Compass IGG Volunteer Application

  • Volunteer Application

    Our volunteer corps is the talent engine of this organization. Recognizing that our globally distributed volunteers donate their most valuable assets—their time and expertise—we commit to treating that donation as a reciprocal investment. Our culture is built on the philosophy that for us to be successful in resolving unidentified missing persons cases, we must first be successful in fostering and supporting the growth and well-being of our volunteer team.
  • Have you applied to volunteer with Compass previously?*
  • Due to the sensitive nature of case data and genetic information, strict digital security is required. Please confirm the following:*
  • Compass IGG & Advocacy is committed to the safety of the families we serve and the integrity of our law enforcement partnerships. For this reason, all volunteer offers are conditional upon the successful completion of a criminal background check.*
  • You will be supporting operations involving sensitive case information. Are you willing to sign and strictly adhere to non-disclosure and confidentiality agreements?*
  • By completing this application you acknowledge the following:*
  • Due to the sensitive nature of the research and operational data available to Compass volunteers, the organization requires a high level of confidentiality and exclusivity in its relationship with volunteers. This restriction is necessary to prevent the potential co-mingling of confidential information and to ensure that a Volunteer's loyalty and professional focus are solely dedicated to Compass' mission and ethical standards.*

  • Thank you for your interest in volunteering with Compass IGG & Advocacy.

    We sincerely appreciate the time and thought you invested in this application. Based on your responses, you do not meet the eligibility requirements at this time.

    Due to the sensitive nature of our work, all volunteers must meet specific standards related to security, confidentiality, and organizational requirements. While we are unable to continue with this application, we are grateful for your support of our mission.

    You are welcome to apply again in the future if your circumstances change.

    Thank you again for considering Compass IGG & Advocacy.

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  • Volunteer Roles

  • Compass IGG & Advocacy's volunteer roles are highly specialized. Please review the full description for the role that interests you prior to applying.

    Genealogist

    IGG Researcher

    IGG Research Strategist

    OSINT Specialist

    Family Advocate

    Content Creator

    Wellness Navigator

    Event Specialist

    Development Specialist

    Education Specialist

  • Select one role for this application. If you are interested in more than one role, please submit separate applications for each role. Please note that if you are interested in the IGG Research Strategist you should apply for the role of IGG Researcher.*

  • Volunteer Content Creator

    The Volunteer Content Creator supports the mission by translating the complex, humanitarian work of Compass IGG & Advocacy into compelling, accessible, and brand-compliant media. This role is crucial for amplifying the organization’s voice across digital platforms, aiding the Executive Director of Public Engagement and Advancement in efforts related to public education, advocacy campaigns, and advancement.
  • Which social media platforms you participate in? (check all that apply)*
  • The Compass media team uses Canva.com to create and manage content. Please check all that apply to your experience in Canva.*

  • Volunteer Development Specialist

    The Development Specialist is a hands-on volunteer support role dedicated to the fundraising and advancement operations of Compass IGG & Advocacy. Reporting directly to the Director of Institutional Advancement (DIA), the Development Specialist is responsible for executing the tactical components of the organization’s fundraising strategy. This role ensures the smooth operation of donor stewardship and campaign execution, allowing the organization to secure the resources necessary to resolve unidentified missing persons cases.
  • What areas of development work are you most interested in supporting? Check all that apply.*
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  • Volunteer Education Specialist

    The Volunteer Education Specialist is a vital member of the Volunteer Education Team, responsible for assisting the Education Director in designing and developing compelling, high-quality educational content. This role directly supports the organization’s mission by helping to ensure staff and volunteers maintain the highest levels of expertise and ethical practice by educating external partners and the public.
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  • Volunteer Event Specialist

    The Events Specialist Volunteer plays a pivotal role in supporting the organization’s operational and financial health by planning and helping execute virtual and in-person events for volunteers, donors, and prospective clients. This role supports various leadership functions, ranging from fostering a cohesive national volunteer community through the logistical design of internal retreats and workshops, to assisting with organizational sustainability through strategic fundraising campaigns. Whether facilitating internal training or external development, the specialist ensures these initiatives serve as effective platforms for growth and strategic alignment.
  • What types of events have you organized in the past? (check all that apply)*
  • Have you managed these for both in-person and virtual environments? (check all that apply)*

  • Volunteer Family Advocate

    The Family Advocate Volunteer serves as the primary, compassionate liaison between Compass IGG & Advocacy and the families impacted by missing persons. This role is dedicated to empowering families by providing direct education and guidance. The Family Advocate Volunteer ensures families are informed partners in the effort to bring their loved ones home.
  • Are you a Credentialed Advocate (CA)?*
  • Have you worked in an advocacy capacity before?*

  • Volunteer Genealogist

    The Genealogist Volunteer provides critical foundational research necessary to assist families of the missing and advance cases of unidentified human remains. This role focuses purely on traditional genealogical research, building comprehensive family trees that support both the organizational intake process and the complex research conducted by the Investigative Genetic Genealogy (IGG) teams. No genetic genealogy expertise is required for this role.
  • How many years of genealogy experience do you have?*
  • Do you have genealogy experience related to the following populations? Click all that apply.*
  • Please select all online platforms that you have used for genealogy research:*
  • Please select the offline resources you have used in your genealogy work:*
  • Are you willing/able to conduct in-person research at repositories in your local area?*
  • Please check all the programs you have completed:*
  • Are you an AG or CG? (check any that apply)*

  • Genealogy Assessment

    At Compass, we share the core belief that we are all teachers and we are all learners. This assessment will help give us a clear picture of each applicant’s current skill-set and experience level within the field of genealogy so we can place volunteers in areas best suited to their abilities and expertise.
  • Work performed for this role may not rely on Ancestry-owned resources. Are you willing and able to conduct research without Ancestry-owned websites or tools?*
  • You are given a missing person's full name, approximate birth year, and last known state of residence. What is the best initial approach?*
  • Which details are most useful when distinguishing between two people with the same name? Select all that apply.*
  • When building a missing person’s family tree, a record suggests a possible connection between a grandparent and great-grandparent. What is the best next step?*
  • Why is the research of siblings, spouses, and other collateral relatives especially useful when reconstructing a family tree for a missing person?*
  • A death certificate gives one birthplace, but a marriage record and two census entries suggest another. What is the best genealogical response?*
  • When a relevant collection is searched and no useful record is found, what should a researcher do?*
  • Why must a genealogist study the history of county boundary changes (jurisdictional history)?*
  • If recent birth or death records are restricted, which alternative sources may help reconstruct a family? Select all that apply.*
  • What is a primary genealogical benefit of using a City Directory?*
  • Which document is most likely to list the specific distribution of assets to heirs, clarifying a family’s structure?*
  • If a missing person may have used a nickname, middle name, or alternate surname, which strategies are appropriate? Select all that apply.*
  • How should an unsourced online family tree be treated?*
  • When available records strongly suggest a relationship but do not prove it conclusively, the best practice is to:*
  • To support collaborative work at a nonprofit organization like Compass IGG & Advocacy, what is the most important habit?*
  • Which of these record types is considered a "gold mine" for identifying siblings and married names of sisters?*
  • When recent vital records (birth/death) are restricted by privacy laws, which alternative is most likely to provide parental names?*
  • The "FAN Club" research method refers to investigating which group?*
  • When a federal census is missing (e.g., the 1890 loss), which record set is best for identifying a family's residence?*
  • In U.S. Land Records, which system uses "sections, townships, and ranges"?*
  • Which of the following defines "Original Information" in a genealogical context?*

  • Volunteer IGG Researcher

    The IGG Researcher is the backbone of Compass IGG & Advocacy’s mission, dedicating expertise to resolve cases of unidentified human remains. This role deploys advanced investigative genetic genealogy (IGG) techniques and expert traditional genealogy to generate identification leads for unidentified human remains (UHR) cold cases.
  • How many years of traditional genealogy experience do you have?*
  • How many years of genetic genealogy experience do you have?*
  • Have you worked as a "search angel?"*
  • Approximately how many unknown parentage cases have you successfully worked?*
  • Do you have genealogy experience related to the following populations? Click all that apply.*
  • Please select all online platforms that you have used for genealogy research:*
  • Please select the offline resources you have used in your genealogy work:*
  • Are you willing/able to conduct in-person research at repositories in your local area?*
  • Please check all the programs you have completed:*
  • In addition to the role of IGG Researcher, Compass has additional IGG volunteer role of IGG Research Strategist. This role is filled from our IGG Researcher volunteers. Would you like to be considered for either of these roles?*
  • Are you a CGG or AIGG?*

  • IGG Assessment

    At Compass, we share the core belief that we are all teachers and we are all learners. This assessment will help give us a clear picture of each applicant’s current skill-set and experience level within the field of IGG so we can place volunteers in areas best suited to their abilities and expertise.
  • Work performed for this role may not rely on Ancestry-owned resources. Are you willing and able to conduct research without Ancestry-owned websites or tools?*
  • You are working a Doe case with no close matches. Your top relevant matches are: 168 cM, sparse tree154 cM, strong tree to great-grandparents131 cM, no tree but strong shared match overlap with the 154 cM match118 cM, apparently unrelated surname but in the same clusterWhat is the best first analytical move?*
  • A 146 cM match shares a plausible cluster with the Doe, but their tree contains multiple unsourced connections copied from public trees. What is the strongest analytical posture?*
  • If a match’s tree is private, what is the most ethical and effective way to proceed in an IGG context?*
  • Which facts would most help you confidently assign a cluster to one side of a Doe’s ancestry? Select all that apply.*
  • You are using a Leeds Method chart and find a match that belongs to three different color columns. What is the strongest analytical posture?*
  • You have identified a likely ancestral couple for one cluster. Their descendants number in the hundreds across several states over four generations. What is the best next step?*
  • When performing forward descendancy on a 19th-century couple, you find 400+ descendants. Which factor is LEAST helpful for narrowing the pool for a Doe case?*
  • A candidate family emerges that fits the DNA network well, but the candidate’s documented age appears about 8–10 years outside the estimated range for the unidentified remains. What is the best response?*
  • You have identified a candidate family, but the DNA suggests the Doe should be a great-grandchild of the Most Recent Common Ancestor (MRCA), while the only “missing” person in the family is a grandchild. How should you proceed?*
  • You are building a tree for a match and discover their biological father is not the man who raised them (an NPE). How does this affect your IGG analysis?*
  • A case shows many matches sharing moderate cM totals, dense overlapping shared matches, and repeated intermarriage among the same community lines. What is the most appropriate adjustment to your analysis?*
  • In a likely endogamous or pedigree-collapse context, which conclusion is most risky?*
  • You find a 210 cM match. The tree provided by the user shows they are a second cousin, but the shared match list includes individuals from both the paternal and maternal sides of your working hypothesis. What does this likely indicate?*
  • Which of the following is a red flag that a cluster might be reflecting endogamy rather than a recent common ancestor?*
  • In a population known for endogamy, how should you adjust your interpretation of shared DNA?*
  • You have a match whose total cM is attractive, but much of it is distributed across many smaller segments, and the shared-match network is unusually broad. What is the best interpretation?*
  • You see a pile-up region where 50+ matches all share the same small segment (7–10 cM). What is the best interpretation?*
  • Which statements reflect appropriate use of X-DNA and haplogroups in Doe casework?Select all that apply.*
  • A male Doe shares 35 cM on the X-chromosome with a female match. Which path can be excluded for their common ancestor?*
  • The Doe is Haplogroup R-M269 and a candidate’s paternal line is Haplogroup I-M253. What does this conclude?*
  • When using What Are The Odds? (WATO), which of the following most improves the reliability of a hypothesis evaluation?*
  • Which of these best describes triangulation in IGG?*
  • You have two plausible candidate hypotheses: Hypothesis A: better DNA fit, weaker documentary support, and Hypothesis B: stronger documentary fit, but weaker alignment with one inferred cluster. What is the most appropriate next step?*
  • A candidate appears to fit one side of the case extremely well, but the other inferred cluster has no clean placement into that candidate’s family. What is the best interpretation?*
  • Which practices reflect strong advanced-case reasoning in IGG?Select all that apply.*
  • You have a working hypothesis that the Doe is a specific person. What is the most rigorous way to break your own hypothesis?*
  • At what point is a candidate typically strongest for formal advancement or escalation in a Doe case?*
  • A candidate is identified, and their living sibling is willing to provide a DNA sample. What is the purpose of this targeted testing?*
  • At what point should you present a lead to law enforcement?*

  • Volunteer OSINT Specialist

    The OSINT Specialist Volunteer provides specialized, deep-dive investigative support to Compass IGG & Advocacy’s core mission. This role is activated when Investigative Genetic Genealogy (IGG) and traditional research have exhausted their leads on a DNA match’s identity. The OSINT Specialist uses advanced open-source intelligence methodologies to bridge genealogical gaps and make critical identifications that are essential to generating a final candidate for agency partners.
  • Do you hold a private investigator certificate and/or license?*
  • Please check all of the credentials and programs that you have completed:*

  • Volunteer Wellness Navigator

    The Wellness Navigator Volunteer is dedicated to safeguarding the mental and emotional health of all Compass IGG & Advocacy volunteers. This specialized role applies expertise in trauma and grief counseling to provide essential coping strategies and psychoeducation, helping volunteers navigate the challenges of vicarious trauma inherent in working difficult and sensitive cases of unidentified human remains and ambiguous loss.
  • Do you currently hold a relevant certification or license (e.g., LPC, LCSW, LMFT, or equivalent)? While highly desirable, this is not strictly required if you have substantial experience.*
  • This role requires specific expertise to support volunteers working with unidentified human remains and vicarious trauma with resources to assist them. Please check areas you have experience with.*
  • Have you ever developed or curated educational content (such as video libraries, tip sheets, or digital materials) regarding mental wellness or burnout prevention?*

  • Help Us Get to Know You Better

  • This questionnaire is part of our volunteer screening process and is designed to help us better understand how applicants approach ethical decision-making, confidentiality, and victim- and family-centered advocacy. Your responses will help ensure that all volunteers align with the mission, values, and culture of Compass IGG & Advocacy.

    There are no “trick” questions. We encourage you to answer thoughtfully and honestly based on how you would approach these situations.

  • If you are given access to sensitive case or DNA-related information, how should that information be handled?*
  • If a family chooses not to pursue media attention or certain advocacy efforts, what is the most appropriate response?*
  • Which of the following best reflects how case information should be shared publicly?*
  • You come across information that may be relevant to a case but has not been verified. What is your next step?*
  • What best describes the role of a volunteer within Compass IGG & Advocacy?*
  • On a scale of 1 - 5, which is more important when working on a case?*
  • On a scale of 1 - 5, how comfortable are you working within strict guidelines, confidentiality rules, and limited information sharing?*
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  • Click 'Submit' to Complete Your Application

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