Title 45—Public Welfare--Volume 1
PART 2520—GENERAL PROVISIONS: AMERICORPS SUBTITLE C PROGRAMS
§ 2520.5   What definitions apply to this part?
AmeriCorps means the Corporation for National and Community Service, established pursuant to section 191 of the National and Community Service Act of 1990, as amended, 42 U.S.C. 12651, which operates as AmeriCorps.
You. For this part, you refers to the grantee or an organization operating an AmeriCorps program.
§ 2520.10   What is the purpose of the AmeriCorps subtitle C program described in parts 2520 through 2524 of this chapter?
The purpose of the AmeriCorps subtitle C program is to provide financial assistance under subtitle C of the National and Community Service Act to support AmeriCorps programs that address educational, public safety, human, or environmental needs through national and community service, and to provide AmeriCorps education awards to participants in such programs.
§ 2520.20   What service activities may I support with my grant?
(a) Your grant must initiate, improve, or expand the ability of an organization and community to provide services to address local unmet environmental, educational, public safety (including disaster preparedness and response), or other human needs.
(b) You may use your grant to support AmeriCorps members:
(1) Performing direct service activities that meet local needs.
(2) Performing capacity-building activities that improve the organizational and financial capability of nonprofit organizations and communities to meet local needs by achieving greater organizational efficiency and effectiveness, greater impact and quality of impact, stronger likelihood of successful replicability, or expanded scale.
§ 2520.25   What direct service activities may AmeriCorps members perform?
(a) The AmeriCorps members you support under your grant may perform direct service activities that will advance the goals of your program, that will result in a specific identifiable service or improvement that otherwise would not be provided, and that are included in, or consistent with, your AmeriCorps-approved grant application.
(b) Your members' direct service activities must address local environmental, educational, public safety (including disaster preparedness and response), or other human needs.
(c) Direct service activities generally refer to activities that provide a direct, measurable benefit to an individual, a group, or a community.
(d) Examples of the types of direct service activities AmeriCorps members may perform include, but are not limited to, the following:
(1) Tutoring children in reading;
(2) Helping to run an after-school program;
(3) Engaging in community clean-up projects;
(4) Providing health information to a vulnerable population;
(5) Teaching as part of a professional corps;
(6) Providing relief services to a community affected by a disaster; and
(7) Conducting a neighborhood watch program as part of a public safety effort.
§ 2520.30   What capacity-building activities may AmeriCorps members perform?
Capacity-building activities that AmeriCorps members perform should enhance the mission, strategy, skills, and culture, as well as systems, infrastructure, and human resources of an organization that is meeting unmet community needs. Capacity-building activities help an organization gain greater independence and sustainability.
(a) The AmeriCorps members you support under your grant may perform capacity-building activities that advance your program's goals and that are included in, or consistent with, your AmeriCorps-approved grant application.
(b) Examples of capacity-building activities your members may perform include, but are not limited to, the following:
(1) Strengthening volunteer management and recruitment, including:
(i) Enlisting, training, or coordinating volunteers;
(ii) Helping an organization develop an effective volunteer management system;
(iii) Organizing service days and other events in the community to increase citizen engagement;
(iv) Promoting retention of volunteers by planning recognition events or providing ongoing support and follow-up to ensure that volunteers have a high-quality experience; and
(v) Assisting an organization in reaching out to individuals and communities of different backgrounds when encouraging volunteering to ensure that a breadth of experiences and expertise is represented in service activities.
(2) Conducting outreach and securing resources in support of service activities that meet specific needs in the community;
(3) Helping build the infrastructure of the sponsoring organization, including:
(i) Conducting research, mapping community assets, or gathering other information that will strengthen the sponsoring organization's ability to meet community needs;
(ii) Developing new programs or services in a sponsoring organization seeking to expand;
(iii) Developing organizational systems to improve efficiency and effectiveness;
(iv) Automating organizational operations to improve efficiency and effectiveness;
(v) Initiating or expanding revenue-generating operations directly in support of service activities; and
(vi) Supporting staff and board education.
(4) Developing collaborative relationships with other organizations working to achieve similar goals in the community, such as:
(i) Community organizations, including faith-based organizations;
(ii) Foundations;
(iii) Local government agencies;
(iv) Institutions of higher education; and
(v) Local education agencies or organizations.
§ 2520.35   Must my program recruit or support volunteers?
(a) Unless AmeriCorps or the State commission, as appropriate, approves otherwise, some component of your program that is supported through the grant awarded by AmeriCorps must involve recruiting or supporting volunteers.
(b) If you demonstrate that requiring your program to recruit or support volunteers would constitute a fundamental alteration to your program structure, AmeriCorps (or the State commission for formula programs) may waive the requirement in response to your written request for such a waiver in the grant application.
§ 2520.40   Under what circumstances may AmeriCorps members in my program raise resources?
(a) AmeriCorps members may raise resources directly in support of your program's service activities.
(b) Examples of fundraising activities AmeriCorps members may perform include, but are not limited to, the following:
(1) Seeking donations of books from companies and individuals for a program in which volunteers teach children to read;
(2) Writing a grant proposal to a foundation to secure resources to support the training of volunteers;
(3) Securing supplies and equipment from the community to enable volunteers to help build houses for low-income individuals;
(4) Securing financial resources from the community to assist in launching or expanding a program that provides social services to the members of the community and is delivered, in whole or in part, through the members of a community-based organization;
(5) Seeking donations from alumni of the program for specific service projects being performed by current members.
(c) AmeriCorps members may not:
(1) Raise funds for living allowances or for an organization's general (as opposed to project) operating expenses or endowment;
(2) Write a grant application to AmeriCorps or to any other Federal agency.
§ 2520.45   How much time may an AmeriCorps member spend fundraising?
An AmeriCorps member may spend no more than ten percent of his or her originally agreed-upon term of service, as reflected in the member enrollment in the National Service Trust, performing fundraising activities, as described in § 2520.40.
§ 2520.50   How much time may AmeriCorps members in my program spend in education and training activities?
(a) No more than 20 percent of the aggregate of all AmeriCorps member service hours in your program, as reflected in the member enrollments in the National Service Trust, may be spent in education and training activities, unless AmeriCorps grants a waiver under paragraph (c) of this section.
(b) Capacity-building activities and direct service activities do not count towards the 20 percent cap on education and training activities.
(c) AmeriCorps may waive the limit in paragraph (a) of this section to allow up to 50 percent of the aggregate of all AmeriCorps member service hours in your program to be spent in education and training activities if your program:
(1) Is a Registered Apprenticeship program;
(2) Is a job training or job readiness program;
(3) Includes activities to support member attainment of a GED or high school diploma or occupational, technical, or safety credentials; or
(4) Primarily enrolls economically disadvantaged AmeriCorps members and employs a program design that also includes soft skills or life skills development.
§ 2520.55   When may my organization collect fees for services provided by AmeriCorps members?
You may, where appropriate, collect fees for direct services provided by AmeriCorps members if:
(a) The service activities conducted by the members are allowable, as defined in this part, and do not violate the non-displacement provisions in § 2540.100 of these regulations; and
(b) You use any fees collected to finance your non-AmeriCorps share, or as otherwise authorized by AmeriCorps.
§ 2520.60   What government-wide requirements apply to staff fundraising under my AmeriCorps grant?
You must follow OMB Guidance published at 2 CFR part 200 and AmeriCorps implementing regulations at 2 CFR Chapter XXII. In particular, see 2 CFR 200.442—Fundraising and Investment Management Costs.
§ 2520.65   What activities are prohibited in AmeriCorps subtitle C programs?
(a) While charging time to the AmeriCorps program, accumulating service or training hours, or otherwise performing activities supported by the AmeriCorps program or AmeriCorps, staff and members may not engage in the following activities:
(1) Attempting to influence legislation;
(2) Organizing or engaging in protests, petitions, boycotts, or strikes;
(3) Assisting, promoting, or deterring union organizing;
(4) Impairing existing contracts for services or collective bargaining agreements;
(5) Engaging in partisan political activities, or other activities designed to influence the outcome of an election to any public office;
(6) Participating in, or endorsing, events or activities that are likely to include advocacy for or against political parties, political platforms, political candidates, proposed legislation, or elected officials;
(7) Engaging in religious instruction, conducting worship services, providing instruction as part of a program that includes mandatory religious instruction or worship, constructing or operating facilities devoted to religious instruction or worship, maintaining facilities primarily or inherently devoted to religious instruction or worship, or engaging in any form of religious proselytization;
(8) Providing a direct benefit to—
(i) A business organized for profit;
(ii) A labor union;
(iii) A partisan political organization;
(iv) A nonprofit organization that fails to comply with the restrictions contained in section 501(c)(3) of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 except that nothing in this section shall be construed to prevent participants from engaging in advocacy activities undertaken at their own initiative;
(v) An organization engaged in the religious activities described in paragraph (g) of this section, unless AmeriCorps assistance is not used to support those religious activities; and
(9) Conducting a voter registration drive or using AmeriCorps funds to conduct a voter registration drive;
(10) Providing abortion services or referrals for receipt of such services; and
(11) Such other activities as AmeriCorps may prohibit.
(b) Individuals may exercise their rights as private citizens and may participate in the activities listed above on their initiative, on non-AmeriCorps time, and using non-AmeriCorps funds. Individuals should not wear the AmeriCorps logo while doing so.