America’s Charities and Verified Volunteers Partner to Offer Streamlined Volunteer Screening and More Effectively Activate Employee Volunteers in Communities Nationwide

Washington, D.C. (August 11, 2015) – America’s Charities, the leader in workplace giving and philanthropy, and Verified Volunteers, the only background check platform tailored to the specific needs of the service sector, have formed a strategic alliance to help America’s Charities nonprofit members vet volunteers more safely, easily, and cost-effectively. The partnership will also increase overall employee engagement for America’s Charities’ corporate clients.

For 35 years, America’s Charities has helped raise more than a half billion dollars for more than 10,000 nonprofits. The benefits America’s Charities’ members receive include better fundraising opportunities, convenient aggregation of their fundraising results, brand and message amplification, and the ability to tap into broad expertise within America’s Charities and across the nonprofit sector. Verified Volunteers, the first online community to mobilize repeat, vetted volunteers, currently serves thousands of volunteer managers across the country. The partnership between the organizations further enhances the benefits to America’s Charities’ members and Verified Volunteers clients alike by streamlining the background screening process for America’s Charities members and opening Verified Volunteers clients to new fundraising opportunities at corporations nationwide. 

For America’s Charities corporate clients, the partnership helps to enhance an effective tactic for increasing employee satisfaction and a vital aspect of corporate social responsibility (CSR) efforts: employee volunteerism. The new partnership comes at the perfect time, as America’s Charities recently announced their agreement with Causecast, the premiere giving and volunteering technology platform, to promote and enrich CSR efforts by bringing the most comprehensive charitable giving, volunteerism and employee engagement technology platform to the public and private sectors.

“America’s Charities’ partnership with Verified Volunteers fills a critical need among the nonprofits we serve: the ability to perform background checks in a timely and cost-effective manner,” said Steve Delfin, President and CEO of America’s Charities. “Verified Volunteers’ Fast-Pass allows volunteers to own and share their own background checks, which enables our members to streamline their volunteer recruiting and onboarding processes. Additionally, our partnership helps our corporate clients enhance their CSR efforts by encouraging volunteerism amongst their employees, as they will have to undergo the screening process only once.”

Current background screening options are costly and time-consuming for both nonprofits and their volunteers. Since as many as half of all volunteers choose to serve with more than one organization, the cost and time commitment involved with repeat screenings can be an obstacle for nonprofits and their volunteers. With Verified Volunteers’ Fast-Pass, a volunteer can share a single background check with any number of nonprofits. Using a standardized volunteer service credential that satisfies screening requirements and is recognized by multiple organizations translates into lower costs and a greater number of qualified, readily available and dedicated volunteers.

“We’re elated to partner with America’s Charities, the leader in workplace giving and employee engagement, to offer streamlined volunteer screening services to their nonprofit members and to better activate their corporate clients’ employee volunteers,” stated Tom Klein, Executive Director of Verified Volunteers. “They have led the transformation in employee engagement from traditional annual campaigns to flexible year-round opportunities. Our goal is to make volunteer screening easier, faster, less costly, and of higher quality, removing many of the common barriers to volunteering and promoting service amongst citizens nationwide. This partnership takes us one step closer towards that goal.”

To learn more about being an America’s Charities’ member or take advantage of its CSR solutions, visit https://www.charities.org. To learn more about Verified Volunteers, visit http://www.verifiedvolunteers.com/.

About America’s Charities

America’s Charities is a national mission-driven organization that connects public and private sector employers with charities to engage employees in greater giving. The organization operates as a strategic consulting partner for philanthropic organizations, nonprofits and the business community to increase social impact, and has been at the forefront of employee giving since 1980. America’s Charities’ experience combined with an accountable and transparent process has resulted in raising more than $650 million for more than 10,000 charities addressing a range of causes including education, human rights, hunger, poverty, research, animals, veterans, disaster relief and health services. Information about America’s Charities can be found at www.charities.org, as well as on our social media networks.

About Verified Volunteers

Verified Volunteers is the only background screening platform tailored to the specific needs of the service sector and the first online community to mobilize repeat, vetted volunteers. We propel nonprofit organizations by empowering volunteers to take greater ownership of costly, time-consuming screening and onboarding processes. Verified Volunteers supports hundreds of thousands of volunteers nationwide, and is partnered closely with many HandsOn Network volunteer centers. The first-of-its-kind screening platform continues to see rapid adoption throughout the U.S with more than 100 new volunteer managers choosing Verified Volunteers each month. Verified Volunteers is backed by SterlingBackcheck, one of the world’s largest background screening companies, and partnered with Points of Light, the world’s largest organization dedicated to volunteer service. Visit our website at verifiedvolunteers.com or Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn or Google Plus to learn more.

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Media Contacts:

Lindsay Nichols

America’s Charities

lnichols@charities.org

703-674-5359

Mercy Chikowore

Belle Communications

mercy@thinkbelle.com

803-347-6905