volunteering
Nov. 19th, 2009 01:12 pm![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
peaceofpie.livejournal.com posting in ![[community profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/community.png){kind=small}
transI'm currently working through AmeriCorps with a nonprofit HIV/AIDS service agency. When I came on board here I found that the staff was VERY enthusiastic about receiving training in order to better serve transgender clients, and are very receptive to making changes in policy which will make our agency more inclusive. Since my primary role here is in volunteer coordination, one of the first steps I am taking is evaluating ways that we can make our volunteer program more accessible to people who want to volunteer regardless of gender.
One of the concerns which has come up is the background check process. Our current policy is to require a background check for anyone who volunteers on-site more than one time. There are volunteer opportunities available for those who do not provide information for a background check, but these are all one-time-only volunteer jobs. It seems to me that this would exclude people from volunteering who did not want to out themselves.
We discussed this at our last volunteer coordination team meeting, and the team is very interested in finding a solution. The team gets that it's different for us to require a background check than it is for a paid employer to require a background check, because we're trying to get people to volunteer for us, not offering them employment in exchange for their personal information; so someone who might be willing to disclose information for a paid employer would be less likely to do so. We have the utmost respect for confidentiality here, of course, but we are also mindful that just because an agency says we respect confidentiality does not mean someone will share personal information anyway.
So -- as a staff member at this agency, and also as a transgender person who likes to volunteer -- I am interested to hear both from people who work or have worked at agencies which background-check volunteers, and from people who volunteer, about what solutions there might be to this issue. Any ideas or thoughts you may have are greatly welcome!
One of the concerns which has come up is the background check process. Our current policy is to require a background check for anyone who volunteers on-site more than one time. There are volunteer opportunities available for those who do not provide information for a background check, but these are all one-time-only volunteer jobs. It seems to me that this would exclude people from volunteering who did not want to out themselves.
We discussed this at our last volunteer coordination team meeting, and the team is very interested in finding a solution. The team gets that it's different for us to require a background check than it is for a paid employer to require a background check, because we're trying to get people to volunteer for us, not offering them employment in exchange for their personal information; so someone who might be willing to disclose information for a paid employer would be less likely to do so. We have the utmost respect for confidentiality here, of course, but we are also mindful that just because an agency says we respect confidentiality does not mean someone will share personal information anyway.
So -- as a staff member at this agency, and also as a transgender person who likes to volunteer -- I am interested to hear both from people who work or have worked at agencies which background-check volunteers, and from people who volunteer, about what solutions there might be to this issue. Any ideas or thoughts you may have are greatly welcome!