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How to charge volunteers a background check fee (volunteer Add-On)

  • Updated

To have volunteers pay toward their background check, create a buy item for the fee and add it to each program as a required add-on for the Volunteer enrollment type. Set Required? to 1 per Season Year so each volunteer pays once, even if they volunteer in more than one of your programs that season.

Applies to: Org admins · All plans (Buy Items/Add-Ons) · Registration programs that take volunteer registrations, including organizations with Protect Youth Sports (PYS) background checks

Where: Programs > Configurations > Buy Items/Add-Ons, then Programs > Manage Programs > (program) > 2 Configuration > Add-Ons

Step 1: Create the fee

  1. Go to Programs > Configurations > Buy Items/Add-Ons and click Add Buy Item.
  2. In Item Name, enter a name volunteers will recognize, such as Volunteer Background Check Fee.
  3. In Item Description, say what the fee covers. Volunteers see the name, the description and the price.
  4. Leave Variable Cost at No and enter the fee in Item Cost.
  5. Click Save. You'll see "The Buy Item has been added."

The other buy item settings, such as the picture, are explained in How to create an add-on (buy item) and add it to a registration program, under Related articles.

Step 2: Add the fee to volunteer registration

  1. Go to Programs > Manage Programs, open the program and click 2 Configuration.
  2. Under Add-Ons, click Add Add-On.
  3. In Offering, choose All, or the offering volunteers register for.
  4. In Enrollment Type, choose Volunteer.
  5. In Buy Item, choose the fee you created.
  6. In Required?, choose 1 per Season Year (see the table below).
  7. Leave Allow Multiple at No.
  8. Click Add.

Repeat Step 2 in every program volunteers register for. For 1 per Season Year to count across programs, each program's Program Season on 1 Setup must have the same year, for example 2026 Spring and 2026 Fall.

Required? What volunteers pay
1 per Season Year Once per volunteer across your programs whose Program Season has the same year. A volunteer who has already paid it that season doesn't see it again.
1 per Account per Season Once per family account across those programs. A second adult on the same account who volunteers isn't charged.
Yes On every volunteer registration, so someone who volunteers in two programs pays twice.
1 per Order Once per checkout, on the first registration in the cart.
No Only if the volunteer chooses to add it.

What you'll see: the fee in the program's Add-Ons list with its Offering, Enrollment Type, Buy Item, Cost and Required setting. When volunteers register, the fee shows under Add-On To This Enrollment, already checked, and they can't uncheck it.

Refund volunteers who are already cleared

The fee is charged even when no new check is needed. With PYS background checks, a returning volunteer whose earlier check is still valid isn't checked again, and their registration shows "Duplicate - Registered Previously" on the Background Checks dashboard. To give such a volunteer the fee back:

  1. Go to Reports > Report Dashboards > Background Checks and click Dashboard Configuration. Check the program, choose All Types in Volunteer Type and click Apply. Note the volunteers whose Service Status is "Duplicate - Registered Previously".
  2. Go to Customers > Account Management > Search, find the volunteer and click their name to open Account Overview.
  3. Click the View Order icon (magnifying glass) on the order that has the fee.
  4. Click the red X (Cancel) next to the fee and click OK on "Do you want to cancel this Order Item?". You'll see "Enrollment Add-on canceled." and the fee is credited to the account.
  5. On Account Overview, click Add Transaction, choose Refund/Void - Credit Card, choose the order in Refund Order, enter the fee in Amount and click Add. Don't add a Misc - Credit.

To keep a cleared volunteer from paying in the first place, give them a Misc - Credit for the fee before they register, or, when you register them yourself with Place Order, uncheck the fee.

If it doesn't work

  • A volunteer was charged twice. Required? is Yes, or the two programs' Program Season years differ. Change the add-on as below and refund the extra fee.
  • You need to change Required? or Allow Multiple. An add-on can't be edited. Click the red X on its row in the Add-Ons list and add it again. Volunteers who already paid keep their fee.
  • A volunteer doesn't see the fee. The add-on's Offering or Enrollment Type doesn't match their registration, or, with 1 per Season Year or 1 per Account per Season, it was already bought that season.
  • "Allowing Multiple for 1 per Season is not supported." (or the 1 per Account per Season or 1 per Order version) Set Allow Multiple to No.
  • "Duplicate 'Offering', 'Enrollment Type' and 'Buy Item' combinations are not allowed." The fee is already an add-on for that offering and enrollment type.
  • The fee isn't in the Buy Item list. Create it on Buy Items/Add-Ons first (Step 1).

Good to know

  • The fee is charged on every volunteer registration in the offerings you chose, whatever volunteer role the person picks. An add-on can't be limited to one role. To charge only the people who get a check, put the fee on a separate background-check program, as in How to run background checks only on approved coaches.
  • A canceled fee no longer counts as paid. If the same volunteer registers in another program that season, 1 per Season Year charges them again. To avoid that, refund the card without canceling the fee and add a Misc - Credit for the same amount, as the partial refund article explains.
  • PYS bills your organization, not the volunteer, for each check your site orders. The fee is how you pass that cost on.
  • Card refunds work within your refund window, normally 180 days.
  • To see who has paid the fee, use the Add-On Report.

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