I came across this question today and wanted to get some more thoughts and opinions.
Does your nonprofit have a policy and/or procedure for people who want to volunteer that have a criminal history show up on their background check?
Does your organization run background checks on all your volunteers?
Do you allow people doing "community service" to volunteer?
Do you take into consideration the type of the crime or the amount of time that has passed since their offense?
My first nonprofit organization I worked for ran background checks on absolutely everyone who wanted to volunteer, even office volunteers. If any sort of criminal history showed up, we did not allow them to volunteer. No questions asked; no exceptions made.
My most recent nonprofit employer did not run any background checks on individuals so we would have no way of knowing whether they had any sort of history, however, we only dealt with event and office volunteers - no direct contact with consumers.
What do you think? Should "criminals" be allowed to volunteer at your nonprofit? Can a nonprofit gain anything from allowing these individuals to volunteer with them? Is their risk involved?
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