Safeguarding Survey for Nonprofits, Charities, and Aid Organizations Serving Children and Vulnerable Adults
How Do You Screen and Vet Potential Employees and Staff?

For nonprofit and charitable organizations worldwide, creating safeguarding practices that work where you serve can be a challenge.

One of the more difficult challenges is screening and vetting employees and volunteers who work with vulnerable children and adults. How do you ensure those who serve alongside you can be trusted to keep your beneficiaries safe?

There is no "one size fits all" answer to that question. What works in London, New York, or Istanbul may be impractical in less developed areas. International standards recommend background and reference checks but offer few details. In some places, background checks and police record checks may be unreliable or prohibitively expensive. Personal or professional references may be better sources of information in some areas and cultures. The extent to which you vet and screen staff and volunteers may depend on the type of work you're doing, whether it's caring for children in a residential setting or distributing aid in a conflict zone.

This survey is designed to discover the practical solutions that organizations are currently using in the field. In striking the balance between eliminating untrustworthy staff and ensuring the organization can accomplish its mission, what are nonprofits and aid organizations actually doing?

Thank you for providing your important contribution to this issue.