I have questions that have both a technological and legal aspects. More and more our ministries are moving toward a digital medium. One of the biggest holdups for many volunteer processes is “paperwork.” It’s frustrating as we have conversations with people, meet them in person and then say, oh, fill out these pages and then we’ll get the ball rolling. Some of us have taken additional steps in putting all of these forms online, but it still usually requires someone to download the form, print and sign it. Once this is finished, those volunteers either mail it in, hand deliver it or scan/fax/email back to us. For living in the 21st century, this seems like a bunch of steps from digital to analog and back to digital again. I’m wondering though if we can keep the process purely digital. Here are my thoughts followed by questions.
A digital application
I can see two versions. An editable PDf where the volunteers downloads, fills out and either emails the application back or uploads it via a wufoo form or something like that. No printing or scanning.
A digital background check
We can already do this, although we don’t do it very much. Fellowship One provides a volunteer pipeline where individuals can log in and submit their own background check. We don’t use it very much because everything else is paper-based, so it seems less confusing to keep the background check process analog as well. I included what a volunteer fills out to get a background check though Fellowship One below.
A digital ministry agreement
There are a few significant bits of information that I want every volunteer to know and understand before they begin volunteering. I actually even want them to sign off that they know and understand… even agree to comply with. This may include our expectations as well as core policies such as appropriate touch, suspected child abuse and other key issues.
All of these “physical” documents we already keep in their file with Fellowship One which is secure and private, but almost all of these documents are scanned from a paper copy.
The Big Question
What does a digital signature look like in these cases? Could I simply add a disclaimer at the end of each document saying that filling out the following fields gives us consent that the information submitted was true, accurate and from you. The fields would request their full name, date of birth and maybe even the last four digits of their social security number… making that harder for someone to randomly fake. I know that Fellowship One does a background check completely digitally (I included the screenshot below) and no one has to “sign” anything. You have to give your social (which is required to run a check) which maybe helps validate that the person filling out the form is who they say they are.
So, what can we do? What legal issues do we need to consider? What issues might we run into if someone did something inappropriate and claimed that they didn’t know and that they didn’t sign the document that we have digitally signed by them. Also, if we use a Wufoo form to transmit files electronically, the form is a secure page (signified by the https at the front of the URL). Does that then provide a safe transport of files with documents of a more sensitive nature (although we’ll not ask for people’s full social security number on these forms)?
Let me know. I’m really curious as to what our options might be.
I don’t really know about how you execute this, but apple does something when their user agreements change that forces you to go to the page with their policies…
I would think something like that agreeing to the terms that you lay out as far as information is concerned would be important.
But honestly I’m not sure. We have a digital application and are trying to make the process less and less complicated but still thorough.
It seems to be complicated by companies who you have systems they provide you with as they clutter the process and slow it down.
More than what you asked for, but on top of my head those are my thoughts.
That’s a great question concerning “digital signatures”. I am in the process of converting all our Children’s Ministry forms to an “edital PDF” form that can be downloaded via Website (or emailed). My forms do include a digital signature at the bottom that is generated through Adobe Acrobat Pro. According to Adobe a “digital ID” is generated that links name, email, and the organization. Is this legally binding? Keep us posted on what you discover!
Kenny,
For Mac users running OS X 10.7 (and maybe earlier versions) you can digitally sign any pdf with your actual signature without printing it out. Open Preview and go to Preferences. Choose Signatures. Click that you want to add a signature. Then you simply sign a plain white piece of paper, hold it up close to your camera until you get it just right, and click Accept. You actually see your signature in a preview window before you accept it. Then you can open any pdf in Preview, drop the signature anywhere you want it, and click save.
I just did this with my signature & initials and my wife’s to sign a contract to sell our home. It was super easy and I never printed or scanned anything. I’m certain this technology will be on a PCs and Macs in the near future.
Kenny,
Were you able to find out anything or get to the bottom of this. We have been trying to figure this out for awhile and are just having trouble figuring out how to make sure we are completely covered. Would love to hear what you ended up doing.
Molly