to background check or not to background check, that is the question 

Whether or not to conduct background checks for potential volunteers is an important issue for Lifelong Communities to consider. Depending on the type of roles that volunteers are involved in, and the people they work with, completing background checks can be an important way to ensure that your team members are trustworthy representatives of your work and to limit the risk of liability to your organization.  At the same time, the process of undergoing background checks can be costly and time consuming, both challenges for Lifelong Communities operating on limited budgets and with volunteer leadership.   Here we’ll explore when background checking is appropriate and when it might be an unnecessary barrier.  And we’ll share some tools and ideas for making the background check process more manageable. 

Let’s start out by defining when background checks are not needed: 

• Low-Risk Activities - Volunteer roles that do not involve direct contact with vulnerable populations or sensitive information. 

• Short-Term or One-Time Events – These types of activities involve minimal responsibilities and low risk; an example might be an annual roadside cleanup.  

• Non-Critical Administrative Tasks – Volunteer roles that involve routine administrative tasks and do not pose a risk to individuals or the organization; for example, preparing materials and handouts to take to an event. 

As volunteer roles become more involved, with greater responsibility, it’s more likely that completing a background check is an important protective practice for your organization.   Background checks are typically considered essential for volunteers with roles in the following categories:  

• Working with Vulnerable Populations - Volunteers working with children, older adults, or individuals with disabilities, as ensuring the safety and protection of groups at high risk of abuse and exploitation is critical.  Background checking would be particularly important if volunteers will be handling sensitive information related to any of these groups.  

• Handling Sensitive Information – Sensitive information includes personal, financial, or medical records.  If the volunteer role involves access to this type of information, for example providing assistance with bill paying or banking, technology and passwords, or medical assistance, a background check is an important precautionary step. 

• Handling Finances or Fundraising - Volunteers involved in financial roles or fundraising activities may need background checks to verify their trustworthiness and integrity. 

• Legal Requirements – Some programs or funding streams require background checks. Does this apply to any of the programs, services, or funding your Lifelong Community provides or receives? 

If you do plan to conduct background checks, there are a variety of different types of information you might wish to review:  

• Criminal History - This includes checking for any criminal convictions or arrests. The level of detail may vary, and checks may cover local, state, and federal criminal records.  It’s important to note that using the State of Maine Criminal Background Check Service will typically not provide information about history from federal or other state records. 

• State of Maine Criminal Background Check – The site provides information about what’s involved, the type of information you need to provide, the cost of the background check, as well as answers to FAQs.  

• National Sex Offender Registry - This site provides free records, can be searched by name or location, and includes FAQs.  

• Driving Records – These checks include information about traffic violations, accidents, or license suspensions. 

• State of Maine Driver’s Records Check - This site provides information about what’s involved in a Driving Record Check, the type of information you need to provide, the cost of a 3 year and 10 year record check, and FAQs and a sample record.  This is an important consideration for volunteer driver programs. 

• Social Media and Online Presence – While there’s no official check for this, if you plan to have a volunteer(s) involved in managing your social media accounts, you may choose to review the person’s public online presence, including social media profiles, to gather additional information about their character and behavior. 

Depending on the volume of background checks you expect to do, your community may choose to initiate the checks directly using the resources above.  There may be opportunities to streamline the process by partnering with other organizations or using an online service.  

Consider Partnering with Another Organization - Local Retired Senior Volunteer Programs (RSVPs), Area Agencies on Aging or local non-profits that have a high volume of volunteers may be willing to partner and have administrative infrastructure in place to help your community move through the background check process more efficiently.  Some communities have had success partnering with their police department.  

Reputable Background Check Services - Sterling Volunteers, Background Checks for Volunteers, and Checkr are popular services that can help you streamline the screening process by completing multiple check at one time and seem to start at $20/background check.  

Here’s a simple but eye-opening practice for your organization, consider a tricky situation with a volunteer – for example you complete a Maine Criminal Record Check on volunteers participating in your Friendly Visitor program, but one of the volunteers has a past offense (theft, fraud, assault, exploitation) from a different state so they are accepted into the program.  If an issue with this volunteer as part of your program ended up on the front page of the newspaper what would it mean for your reputation, liability, and impact? 

Your community must find a comfortable balance between minimizing any legal risk to your age-friendly initiative and harm to those you serve, keeping volunteer involvement low barrier, and minimizing administrative burdens.   If you’d like to explore more about background checks as part of a risk management approach, you may find these resources helpful.  

Further Resources from Anna: 

Risk Management Assessment and Planning Tools

• • • Risk Management for Your Volunteer Program 

    • Volunteer Risk Management: Protecting Your Organization and Volunteers 

    • Master Class, Finding and Mobilizing Volunteers

    • Master Class, Age-Friendly Volunteers - Around for the Long Haul

We are deeply grateful to Anna Guest and Rising Tides Volunteer Solutions for working with Lifelong Maine to develop these training materials. Special thanks to Sharon Kelley, Berwick for a Lifetime, Candy Eaton, Age-Friendly Sullivan, and Jean Saunders, Age-Friendly Saco, for meeting with Anna to share their wisdom, experiences and challenges working with volunteers
We also want to thank AARP Maine for their thought leadership designing these modules.