Nonprofit Background Checks & Volunteer Screening — Built for the Way You Actually Work
Your volunteers complete everything themselves. Your coordinator sends one invitation. SecureSearch handles the rest — FCRA-compliant, human-validated, and built for mission-driven organizations that can’t afford a mistake.
No setup fees. No monthly minimums. No contracts. No chasing paperwork. Just accurate, comprehensive nonprofit volunteer background checks your insurance carrier, your board, and your funders will accept.
📞 Call Us: 866-891-1954— A real person answers. No phone trees.
To Invite a Volunteer to Screen
Volunteers Self-Complete on Any Device
Serving Nonprofits & Volunteer Organizations
Human-Validated by FCRA-Certified Staff
The Nonprofit Volunteer Background Check Built for Coordinators, Not HR Departments
Most background check companies are built for corporate HR teams with dedicated staff, legal departments, and six-figure screening budgets. SecureSearch is built for the volunteer coordinator who is also running three other programs, the executive director who needs this handled without adding headcount, and the board that needs documented proof of a defensible screening policy.
That means less work for your team, not more. Your volunteers receive a secure link and complete everything themselves — on their phone, at midnight if they want. You get a validated result. Your dashboard shows the status of every person in your pipeline. Nothing falls through the cracks.
Why Volunteer Coordinators Switch to SecureSearch
👉 You stop chasing volunteers
Volunteers receive a direct link and complete everything themselves. No collecting paper forms. No following up. No re-entering data. Your team sends one invitation and moves on.
👉 You get results you can actually trust
Every criminal record hit is reviewed by a certified human — not just an algorithm. We search alias names and every address a person has lived, closing the gaps that cheap instant checks miss entirely.
👉 Your insurance carrier will accept it
Full FCRA compliance documentation, audit-ready records, and a screening paper trail that satisfies nonprofit liability insurers, grant funders, and accreditation bodies.
👉 You pay nothing to get started
No setup fees, no monthly minimums, no contracts. You pay only when you screen. And with our APay™ volunteer self-pay option, you can pass the cost to the applicant entirely — at zero cost to your organization.
👉 A real person answers when you call
You get a dedicated Client Advocate who knows your organization — not a call center. FCRA-certified guidance on building the right screening policy for every role, at no charge.
👉 Your whole roster, always current
Our custom Recheck system automatically flags volunteers due for rescreening. Someone who was clean at onboarding two years ago won’t slip through a gap. Your dashboard shows every person’s status in real time.
How Nonprofit Volunteer Background Checks Work With SecureSearch
No paperwork. No chasing volunteers. No guesswork.
Once your account is set up, the entire invitation takes under a minute — and your volunteers handle the rest through our SearchMyBackground™ portal.
Not All Volunteer Background Check Services Are the Same — Here Is What Actually Differs
| What matters to your organization | Cheap Instant Services | SecureSearch |
|---|---|---|
| Volunteers self-complete — no data entry by your team | ✗ Rarely | ✓ Always |
| Alias name & all address history searched | ✗ Rarely included | ✓ Every search |
| Human validation of every criminal record hit | ✗ Automated only | ✓ Every record |
| County courthouse searches for every address | ✗ Not included | ✓ 7-year history |
| FCRA compliance fully managed for you | ✗ Your problem | ✓ Handled for you |
| Audit-ready documentation for insurers & funders | ✗ Not available | ✓ Always maintained |
| Volunteer self-pay option — zero cost to your org | ✗ Not available | ✓ APay™ included |
| Dedicated account team who knows your organization | ✗ Call center | ✓ Your team |
| Ongoing Recheck — roster stays current automatically | ✗ One-time only | ✓ Built in |
| Setup fees / monthly minimums / contracts | ✗ Common | ✓ Never |
Volunteer Screening for Every Type of Nonprofit Mission
Whether you run an after-school tutoring program or a national human services network, SecureSearch scales to fit — with no per-seat fees and screening packages matched to the risk level of each role. Our FCRA-certified Client Advocates help you build the right policy at no charge.
Youth & Children’s Programs
After-school, tutoring, mentoring, youth sports, summer camps
Senior & Elder Care
Adult day services, assisted living support, meal delivery, companions
Human Services & Social Work
Shelters, food banks, domestic violence programs, crisis services
Civic & Community Organizations
Municipal agencies, public health, government contractors, civic groups
Healthcare & Disability Services
Disability support, rehabilitation, health clinic volunteers
Missions & International Work
Mission trip teams, international relief, cross-border volunteers
Free eBook for Nonprofits
The Volunteer Safety Guide
Screening, Onboarding, and Protecting the People in Your Care
By Steve Durie, Founder — SecureSearch & Safeguard from Abuse
135 pages — free for nonprofit leaders
The complete guide to building a defensible volunteer screening policy — from first invitation to ongoing Recheck.
“Volunteer coordinators shouldn’t need a compliance department to run a great screening program. We built SecureSearch so that one person with a full plate can protect an entire organization — without it consuming their week.”
Steve Durie
Founder & CEO, SecureSearch & Safeguard from Abuse™
The Power of 2: Screening + Child Abuse Prevention Training
A background check tells you what someone has been caught doing. It says nothing about everyone else. Safeguard from Abuse™ training closes that gap.
When your staff and volunteers are trained to recognize warning signs, respond correctly, and maintain a culture of accountability, your organization becomes a harder target. Predators move on to easier ones. And when accusations arise — founded or not — your documented training record is your strongest defense.
SecureSearch and Safeguard from Abuse™ together form the complete protection strategy. Neither works as well without the other.
What Nonprofit Leaders and Volunteer Coordinators Say
From all-volunteer 501(c)(3)s to large national youth organizations — this is what happens when screening stops being a burden.
“At the YMCA of the Chippewa Valley, child safety is our number one priority. SecureSearch and Safeguard from Abuse have been an instrumental part of our organization being able to achieve that. SecureSearch is an incredibly reliable, quick, and easy program to use — it allows us to run exactly the screening components we need, with a great variety of options including MVR, Federal, Multi-state, and Sex Offender Registry. Their customer service is amazing. Steve and Cara have been so amazing and helpful to us — always very quick to respond and happy to help. Our switch to SecureSearch and Safeguard from Abuse was easy and quick, and one we would make again in a heartbeat. Their products allow us to hire and train confidently and ensure that we are keeping our members and children safe. I will recommend them again and again — we are so happy and proud to partner with them.”
“We are a nonprofit youth leadership program, and having SecureSearch has made the background check process for our adult volunteers much smoother and more streamlined. Our volunteers are busy — making onboarding straightforward and simple has really helped. We integrated SecureSearch directly into our proprietary applicant tracking system via their open API, making the entire process seamless for our team to manage. Our adults are also required to be trained annually in protecting youth from abuse, and the Safeguard from Abuse program has been very effective — we’ve ported the training directly into our learning management system, giving volunteers instant access where they already work.”
Sunitha Thazethe, Director of Information Technology, U.S. Naval Sea Cadet Corps“We are an all-volunteer 501(c)(3) organization serving the elderly in our community in several ways. All prospective Board Members and volunteers are required to give written permission for a background check, which we have used SecureSearch to perform for several years. Results are made known to us in a timely manner and customer service has always been excellent. Five stars — without reservation.”
“SecureSearch has been an outstanding partner for NFL FLAG LA. When you are running a youth sports program, every volunteer and coach who steps onto that field needs to be thoroughly screened — and SecureSearch makes that process fast, reliable, and completely painless for our team. The pricing is great, but what truly sets them apart is their customer service. They are responsive, knowledgeable, and genuinely care about helping organizations like ours protect the kids we serve. Highly recommend.”
“I wanted to express gratitude for your outstanding customer service and follow-up. You are patient, you explain processes well and your responses come so quickly. You truly stand out above any company I have dealt with.”
Rosemarie V., Director of Staffing — Corners Outreach“I’ve been working with SecureSearch for approximately 8 months and I’ve had outstanding service. As someone new to background screening, I’ve been very pleased that the team is always available and willing to walk me through the process as many times as necessary.”
Amy D., Vice President — Nonprofit Organization“We are an organization with multiple sites and the ability to run all background checks with a consistent process throughout the United States is amazing. The team has been very helpful and accommodating to adjust processes to better fit our business model and needs.”
Jill H., Manager of Strategic HR Initiatives