Volunteer sex offender screening API for nonprofits
Give volunteer-driven organizations an affordable sex offender check across every US registry — scored and source-verified — that scales to seasonal surges without per-state contracts.
25 free searches, no card. $0.15 a call, no platform fee, no seats, no minimum. No code needed: search from your dashboard, or integrate the full API when you’re ready.
curl https://api.offendersearch.app/v1/search \ -H "X-API-Key: $OFFENDERSEARCH_KEY" \ -H "Content-Type: application/json" \ -d '{"query": {"firstName": "Paul", "lastName": "Walsh", "dob": "1975-09-30", "ageTolerance": 1}}' // response { "status": "complete", "elapsedMs": 410, "counts": { "records": 0, "sourcesQueried": 58, "sourcesComplete": 58, "sourcesIncomplete": 0 }, "records": [] } // a match carries its reason { "matchState": "dob_match", "matchConfidence": 0.98, "matchBasis": ["lastName:exact", "firstName", "dob"] }
Screening challenges for nonprofits and volunteer organizations
- Tight budgets can’t absorb expensive per-check pricing
- Volunteer numbers spike seasonally
- Programs serve vulnerable populations and can’t skip screening
What sex offender screening gives nonprofits and volunteer organizations
Screen every volunteer affordably
Absorb seasonal spikes without renegotiating
Keep a source-verified check on file
Nonprofits & Volunteers sex offender check API: request and response. One POST per person, or the same search from the dashboard with no code.
curl https://api.offendersearch.app/v1/search \ -H "X-API-Key: $OFFENDERSEARCH_KEY" \ -H "Content-Type: application/json" \ -d '{"query": {"firstName": "Paul", "lastName": "Walsh", "dob": "1975-09-30", "ageTolerance": 1}}' // response { "status": "complete", "elapsedMs": 410, "counts": { "records": 0, "sourcesQueried": 58, "sourcesComplete": 58, "sourcesIncomplete": 0 }, "records": [] } // a match carries its reason { "matchState": "dob_match", "matchConfidence": 0.98, "matchBasis": ["lastName:exact", "firstName", "dob"] }
Send what you have. Name and date of birth; age or birth year when that is all you hold. Date of birth drives matchState: dob_match, year_match, age_match or no_dob_age_year.
Read the counts. sourcesComplete against sourcesQueried says whether all 58 registries answered, so a partial search is never read as a clear one.
Branch on the score. matchConfidence and matchBasis on every record, with the registry cited.
| Person | Checked for | Result | Answered |
|---|---|---|---|
| Paul Walsh | volunteer intake | No match | 58 / 58 |
| Jordan Sample | volunteer intake | Match · dob_match | 58 / 58 |
| J. Sample | volunteer intake | Review · year_match | 58 / 58 |
Read the API docs › · Search from the dashboard › · Screen a CSV without code ›
Sex offender screening built for nonprofits & volunteers. One key, one schema, one stored record of every check.
Affordable metered pricing
Pay per call with a lower rate after 2,000 calls a month — no seats and no minimum on search.
Scales to surges
Handle a seasonal intake of volunteers without new contracts.
Every US registry in one call
One integration covers every state your volunteers come from.
When nonprofits and volunteer organizations run a sex offender check. Each moment, and the call that fits it.
Before a volunteer’s first shift
The check that matters most runs before an adult is alone with a child or a vulnerable adult for the first time. For most organizations that is the moment an application is approved, not the moment a person is placed on a schedule weeks later.
At the start of each season or program year
Youth sports, camps and after-school programs turn over every season. Re-screening the returning roster at the start of each season catches a registration that happened since last year, which a one-time check never will.
When a role changes
A volunteer who moves from event setup to overnight trips or one-on-one mentoring has a different risk profile. Screen again when access changes, and record why.
Continuously, for long-serving volunteers
Board members, coaches and mentors can serve for years. A monitor on each name alerts you when a registry status changes, so the record you rely on is current rather than as old as the volunteer’s start date.
Nonprofits & Volunteers screening workflow. Step by step, from the first call to the stored record.
Collect name and date of birth on the application. Date of birth is what turns a common name into one scored candidate. Ask for it once, on the form you already use.
Search the 58 US registries in one pass. From the dashboard for a handful of volunteers, by CSV upload for a whole roster, or by API from your volunteer-management system.
Review anything that is not a clear result. Each match shows why it matched — full date of birth, birth year, or name only — and links the registry record so a coordinator can confirm identity before acting.
Record the result and the date. Keep the search date, the result and the reviewer with the volunteer file. Insurers and national bodies ask for exactly this.
Put long-serving volunteers under monitoring. Alerts arrive by email or webhook when a monitored person’s registry status changes.
Nonprofits & Volunteers screening: what the law requires and what it doesn’t
Few volunteer screening duties are written into law, and the ones that are tend to be specific. AmeriCorps programs must run a national sex offender registry check, a state repository check and an FBI fingerprint check before service begins (45 CFR § 2540.204(a)). Utah requires youth service organizations serving 25 or more children to run a registry check before an employee or volunteer starts (Utah Code § 80-8-201). National governing bodies of Olympic sports require registry searches across the states plus DC, Guam and Puerto Rico, with a supplemental off-year check.
Where the law is silent, insurance and membership standards usually decide. Camp and youth-sports insurers condition sexual-abuse and molestation cover on a documented screening system, and church insurers tie binding and renewal to a written screening program. Y-USA requires every local Y to screen all adults against a national sex offender registry. The SafeSport Act, often described as a background-check law, imposes reporting, training and one-on-one contact limits rather than checks.
Volunteer programs also differ from employers in rhythm. Volunteers arrive in seasonal waves — a camp summer, a sports season, a holiday drive — so screening has to handle a few hundred names in a week and then almost nothing for months. Per-search billing with no minimum fits that pattern, batch screening clears a roster upload in one pass, and monitoring keeps long-serving volunteers current without re-searching everyone each season. Keep the screening date and result with each volunteer record, because that file is what an insurer or a national organization asks to see.
Sex offender screening for nonprofits & volunteers, by the numbers. The same answer whichever registry holds the record.
Registry and criminal records for nonprofits & volunteers, on one key. Most nonprofits and volunteer organizations need more than one check, and running two vendors means two integrations, two contracts and two invoices.
Sex offender registry
58 US registries, continuously updated, with photographs, aliases, addresses and the official record citation on every match. 1.5M records in one schema.
Sex offender API ›Criminal records
1,408 county jail rosters, 53 state corrections systems, courts, warrants and federal custody, almost 50 million records in the same scored, source-cited schema. Same key, same price.
Criminal search API ›FCRA background checks
When a result decides a hire or a tenancy, the check runs as an FCRA order through FCRA Partner Access: consent, the check, disputes and adverse-action steps. Pricing is quoted per partner.
FCRA Partner Access ›Coverage today: 1,914 criminal jurisdictions catalogued, 1,564 live, 51 states + DC + federal. See what each state publishes, or the live list at /v1/criminal/sources.
What nonprofits & volunteers screening costs per check. $0.15 a call, $0.11 past 2,000 a month. No platform fee, no seats, no minimum.
| Checks / month | Cost | Per check |
|---|---|---|
| 500 | $75.00 | $0.1500 |
| 5,000 | $630.00 | $0.1260 |
| 50,000 | $5,580.00 | $0.1116 |
A batch is billed per row, so bulk screening costs the same per person as a single lookup. No setup fee, no per-seat licence, no monthly minimum on search and no annual contract, so the price scales down with you as well as up. A fraction of what legacy screening platforms charge.
The background check API · screen a CSV without code. More for developers: the free background check API tier, background check API pricing, the employment screening API and tenant screening API, and the background check API in Python and background check API in Node.js tutorials.
Nonprofits & Volunteers screening FAQ
For anything else, talk to sales or read the API docs.
Is there a minimum commitment?
No. Search is metered per call with no seats and no minimum, which suits variable volunteer volume.
Can smaller orgs use this?
Yes. Self-serve signup and per-call pricing make it practical for organizations of any size.
Do nonprofits have to run sex offender checks on volunteers?
Usually not by statute. Specific programs do: AmeriCorps service, Utah youth service organizations serving 25+ children, and Olympic-sport governing bodies. For most nonprofits the requirement comes from their insurer or national affiliate, which is why a documented, dated check per volunteer matters.
How often should volunteers be re-screened?
At least once a season or program year for youth programs, and continuously for long-serving volunteers through monitoring. Several national standards set annual checks; Olympic-sport policy adds an off-year registry check between full checks.
Can we screen a whole volunteer list at once?
Yes. Upload a CSV with first name, last name and date of birth; each row is one search at the per-search rate and comes back with its own result.
Does a registry check replace a fingerprint check for volunteers?
No. Where a program requires fingerprints — AmeriCorps, for example — the registry search is a separate named step. A registry check covers registration status in every state; a fingerprint check covers criminal history.
What should a volunteer screening policy say?
Who is screened (usually anyone with access to children or vulnerable adults), when (before service and on a re-screen cycle), what disqualifies, who reviews matches, and where records are kept. Insurers and national bodies often provide templates.
Related
Screen nonprofits and volunteer organizations with one API
Give volunteer-driven organizations an affordable sex offender check across every US registry — scored and source-verified — that scales to seasonal surges without per-state contracts.