Credit check for a volunteer position?

[Farrar]

My mom just took a new volunteer position (on an advisory board for a nonprofit tied to a large institution). She had to be invited to apply and go through a whole job-like process to get the position. They did a background check and I was like, yeah, that seems normal. And then she said, but is this normal? Because they also insisted on a credit check. And she was annoyed because, of course, doing a credit check lowers your credit. Hers is fine, she ended up deciding just whatever, I'll do it. But as it got on, it was really bugging her.

Does anyone know if this common? Or what a legitimate purpose could be?

[vonfirmath]

It's possible they just run volunteers through the same system their employees go through?

[TexasProud]

I don't know that it lowers your credit very much if you have good credit. Well, the advisory board may be handling money or at least advising how it would be spent, so you would want someone with decent credit. Don't know.  I haven't had a credit check for any of the boards I am on.

[ktgrok]

I bet it is because of all the charitable foundations that made the news due to people siphoning off funds, etc. 

[Katy]

I’m sure it’s normal on boards tied to large organizations. 

[cbollin]

Here's some information about "soft" vs "hard" credit checks and how they do and don't impact score.

https://www.creditkarma.com/advice/i/hard-credit-inquiries-and-soft-credit-inquiries

sounds like it's typically a "soft" inquiry for background checks by employers and that doesn't impact. 

I don't know how common they are, but that article makes it seem like it is within routine stuff for some employers.

[Carol in Cal.]

I’m on the board of trustees for a charitable foundation, and while I don’t recall a credit check, I did have to be fingerprinted and have some kind of a criminal background check.  It is a volunteer position.

[Farrar]

She wasn't that worried about it lowering her score, though she was like, well, what if someone didn't have great credit, why should they have to deal with yet another thing. I didn't realize that there were two types of credit checks and one doesn't affect your credit.

Siphoning off funds didn't occur to us, in part because she won't have any access to any funds at all. I guess maybe at some point she might? But even then, it's not like this advisory board has much of a budget to siphon. Like, no one could pay off debts with their budget. It would only be an amount of money that could excite someone who was truly down and out. All they do is have meetings and discuss things and "advise." So I think the whole budget may just be, like, meeting snacks. No joke.

The background check isn't something she (or I) are even questioning. That seems well normal, honestly.

[Farrar]

One of her questions was whether it was a way to exclude certain categories of people. It's a medically related board. She felt that it's likely that many of the people whose voices would be most valuable could have medical debt and wondered if this was specifically to exclude those voices and ensure that only affluent folks could serve on the advisory board.

[Bootsie]

The Federal Credit Reporting Act guides what can appear on a credit check for employment (which I would assume is the same in this case).  I don't think a credit score appears on an employment credit check.  Employment history would show up.  So, there could be a check for conflicts of interest.  

[Brittany1116]

😳 That's bizarre. I walked away from a volunteer position in a small town when they handed me a 9 page application for the position of sorting donated clothing into keep and trash. There were other like jobs elsewhere in town without that nonsense.