❖ Heads up! This article is intended for Site Managers. If you're an Advanced Program Manager, click here. If you're a Program Facilitator looking for information about reviewing users in your Program, click here.
You and your program managers can use Sterling Volunteers to complete background checks on volunteers who are 18 years of age or older before they respond to an Opportunity!
ⓘ So you know:
- Not all sites have Sterling Volunteer.
- Please contact us if you're interested in adding Sterling Volunteer to your site!
- The volunteer must be 18 years of age or older to initiate a background check with Sterling Volunteers.
- If a volunteer hasn't completed a required background check before responding to an Opportunity, then they're routed to Sterling Volunteers when they try to respond to one.
- You, the Advanced Program Manager, and the volunteer receive the background check results within 4 to 48 hours.
- Background checks cannot be completed for Team responses. When you add a Sterling background check to an Opportunity, users will not be able to respond to that Opportunity as a team.
Here, we cover:
- How to set up Sterling Volunteers
- How to set up an Opportunity
- How to review background check results
- How to bypass a background check
- Sterling Volunteer notifications
- The volunteer perspective
How to set up Sterling Volunteers
We must enable Sterling Volunteers on your site and work with the Sterling Volunteers staff to get it set up for you and your programs. If you're interested in adding it to your site, please contact us to get started!
ⓘ So you know:
- If you create a new Program in the future and want to have Sterling Volunteers added to that Program, then you'll need to contact us to go through the process again.
- If you have any questions about Sterling Volunteers, e.g., what background check packages are available or what they entail, please contact Sterling Volunteers for more information.
- Email: theadvocates@sterlingvolunteers.com
- Phone: (855) 326-1860, Option 3
How to set up an Opportunity
❖ Heads up! These steps apply only when a Program has Sterling Volunteers packages set up in the database and Sterling Volunteers activated on the site. The only way to add Sterling Volunteers to a Program is by contacting us to have it enabled on your site.
You can make the background check a required step for volunteers to respond to your Opportunities! This can be done when you first create a new Opportunity that's assigned to a Program with Sterling Volunteers enabled or you can add it to existing Opportunities. Just remember, the Opportunities must be assigned to a Program that has Sterling Volunteers enabled.
New Opportunities
To get started:
1. Go to Volunteerism > Opportunities. 
2. Click Add New Opportunity.
3. Be sure to select the Program that has Sterling Volunteers.
4. Scroll to Require Background Check. 
5. Use the Select Package dropdown to select a package.
- To learn more about available Sterling Volunteer packages, please visit Sterling Volunteers or contact their support at theadvocate@sterlingvolunteers.com.
6. Continue creating the Opportunity.
- Click here for more information about creating Opportunities!
7. Be sure to click Create Opportunity when you're done!
ⓘ So you know: The Allow Team Registration option goes away when you opt to require background checks.
Existing Opportunities
To get started:
1. Go to Volunteerism > Opportunities.
2. Select the Opportunity that is assigned to a Program with Sterling Volunteers enabled.
3. Scroll to Require Background Check.
4. Use the Select Package dropdown to select a package.
- To learn more about available Sterling Volunteer packages, please visit Sterling Volunteers or contact their support at theadvocate@sterlingvolunteers.com.
5. You can continue to make updates to the Opportunity as needed or click Update Opportunity if you're finished. 
✅ Best practice: It's a good idea to check the box beside Notify respondents of this update?, especially if the Opportunity already has volunteer responses.
ⓘ So you know: The Allow Team Registration option goes away when you opt to require background checks.
How to review background check results
You can always review the results of your Sterling Volunteer background checks in the Programs area of your dashboard!
To get started:
1. Go to Volunteerism > Programs. 
2. Select the Program that has Sterling Volunteers.
3. Click the Sterling Volunteers tab. 
4. Now you can review the data for your volunteers who have completed their background checks!
Background check statuses
| Status | Description |
|---|---|
| Pending | This status means:
|
| New | A volunteer has submitted their background check but it hasn't been reviewed by Sterling's system yet |
| Clear | The volunteer has been cleared for the background check but has not yet been marked as eligible to respond. This is a transitional status. |
| Eligible | The volunteer is approved and can complete the Opportunity response form |
| Ineligible | The volunteer isn't approved and can't complete the Opportunity response form
|
| Consider | You, another site manager, or an advanced program manager, must log into Sterling Volunteers to review the volunteer
|
| Expired | The background check has expired, and the volunteer will need to re-submit their background check information before they can start responding to opportunities that require that background check. |
| Adjudicated | The background check is complete and results are coming soon |
Overriding a result
Did someone enter information incorrectly when completing their background check? No worries! We know mistakes happen! If this happens and you want to allow the volunteer to re-accomplish the background check, contact us for an override!
Exporting background check data
You can always export your background check data whenever you need it!
1. Go to Volunteerism > Programs.
2. Select the Program with Sterling Volunteers enabled.
3. Click the Sterling Volunteers tab.
4. Select Export. 
- This downloads your report as a CSV file.
Expiration dates
You can set the duration for how long you want to honor a volunteer's background check.
1. Go to Volunteerism > Programs. 
2. Select the Program with Sterling Volunteers enabled, then click the Sterling Volunteers tab.
3. Select how long you wish to honor background checks using the dropdown. You can select:
- 1, 2, or 3 Years
- 18 Months
- Forever
3. Click Submit when you're ready.
ⓘ So you know: Once the expiration date is reached, the volunteer must complete the background check again.
How to bypass a background check
Do you want to let someone bypass the background check? You can with a specific user tag—sterlingnotrequired. This special tag lets the volunteer respond to the Opportunity even if they haven't passed the background check.
1. Go to Volunteerism > Users. 
2. Search for the user you wish to apply this tag to. 
3. With the Select An Action dropdown, select Add/Remove Tags. 
4. Make sure you have Add the following tag selected and type sterlingnotrequired in the blank field beside it.
5. Click Update Tags when done.
- Click here to learn more about user tags.
Sterling Volunteer notifications
There are specific notifications that go out related to Sterling Volunteers. These notifications are only present on your site when you have Sterling Volunteers enabled.
Please note that automated notifications won't change even if language overrides are in place on a site. That means Agency and Agency Manager are in place of Program and Program Manager in the notification title:
| Notification | Description |
|---|---|
| SV: Approved Background Check, Agency | Notification is sent to Advanced Program Managers when a user's background check is complete and an Eligible status is returned |
| SV: Background Check Initiated, Agency | Notification is sent to Advanced Program Managers when a user starts a background check |
| SV: Background Check Initiated, User | Notification is sent to the user when they start a background check |
| SV: Clear Background Check, Agency | Notification is sent to Advanced Program Managers when a user's background check is complete and a Clear status is returned |
| SV: Consider Background Check, Agency | Notification is sent to Advanced Program Managers when a user's background check is complete and a Consider status is returned |
| SV: Consider Background Check, User | Notification is sent to the user when their background check is complete and a Consider status is returned |
| SV: Consider Status Allowed, Agency | Notification is sent to Advanced Program Managers when they select Allow on a background check that returns with a Consider status |
| SV: Consider Status Allowed, User | Notification is sent to the user when an Advanced Program Manager selects Allow on their background check that returns with a Consider status |
| SV: Eligible Background Check, User | Notification is sent to the user when their background check is complete with an Approved status |
| SV: Ineligible Background Check, Agency | Notification is sent to Advanced Program Managers when a user's background check is complete and an Ineligible status is returned |
| SV: Ineligible Background Check, User | Notification is sent to the user when their background check is complete and an Ineligible status is returned |
| SV: Monthly Update, Agency | Notification is sent to Advanced Program Managers when a monthly update changes the status of a user's background check |
| SV: Monthly Update, User | Notification is sent to the user when a monthly update changes the status of their background check |
The volunteer perspective
The Sterling Volunteers logo is displayed on your Opportunity cards when a volunteer visits your site. 
- It also appears by the Opportunity title when they click on View Details.
- They're taken to a Background Check page when they click Respond for that Opportunity.
- After they complete this information and click Submit Background Info., they're taken to the Sterling Volunteers' site to complete the rest of the background check.
- For more information about the process from here, please contact Sterling Volunteers:
- Email: theadvocates@sterlingvolunteers.com
- Phone: (855) 326-1860, Option 3
- For more information about the process from here, please contact Sterling Volunteers: