Why VeriFYI?
October 7th, 2009 - Posted by OneStar Foundation - No Comments
Nonprofits have a lot riding on their shoulders. Budgets are getting tighter just as more clients are seeking services. Volunteers are crucial to many nonprofits’ operations and service delivery. But what if a volunteer committed fraud at your organization, or a crime against one of your clients? What realistic strides can you take to protect your organization and your clients from these potential threats?
To address these issues, the Volunteer Center of North Texas has partnered with VeriFYI, a comprehensive background-screening tool. VeriFYI searches:
- State records of convictions and offenses.
- Texas State records of convictions and arrests, including juvenile offenses and adjudicated records. According to VeriFYI’s Web site, “No other commercial vendor has access to this information!”
- Social Security records to validate the potential volunteer’s identity.
- Sex offender databases from across the country.
VeriFYI lets organizations—including nonprofits and faith-based and community organizations—conduct both full and a la carte background checks. In addition to working with nonprofits, VeriFYI also works in partnership with several State government agencies in Texas.
Because background checks can be cost prohibitive for some organizations, OneStar has partnered with VeriFYI to help Texas organizations access these services. VeriFYI’s initial fee will be waived for all nonprofits and faith-based and community organizations that use the “OneStar reference” membership application, available here.
“We want to stress the importance of utilizing background checks to protect the people we are serving,” said Elizabeth Seale, President and CEO of OneStar. “We sincerely hope that Texas nonprofits have included background checks into their volunteer application processes, or will include them soon.”
For more information on VeriFYI’s services, go to VeriFYI.org.
Tags: Community-based Oganizations·Faith-based Organizations·Nonprofit Organizations·Resources·Texas·Volunteer Management·Volunteerism·Volunteers