Free Perks are the management tools included free with every account — no subscription, unlimited admin users. In the left nav they live inside the task groups (Manage, Screen & Protect, Engage, Impact & Funding, Recruit, Learn & Help) rather than under a separate Free Perks heading:
- Hours — log and approve verified service hours.
- Roster — see who's cleared to serve right now.
- Reports — grant-ready impact exports in PDF or CSV.
- Grants — AI-assisted grant writing from your aggregate data (no volunteer personal information is sent to the model).
- Recognition — generate a branded Certificate of Appreciation or an hours-milestone certificate (PDF) for any volunteer, from the volunteer's profile (“Certificate”) or by asking Victor. Certificates are auto-styled from your logo's colors (upload a logo in Settings → Organization), carry the “We proudly use VolunteerBadge” verified-screening seal, and show www.volunteerbadge.com in the footer — plus your organization's website when you add one in Settings → Organization → Website.
- Waivers — send event participants (parents, attendees, the people you serve) a waiver to review and e-sign before the event, by email, text (SMS), or a shareable link/QR code. Choose a pre-built template, generate a custom waiver with AI (describe your event and we draft it), or upload your own PDF to collect signatures on your exact document — custom waivers appear under Your waivers in the dropdown. Signatures (name, date, IP) are tracked, and you can download the completed, e-signed PDF (with a Certificate of Completion page) from the Sent & links list. Pre-built waivers are organized by category — Sports & Athletics (hold-harmless / assumption-of-risk, concussion awareness), Youth & Children (parental consent & participation), Elderly & Vulnerable Adults (elder-care activity waiver), Media & Privacy (photo & media release), General (release & hold-harmless), and Transportation (volunteer driver). Open Screen & Protect → Waivers, use the + quick-actions menu, or ask Victor. (Waivers are for participants and are separate from volunteer background checks; organization policies live under Screen & Protect → Policies.) Full guide to participant waivers →
- Training — assign a free VolunteerBadge Academy course to a volunteer right from their profile or in bulk from Manage → Compliance Roster. They're emailed a link to start it, completion is detected automatically once they pass the course exam, and you approve it into their compliance record — shown on the Roster and their profile. Full guide to assigning training →
Not tracking service hours? You can hide the Hours & grants section from every volunteer profile in Settings → Organization → Volunteer profile. It's on by default.
The only thing you ever pay for is background checks, at $5 each (pay-as-you-go).