Visitor Aware provides criminal history checks to vet potential volunteers and visitors. We conduct criminal history checks on all volunteers. Consider conducting them on visitors with significant interaction with children or vulnerable populations.


Below are instructions on how to purchase and manage criminal history and background check tokens.


If your state requires that you use a specific database to run background checks, please continue to use that service and record the background check date on the volunteer's profile. In addition to the state-required service provider, you can use one of Visitor Aware's criminal history check options.


Volunteer Application Screening (no additional charge)

Each school has access to set up a free online volunteer application form through Visitor Aware. Upon completing the volunteer application form, applicants will undergo the initial round of screening (if enabled) against:

  • National Sex Offender Registry
  • Interpol
  • National and international watch lists 

Reference our visitor screening implementation guidelines help article to learn more.


If the applicant comes back positively matched against any of the above databases, it will be up to the school to determine if they'd like to run a criminal history check on the individual.


Please note: If an applicant is flagged during this initial screening process, a staff member will need to manually run a criminal history check on them, even if the checks are set to run automatically. This way, tokens aren't being used if/when the initial flag prevents the applicant from becoming a volunteer.


Criminal Screening Options (additional charge) 
Visitor Aware offers tokens that can be purchased for national criminal records checks.

Basic National Criminal Records Check

We search 200 million federal, state, and county criminal records. Depending on what is considered to be public record (definition changes per jurisdiction), there is the potential that the following may be returned: felonies, misdemeanors, traffic offenses, sexual offense details…etc. Then, within the information returned, you may see jurisdiction, charge, offense, disposition type, sentence, probation, and conviction (if applicable). 


Disclaimer: Not all information is available for all records - this is dependent on what is considered a public record within the jurisdiction.

Purchasing Tokens

To enable the option to run criminal history checks on volunteers and visitors, tokens must be purchased in advance. 


Before purchasing any tokens, please note: Our service cannot provide a true Level 2 Background Check due to our inability to collect and process physical fingerprints. If a Level 2 Background Check is required, this will need to be completed using a different provider.


To purchase tokens, follow these steps:

Note: Only Visitor Aware account administrators can view this screen and purchase tokens.

  1. Navigate to the background check page: https://app.visitor-aware.com/billing.
  2. Enter the credit card information. 
  3. Ensure the Basic package appears in the Type of check dropdown menu.
  4. Select the quantity from the the Quantity of Criminal History Checks dropdown menu.
  5. Select the check box to acknowledge the credit card will be charged.
  6. Verify that the total amount is as expected.
  7. Click the Purchase button.


State Requirements

If your state mandates using a specific database for background checks, you should still comply with that requirement and record the check date on the volunteer's profile. 


Public Record Limitations

The information returned on a county-level check depends on what is considered a public record in that specific jurisdiction. This can vary, potentially including details about felonies, misdemeanors, traffic offenses, and sexual offenses.


Enable Background Check Automation

When a volunteer submits their application and clears the initial round of screening (if enabled), our software can be configured to run the criminal history check as specified automatically. To enable background check automation, follow these steps:

  1. Navigate to the Volunteer Settings page: https://app.visitor-aware.com/client-settings/volunteers. Or, from the left navigation, click System Settings | Volunteer Management | General Settings.
  2. Scroll down to the Automatically run background checks on volunteers? section and click the Yes radio button. 
  3. Scroll down and click the Save button.  


Please Note: When this setting is enabled, any approved volunteers who fall out of compliance will have their criminal history check automatically rerun one year (12 months) later as long as there are available tokens. The volunteer coordinator will then review the report to determine if the volunteer should remain approved or be marked as denied or converted to a visitor. We do not recommend deleting the volunteer as this would result in their entire event history being deleted as well.


Enable Automated Email Notifications

The volunteer coordinator role will be able to receive automated email notifications regarding various volunteer-related processes that are taking place in the software. These automated notifications include the following:

  • Volunteer applicant submissions
  • Volunteers without a background check date (if automation is enabled later)
  • Volunteers who have not signed in within the last 12 months
    • The system will not automatically run a background check on these volunteers if automation is enabled, and you will need to remove the volunteering status manually. Please reference this help article to convert volunteers to visitors. (If a volunteer is deleted, all logged history associated with this person will be destroyed.)

To enable the above automated email notifications, first ensure the volunteer coordinator role has been assigned to the associated user. Next, follow these steps:

  1. From the left navigation bar, go to System Settings | User Management | Users.  
  2. On the the All Users page,  search for, or scroll to find the user and click the user's name. You will access the Edit User page. 
  3. For IT users: Scroll down to the Receive notifications for assigned locations? section, click the Yes radio button, and then click the Save button. 
  4. For users: Navigate to the Receive notifications for assigned locations? section and click the Yes radio button, then click the Save button.


Approving/Denying Volunteers

Volunteers can be approved and denied from their respective volunteer profiles located within the All Volunteers screen. Additional information on approving and denying volunteers can be found here.


If the background check automation is enabled, the volunteer approval process will work as detailed below:

  • A criminal records report will be run automatically upon application submission
  • If nothing is returned on the report, the volunteer will be automatically approved
  • If anything gets returned on the report, a staff member will need to review the report to manually approve/deny the volunteer

Automatic email notifications will go out to the Volunteer Coordinator role detailing which volunteers need to be reviewed when criminal records are returned. Make sure the Volunteer Coordinator role has been assigned to the appropriate locations, that notifications have been enabled, and that the automatic email notification type has been checked.


To learn how to manually run a criminal history check and where to locate the criminal record report, please reference the How to run a criminal background check help article.


Happy with your current background check provider? No problem.

If you'd prefer to use a 3rd party vendor to complete the background check, feel free to record the background completion date in Visitor Aware to receive automated email reports for annual renewal. That help article is available here.


Automated Reports

If the automated criminal history check process is enabled, there are are a couple reports that will be sent if a user opts in to receive them:

  • Inactive volunteer criminal history screening
    • On the last day of each month, an automated report will be sent out listing all volunteers who are due to have their background check run to stay in compliance
    • Volunteer coordinator roles will need to lookup the profiles referenced in this email to:
      • Manually re-run and review the criminal history check
      • Manually convert the volunteer to a visitor (this preserves the data history recorded for this person in lieu of deleting their profile, which would delete all information relating to this visitor/volunteer)
  • No background check date recorded
    • If automatic criminal history checks are enabled and volunteer profiles already exist in the system without a recorded background check date, an automated email report will be sent listing each volunteer who does not have a date recorded on their profile. Steps to take for those individuals listed:
      • Manually enter the background completion date
      • Run the criminal history check and review the report to continue volunteer status or deny their status and/or convert them to a visitor.

Opt-in Report

Individuals within the organization can opt-in to receive reports that identify who submitted volunteer applications. To receive these emails:

  1. From the left navigation bar, go to System Settings | Volunteer Management | General Settings. 
  2. Scroll or search for the user and click the user's name. 
  3. For the user, click the Settings dropdown menu and select Edit.
  4. Scroll to the bottom of the page to the Automatic Report Email Addresses box. 
  5. Enter a comma-separated list of individuals who would like to receive the email report.
  6. Click the Save button. 

On-screen Report (using filter)

Individuals with access to the All Volunteer screen can use the on-screen filtering capabilities to create real-time custom reports that can be exported. One of the filters gives users the ability to filter based on background check date, which can be run for one location or all locations on the same screen. To create a report specific to volunteers' background check date follow these steps;

  1. From the left navigation bar, go to People | Volunteers | All Volunteers. 
  2. Locate the Filter by Background Check Date option.
  3. Select the appropriate option from the dropdown list.
  4. If you prefer a .csv file , click the Export arrow to download the on-screen list of volunteers.


Please note: This screen respects all the filters you choose. This means you can layer more than one filters at a time to find exactly what you need. Ensure you choose the right filters, and leave the others blank, depending on the information you want to see.