❖ Heads up! This article is intended for advanced program managers. If you're a site manager, click here. If you're a program facilitator looking for information about reviewing your programs, click here.
You can use Sterling Volunteers to require background checks on volunteers who are 18 years of age or older before they can respond to an Opportunity!
ⓘ So you know:
- Not all sites have Sterling Volunteer.
- Please contact your site manager 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, or the site 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
- The volunteer perspective
How to set up Sterling Volunteers
We must enabled Sterling Volunteers on the site and work with Sterling Volunteers to enable background checks for your Programs. If you're interested in requiring background checks, then please contact your site manager so that they can email us to get this started!
- For more information about Sterling Volunteers, please visit their site or contact their support:
- Email: theadvocates@sterlingvolunteers.com
- Phone: (855) 326-1860, Option 3
✅ Best practice: If you have any questions about having it set up on the site for your Programs, please ask your site manager to contact us about the process.
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 having a site manager contact us about the process.
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, if your Program has Sterling Volunteers enabled or you can add it to existing Opportunities. Just remember, your Program must have Sterling Volunteers enabled.
New Opportunities
To get started:
1. Go to Volunteerism > Opportunities. 
2. Click Add New Opportunity.
3. 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 Edit Program area of your dashboard!
To get started:
1. Go to Volunteerism > Edit Program. 
2. Click the Sterling Volunteers tab. 
3. Now you can review the data for your volunteers that have completed their background checks!
Background check statuses
| Status | Description |
|---|---|
| Pending | A pending status means that:
|
| 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 or a site 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, just ask your site manager to contact us about an override!
Exporting background check data
You can always export your background check data whenever you need it!
1. Go to Volunteerism > Edit Programs.
2. Click the Sterling Volunteers tab.
3. 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 > Edit Program. 
2. Click the Sterling Volunteers tab. 
3. Using the dropdown, select how long you wish to honor background checks. 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.
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: