Taking the first step to requesting background checks for church volunteers can be daunting, but it's important that you do so. It's not just about liability – although that is an important factor. The value that your volunteers bring to your church far outweighs the costs of requesting a background check for them. Read more below on why background checks are important for church staff and volunteers or simply click below and start ordering today
Why do I need a background check on church volunteers and staff?
Background checks are a vital part of your church’s safety and security, as well as its reputation. A background check helps protect the church from liability by hiring only safe, trustworthy individuals. The following is a list of common reasons why you will want to conduct background checks on your volunteers and staff:
To protect parishioners
To protect the reputation of your church
To ensure that no one working at your church has any past convictions that could negatively impact their ability to perform their duties or create potential liability for you and your congregation members in the future
In some states, it may also be required by law for all staff members who were hired after January 1st 2018 (and all volunteers) to undergo a criminal background check before they can begin working at an organization or facility such as yours!
Steps to ordering a volunteer background check for your church
Find a background check company. You can find a number of companies online that provide church volunteer background checks, but you should make sure they are reliable and have good reviews such as Global Background Screening, LLC
Sign up and fill out the FCRA compliance agreement.
Select the Type of Background Check (Employment, Contractors, Volunteers, Fingerprinting, International etc...)
Provide your applicant's name and email address.
Wait for results! Once everything has been submitted and your applicant has signed the electronic authorization, it shouldn't take more than 24-48 hours for your results to come back from the company doing your background check, unless there are records being verified at the courthouse.
Are there different types of background checks?
There are many different types of background checks, including:
Criminal Background Check: The most common type of background check is a criminal record check to look for any criminal convictions. This includes a national criminal search and a search of all sex offender registries.
Identity Verification: A SSN trace that verifies if the applicant is who they say they are. It verifies the year the ssn was created, the DOB, legal name, any alias names, and an address history.
Personal Reference Check: A personal reference check will confirm the character and reputation of an individual. This could include speaking with neighbors, colleagues, or other people who know them well and have had professional contact with them. In some cases, a personal reference may be required by law (e.g., teachers).
Social Media Background Check: A 3 or 7 year search of the applicant's social media likes, posts, shares, images and videos. This search flags🚩 for risk factors such as terrorism, violence, bullying, sexual/perverted, nudity, political drug related and more.
Driving record: Only suggested for individuals who would a driving record includes information about traffic violations committed by someone while operating motor vehicles on public roads or highways such as speeding tickets or DUI/DWI convictions
Questions you'll be asked when applying for a background check.
Name and address.
Date of birth.
Social security number.
Driver's license number.
Some things you should know about your volunteers.
If you're thinking about conducting background checks on church volunteers, here's what you need to know:
Make sure you have the right forms of identification. You will need a variety of documents to conduct a background check, including:
a) Full Name
b) Email Address
Fill out the online application for your volunteer. This process is as easy as filling out an online form. If you'd rather print and fill out a manual form download it here
The value that volunteers bring to your church outweighs the costs of requesting background checks for them
Volunteers have the opportunity to come and go as they please, so it's likely that you'll have volunteers who don't regularly attend services. This is why it's important to require background checks for church volunteers.
In addition, if your church has paid staff, requiring them to submit their own background checks will make sure everyone is on even footing when it comes to criminal records and other potential issues that may come up during employment.
How often should church background checks be done?
That is up to you. Most churches or other religious organizations run only one background check. We suggest ordering one every year or even a continuous monitoring for a whole year for only $79.99.
Conclusion
All in all, the benefits of a background check greatly outweigh the costs of negative publicity.. Getting volunteers to conduct background checks is not difficult and can be done quickly. If you have never requested one before, this might be a good time to start considering how it will help your church in the long run!
What if your volunteers do not have an email address or don't work well using computers?
Print our Manual Consent Forms and upload them on our secure portal
Download Manual Consent Form Below
