Cheap Volunteer Background Checks

How do we find cheap volunteer background checks that provide a comprehensive search in a world that has been flipped upside down by COVID-19?  Five years ago, this was impossible.  There was no such thing as cheap and quality in the same sentence.

The good news today is that there are cheaper options for high quality volunteer background checks.  The problem you face is navigating the marketing and lack of transparency from the background screening industry.

It is important to understand that when it comes to volunteer background checks there are very few rules that apply which means:

• There is no standards of care

  • No definition of what is a background check

  • No requirement for what is included in a volunteer screening program

• Few if any federal or state requirements 

• Few states have licensing requirements for screening firms

  • Anybody can set up shop and sell background checks 

  • You could sell background checks and jams and jellies out of your home (true incident found by international volunteer organization)

What volunteer organization or church is not cash-strapped these days? Keeping kids safe is no less of a mission than it was before COVID and with increased virtual interaction between staff and volunteers and the children we serve is no less risky.  I would argue, based on facts, that virtual interactions can be a pedophile’s dream. The perfect opportunity for grooming, but that is another article.

So how do you navigate the sharky waters when trying to find a quality volunteer screening partner?  And how do you know what constitutes a quality screening program?

Simply reading through a website and/ or marketing material from a screening provider will not be enough.  As we audit screening programs we see catchy little phrases like “we verify all records found in a criminal database.”

That sounds like quality.  However, with more than 16 years experience leading a background screening company, I know that not a single criminal database is complete.  Not even the FBI’s criminal database.

So the problem is that when you run names through the criminal database, you are going to get very low hit ratios, meaning you are going to miss A LOT of records. So it does not really matter if they are going to verify any “hits”, especially if the hits are in counties that do not report to the database.  You ultimately have the potential of placing volunteers into positions of trust that may have records, even sexual offenses.

Five years ago, I wrote an article that said if a volunteer background check cost $10 or less then it was junk.  Today, that may or may not be true.  

I have looked at some para-ministry organizations that are peddling volunteer background checks as a white-label.  Some of them offer “junk” for $10 or less.  Others offer “junk” at more than $20.  But the common denominator for all we have evaluated is that they are offering “junk” searches but the price ranges greatly.

The key is not the price,  unless it is in the $5 range.  We talked to a large public school recently that was paying about $5 for a volunteer check.  This search is no competition for a sexual abuser.

How do I know if a cheap volunteer background check is high quality?

Let’s dissect the key components of a volunteer background check:

• Does It Verify Identity?  If they are not using remote ID validation or SSN validation then you are wasting your money.  The majority of your volunteers will be honest.  A background screening program is not designed for the honest, it is designed to flag the dishonest and dangerous.  If you do not have tools to determine the true identity, correct spelling of current AND previous names and address history then you are wasting your $5.

• Single Source Database.  There is no such thing as a single-source criminal database that is comprehensive enough to stand alone as a screening program.  The FBI database is no exception.  But for the majority of volunteer organizations you only have access to privately held criminal databases created by companies or utilize statewide criminal repositories.  If the criminal record does not get reported to the database then you miss it.

• Requires Multiple Checks & Balances.  Think about background checks like your office internet connections.  If you have a single-source and the internet goes down you cannot access valuable online programs.  Screening requires redundancy like having a fail-over backup internet provide so if a criminal record is not reported to the database you are going directly to the sourcer:

  • ID validation

  • National criminal database

  • National sex offender

  • County criminal search

  • Federal criminal search

• $5 Volunteer Background Checks.  This is what I call the “feel good” background check.  You are doing something, which is better than nothing and you can check it off your list.  However, it will have a high failure rate for reporting criminal records even felony sexual offenses.

Here is where it becomes exciting.  We have developed some unique screening solutions using technology which has allowed us to create a volunteer background check program that is both comprehensive and inexpensive:

• National Arrest PreSearch.  We can search historical arrest records from 93% of the U.S. which creates a flag that can lead us to the court of record.  This solution included in a screening program can create the most comprehensive volunteer screening program available.

• ArrestAlert®.  What happens if your volunteer, employee or contractor is arrested for a prohibitive crime after the background check has been completed?  For most organizations you only find this when you conducted a re-check annually, 2 years, 3 years or 5 years later.  If you are doing this at all.

ArrestAlert® provides real-time notifications from the booking institution when they are arrested and automatically moves them to under-review in your account so they do not have access to your organization until the arrest has been investigated and the oversight team makes a policy decision to return them to approved or permanently deny them.

The use of ArrestAlert® can save volunteer organizations thousands or tens-of-thousands of dollars in their volunteer background screening program.

Would you like to learn more about ArrestAlert®?

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