❖ Heads up! This article is intended for Program Managers—a role available only on Amplify sites. You may also see this role referred to as Advanced Program Manager; both terms refer to the same user type.
By the end of this article, you will be able to:
Require a background check for an Opportunity
Review volunteer background check results
Manage expiration dates and exports
Before You Begin
Sterling Volunteers lets you require background checks for volunteers aged 18 and older before they can respond to an Opportunity!
Availability: Not all sites have access to Sterling Volunteers. If you're interested in enabling it for your Program, reach out to your Site Manager.
How It Works:
Volunteers must be 18 or older to initiate a background check.
If a required background check hasn’t been completed, the volunteer will be redirected to Sterling Volunteers before they can proceed.
Results & Restrictions:
Background check results are typically available within 4–48 hours and are shared with:
The volunteer
You
Your Site Manager
Team Responses: Background checks cannot be completed for team sign-ups.
If an Opportunity requires a Sterling background check, team responses won’t be allowed.
Volunteers who did not complete the Sterling process during their first attempt will remain marked as "Pending."
To resolve, volunteers must access their Candidate URL to complete the required background check steps.
Getting Started
We set up 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, please contact your Site Manager so they can email us to get this started!
For more information about Sterling Volunteers, please visit their site or contact their support:
Phone: (855) 326-1860, Option 3
If you have any questions about setting up Sterling Volunteers for your Programs, please ask your Site Manager to contact us about the process.
These steps only apply 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 to ask your Site Manager to contact us about the process.
Require a Background Check for a New Opportunity
Go to Volunteerism > Opportunities.
Select Add New Opportunity.
Scroll to Require Background Check.
Use the Select Package dropdown to choose a package.
To learn more about available Sterling Volunteer packages, please visit Sterling Volunteers or contact their support at theadvocate@sterlingvolunteers.com.
Complete the Opportunity form.
Selecting a required background check disables the Allow Team Registration option.
Require a Background Check for an Existing Opportunity
Go to Volunteerism > Opportunities.
Select the Opportunity Title.
Scroll to Require Background Check.
Use the Select Package dropdown to choose a package.
To learn more about available Sterling Volunteer packages, please visit Sterling Volunteers or contact their support at theadvocate@sterlingvolunteers.com.
Select Notify respondents of this update? if responses already exist.
Select Update Opportunity.
Selecting a required background check disables the Allow Team Registration option.
Review Background Check Results
Go to Volunteerism > Edit Program.
Select the Sterling Volunteers tab.
Review volunteer background check results:
Pending: Volunteer has initiated the check but cannot respond until approved.
New: Submitted and awaiting Sterling review.
Clear: Cleared but not yet marked eligible.
Eligible: Approved and can respond to Opportunities.
Ineligible: Not approved and cannot respond.
Consider: Requires manual review in Sterling.
Expired: Must resubmit before responding.
Abjudicated: Check is complete; results pending.
Request a Background Check Override
Contact your Site Manager to request a Sterling Volunteers override if:
A volunteer entered incorrect information
A background check was submitted in error
A volunteer needs to restart the background check process
Overrides must be requested by your Site Manager through Support.
Once completed, the volunteer can restart the background check process.
Export Background Check Data
Go to Volunteerism > Edit Program.
Select the Sterling Volunteers tab.
Select Export.
Your report downloads as a CSV file.
Set Background Check Expiration
Go to Volunteerism > Edit Program.
Select the Sterling Volunteers tab.
Select an expiration duration:
1, 2, or 3 years
18 months
Forever
Select Submit.
Volunteers must resubmit their background check after expiration.
Allow a Volunteer to Bypass a Background Check
Apply the sterlingnotrequired user tag to allow a volunteer to respond without completing a background check.
Go to Volunteerism > Users.
Search for the user.
From Select An Action, choose Add/Remove Tags.
Enter
sterlingnotrequired.
Select Update Tags.
The Volunteer Perspective
The Sterling Volunteers logo is displayed on your Opportunity cards when a volunteer visits your site.
It also appears in 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:
Phone: (855) 326-1860, Option 3