day and summer camps (which Colorado law defines as child care centers, C.R.S. 26.5-5-303), must obtain CBI and FBI fingerprint checks and a TRAILS child abuse check for volunteers who care for or supervise children or have unsupervised access, or who count toward staff-child ratio for 14 days (112 hours) or more a year (§ 2.121(D)(2)-(3)). TRAILS and FBI checks renew every five years. The volunteer triggers come from CDEC rule, not statute, and CDEC redrafted these rules in 2026 — confirm the current version with CDEC.

Programs funded by the state Domestic Violence Program must have a written criminal background check policy and a completed criminal background check for every volunteer before the volunteer’s start date.

Lets a qualified entity (a public, private, for-profit, not-for-profit or voluntary organization that provides care or care placement services to children, the elderly or individuals with disabilities) ask the CBI for state and FBI fingerprint-based checks on its employees and volunteers. The statute says a qualified entity “may” request these checks; it does not require them.

Requires a person selected by a school district for a position that does not need an educator license to submit fingerprints for a CBI and FBI criminal history check. It covers employment applicants; we found no statute in Title 22 requiring school volunteers to be checked.

Since September 1, 2021, bars employers other than state and local government from saying in a job ad or application that people with a criminal history may not apply, and from asking about criminal history on an initial application. It does not apply where law requires a criminal history check for the position. Its text covers employment positions and applicants; we found no provision extending it to unpaid volunteers.

Does Colorado require background checks for my nonprofit’s volunteers?

Only for volunteers in specific roles or settings; no Colorado rule covers every nonprofit. We found no Colorado statute requiring every nonprofit volunteer to be background checked. Checks are required in specific settings: licensed child care, including day camps (CDEC rules require CBI and FBI fingerprints and a TRAILS child abuse check for volunteers who care for or supervise children or have unsupervised access, or who count toward staff-child ratio for 14 days or 112 hours a year); private youth sports organizations, which since August 7, 2024 must run a consumer-reporting-agency background check on every paid or volunteer coach, manager or supervisor before they start (C.R.S. 26.5-4-403); licensed neighborhood youth organizations (C.R.S. 26.5-5-308); and programs funded by the state Domestic Violence Program (12 CCR 2512-2).

How long does a Colorado volunteer background check take?

Official state checks: CBI’s name-based online check returns results immediately (a $13 manual search can take up to 3 business days, then results are mailed); CAPS checks return within 5 business days. CBI does not publish a fingerprint turnaround time. VolunteerBadge's national criminal search returns most results in minutes; a record that needs human FCRA review can take up to about 72 hours.