Native Nations and Indigenous Elders Senior 

Demonstration Program –

Understanding the National Performance 

Measures 

AmeriCorps Seniors

February 2023

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Native Nations and Indigenous 

Elders Senior Demonstration Program –

Understanding the National Performance 

Measures 

AmeriCorps Seniors

February 2023

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American Seniors

Senior Demonstration Program 

Opportunity

• AmeriCorps Seniors is currently 

accepting applications now for 

the Native Nations & Indigenous 

Elders opportunity.

• Applications are due on April 5, 

2023, by 5:00pm ET

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Training & Technical Assistance Calls

Webinars Dates

Introducing AmeriCorps, 

AmeriCorps Seniors and its 

Programs

February 7, 2023, 3:00 PM ET February 28, 2023, 3:00 PM ET

A Tour of the Notice of Funding 

Opportunity February 9, 2023, 3:00 PM ET March 1, 2023, 3:00 PM ET

Understanding Performance 

Measures February 16, 2023, 2:30 PM ET

AmeriCorps Seniors in Action February 14, 2023, 3:00 PM ET March 7, 2023, 3:00 PM ET

Question and Answer Session February 23, 2023, 3:00 PM ET March 30, 2023, 3:00 PM ET

Best Practices in Budget 

Development Q&A

March 15, 2023, 2:30 PM ET
Agenda

• AmeriCorps Seniors Brief Overview

• AmeriCorps Performance Measures

• AmeriCorps Seniors Work Plan

• Resources

• Performance Measures

• Application

• Q&A

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Agenda

• AmeriCorps Seniors Brief Overview

• AmeriCorps Performance Measures

• AmeriCorps Seniors Work Plan

• Resources

• Performance Measures

• Application

• Q&A
AmeriCorps Seniors Brief Overview

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Native Nations and Indigenous Elders

Senior Demonstration Program

For questions please email:

AmeriCorpsSeniors@cns.gov

For more information and to review 

resources visit: 

https://www.americorps.gov/partner

/funding-opportunities

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Agenda

• AmeriCorps Seniors Brief Overview

• AmeriCorps Performance Measures

• AmeriCorps Seniors Work Plan

• Resources

• Performance Measures

• Application

• Q&A
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National Performance Measures

• A uniform set of measurements used 

across all AmeriCorps programs.

• Allows you to measure and assess your 

effectiveness and communicate it to 

AmeriCorps and other program 

stakeholders. 

• Allows AmeriCorps to tell a unified story 

about the impact of our programs 

nationwide and continue to improve our 

performance.
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National Performance Measures: Benefits

Accountability to Funders and Stakeholders

• Tell your story.

• Justify your funding.

Recognizing Progress

• Collect information in a reliable and systematic 

way. 

Program Improvement

• Spot and correct problems.

• Strengthen the intervention.

• Determine where to allocate limited resources.
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• AmeriCorps can focus efforts on national priorities where service has 

the greatest impact

• High quality data for a strong narrative about National Service

○ Standard guidance for using national performance measures:

▪ Definitions and descriptions

▪ Data collection and aggregation information

National Performance Measures: Benefits, 

continued
Notice of Funding Opportunity (NOFO)

A.3. Performance Goals or Expected Outcomes 

National Performance Measures 

• AmeriCorps expects applicants to use National Performance Measures as part 

of a comprehensive performance measurement strategy that relies on both 

performance and evaluation data to learn from their work and make tactical 

and strategic adjustments to achieve their goals. 

• Applicants are required to use the identified Performance Measures outlined in 

the NOFO (found in Appendix B: National Performance Measures Instructions). 

• Applicants must identify a Primary Focus Area (found in Appendix E) and the 

work plan must include service activities in the selected Primary Focus Area. 

Performance Measures: NOFO Highlights

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Performance Measures

Outcome

Output

Objective

Focus Area
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Performance Measures: 

Measuring Outputs and Outcomes

Outputs

• Amount of service provided (people served, products created, or 

programs developed)

Outcomes

• Reflect the change or benefits that occur

• Can reflect changes in individuals, organizations, communities, or 

the environment

• Address changes in attitudes/beliefs, knowledge/skills, behavior, or 

condition 
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Performance Measures: Outcomes

Attitude/Belief Knowledge/Skill Behavior Condition

Thought, feeling Understanding, 

know-how

Action Situation, 

circumstance
NOFO

A.3. Performance Goals or Expected Outcomes 

AmeriCorps requires applicants to use the National Performance Measures outlined in the NOFO as part of 

a comprehensive performance measurement strategy that relies on both performance and evaluation 

data to learn from their work and make tactical and Strategic adjustments to achieve their goals.

Applicants must identify a Primary Focus Area. Work plans must include at least one service

activity in the selected Primary Focus Area. 

This funding opportunity requires applicants to demonstrate cost-effective practices in achieving 

performance goals through the services described in the proposed work plan. Applications must include 

work plans that meet the following minimum requirements: 

• Performance goals must be specified in workplans that results in National Performance Measure 

outcomes for the selected focus area. 

• All proposed volunteers and the intended outcomes of their service must be represented in the narrative, 

outcome-based Performance Measures and budget.

• Proposals should provide a justification for the cost per volunteer that is reasonable and necessary for the 

execution of the proposed program.

• Applicants must choose between either an unstipended or stipended volunteer model for the proposed 

project. All volunteer assignments within the proposed program model should then reflect this choice.

Performance Measures: NOFO Highlights, continued

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AmeriCorps Seniors has the following Focus Areas: 

• Capacity Building: Support indirect services that enable AmeriCorpssupported organizations to provide more, better, and sustained direct 

services.

• Disaster Services: Helping individuals and communities prepare for, 

respond to, recover from, and mitigate the effects of disasters and 

increase community resiliency.

• Economic Opportunity: Improving the economic well-being and 

security of underserved individuals.

• Education – Intergeneration Programming: Improving educational 

outcomes for underserved people, especially children.

Performance Measures: Focus Areas

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AmeriCorps Seniors has the following Focus Areas: 

• Environmental Stewardship: Supporting communities to become more 

resilient through measures that reduce greenhouse gas emissions, 

conserve land and water, increase renewable energy use and improve 

at-risk ecosystems, especially in underserved households and 

communities.

• Healthy Futures: Supporting for health needs within communities, 

including mitigating the impacts of COVID19 and other public health 

crises, access to care, aging in place, and addressing childhood 

obesity, especially in underserved communities.

• Veterans and Military Families: Improving the quality of life of veterans 

and improve military family strength.

Performance Measures: Focus Areas, continued

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Agenda

• AmeriCorps Seniors Brief Overview

• AmeriCorps Performance Measures

• AmeriCorps Seniors Work Plan

• Resources

• Performance Measures

• Application

• Q&A
AmeriCorps Seniors Work Plan: 

Using Performance Measures to Show Impact

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What is 

the need?

Who will 

we serve?

How will 

we serve 

them?

Who will 

provide 

the 

service?

How will 

we 

measure 

it?

What will 

improve?
AmeriCorps Seniors Work Plan: Components

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• Focus area 

• Objective

• Description of community need

• Output (indicator, target, and 

tracking method)

• Service activity and description

• Number of unduplicated volunteers 

• Total number of volunteers 

• Outcome (indicator, target, and 

tracking method)

What will 

improve? 

How will we 

measure it?

Who will 

provide the 

service?

How will we 

serve them?

Who will we 

serve?

What is the 

need? 
AmeriCorps Seniors Work Plan: 

Description of Community Need

• Briefly explain the need to be 

addressed

• Provide context and local data

○ Who is affected

○ What the challenges or barriers 

are

○ What happens if the need is not 

addressed

○ How the challenges or barriers 

will be addressed

Example: 

In 2021, Neighborly Senior Services reported 

that approximately 10% of the 2,430 older 

adults in the county have mobility issues. 

The target group mostly represents older 

adults who no longer drive or do not have 

personal vehicles. Medical inattention puts 

older adults at risk for serious medical 

complications. This group needs 

transportation assistance for local medical 

appointments on a monthly basis and 

periodically to the nearest hospital which is 

70 miles away.

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• Immediate result of volunteer services

• Counts of things; how many were served?

• Three components:

1. Indicator

2. Target

3. Tracking method

AmeriCorps Seniors Work Plan: Output

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Refer to Appendix B: National Performance Measure Instructions for the 

specific outputs applicable to your objective

AmeriCorps Seniors Work Plan: Output Indicators

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• How many will you reach?

○ Use your best guess

○ Be realistic

○ Base it on local data or prior experience

○ Ask partners for input

• Count each beneficiary once per output indicator

Example:

10% of 2,430 older adults with mobility issues = 243 people

We think we can reach 80% with information = 194 people

We think 60% of those who get info will use services = 116 people

AmeriCorps Seniors Work Plan: Output Targets

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• How will you collect data?

○ Service or call logs

○ Sign-in sheets

○ Appointment records

○ Data management system

○ Administrative records

• Allow for tracking unduplicated 

counts of those receiving services

AmeriCorps Seniors Work Plan: 

Output Tracking Method

Example:

Neighborly Senior Services 

expects to serve 116 people with 

monthly rides to appointments. If 

each person gets 1 ride per 

month, Neighborly Senior Services 

would report 116 people served, 

not 1,392.

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• Choose the activity that best fits

• Can have more than one per output

• One work plan per activity

• Refer to Appendix B: National Performance Measure Instructions for the 

specific service activities applicable to your objective

AmeriCorps Seniors Work Plan: Service Activity

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AmeriCorps Seniors Work Plan: 

Service Activity Description

•What the volunteers will do to achieve output and outcome

•Include: 

○ Who the beneficiaries are

○ What the volunteers will do with them

○ How often, how long, and where service will take place

Example:

Volunteers will provide transportation to medical appointments for older 

adults with mobility issues. Each volunteer will provide an average of 4 rides 

per week to and from local appointments (for an average of 50 minutes per 

round trip) and one ride every two weeks to and from the hospital 70 miles 

away (for an average of 160 minutes per round trip).

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• Number of Unduplicated Volunteers

○ The volunteers of dedicated to this work plan only

○ These volunteers aren’t counted in any other work plan as unduplicated 

volunteers

• Total Number of Volunteers

○ Total number of volunteers who provide service under this work plan

○ May include people who are counted as an unduplicated volunteer in 

another work plan

AmeriCorps Seniors Work Plan: Volunteers Serving

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•Use prior experience

• Check with community partners

•Refer to your Output target and Service Activity Description

○ How many volunteers will it take to perform the activities for the number 

of people to be served? 

•Determine how many of those volunteers will be unduplicated

○ How many volunteers will be dedicated to this work plan as their primary 

service?

○ How many additional volunteers may be able to provide some service 

for this work plan, but not their primary service?

Allocating Volunteers across Work Plans

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Example:

Neighborly Senior Services expects to serve 116 people with monthly rides 

to appointments. Each driver will provide an average of 4 local rides per 

week and 1 longer ride every other week, or about 18 rides per month. If 

every person served gets 1.25 rides per month on average, 145/18 = 8.1, 

or 8 volunteers.

Neighborly Senior Services expects to have 7 volunteers dedicated to this 

work plan, because some months are slower than others. They also know 

they have 5 other volunteers who can spend some time on this work plan 

when demand is high, but it’s not their main focus. Therefore, Neighborly 

Senior Services would include 7 unduplicated volunteers and 12 total 

volunteers in this work plan.

AmeriCorps Seniors Work Plan: 

Allocating Volunteers

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• What difference did our service make?

• Changes that you want to occur:

○ in individuals, organizations, community, or the environment

○ in attitudes, beliefs, knowledge, skills, behavior, or condition

• Three components:

1. Indicator

2. Target

3. Tracking method

AmeriCorps Seniors Work Plan: Outcome

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Refer to Appendix B: National Performance Measure Instructions for the 

specific outcomes applicable to your objective and output

AmeriCorps Seniors Work Plan: Outcome Indicators

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Example:

Of the 116 people served with transportation, we think 85% will have 

increased capacity for independent living = 99 people

AmeriCorps Seniors Work Plan: Outcome Targets

• Of the beneficiaries being served, how many will improve?

○ Use your best guess

○ Be realistic

○ Base it on local data or prior experience

○ Ask partners for input

○ It’s not 100% of the people served!

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•How will you show improvement?

○ Surveys

○ Interviews

○ Test scores or report cards

○ Assessments by applicable professionals in the field

○ Organizational records

•When possible, demonstrate magnitude of improvement

AmeriCorps Seniors Work Plan: 

Outcome Tracking Method

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✓Focus area 

✓Objective

✓Description of community need

✓Output, target, and tracking method

✓Service activity and description

✓Number of unduplicated volunteers (stipended or 

unstipended)

✓Total number of volunteers 

✓Outcome, target, and tracking method

AmeriCorps Seniors Work Plan: Components Checklist

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Program Example:

•Programs focused on 

helping Native and 

indigenous communities 

respond to and recover from 

the COVID-19 pandemic.

Relevant Output:

•H4A: Number of individuals 

served

Relevant 

Outcomes:

•H17: Number of individuals 

with increased health 

knowledge

•H18: Number of individuals 

reporting a change in 

behavior or intent to change 

behavior to improve their 

health 

•H19: Number of individuals 

with improved health 

•H20: Number of individuals 

with improved access to 

medical care

AmeriCorps Seniors Work Plan: 

Aligning Service with National Performance Measures

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Program 

Example:

•Programs that create 

workforce pathways 

for older adults, 

including deliberate 

training, certifications, 

and support.

Relevant Outputs:

•O1A: Number of 

individuals served

Relevant 

Outcomes:

•O10: Number of 

individuals who 

secure employment

•O21: Number of 

individuals with 

improved job 

readiness

AmeriCorps Seniors Work Plan: 

Aligning Service with National Performance Measures

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Program 

Example:

•Programs that 

support the quality of 

life of Veterans and 

Military Families, 

Caregivers, and 

Survivors.

Relevant Outputs:

• V1: Number of 

veterans served

• V7A: Number of 

active military 

members and/or 

military family 

members served

• V8: Number of 

veteran family 

members served

Relevant 

Outcomes:

•Almost any!

AmeriCorps Seniors Work Plan: 

Aligning Service with National Performance Measures

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In each of your work plans, did you include:

• Local data and context in the description of community need?

• How often, how long, and where service takes place in the service 

activity description?

• Realistic targets for the outputs and outcomes? 

AmeriCorps Seniors Work Plan: Reminders!

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Agenda

• AmeriCorps Seniors Brief Overview

• AmeriCorps Performance Measures

• AmeriCorps Seniors Work Plan

• Resources

• Performance Measures

• Application

• Q&A
• National Performance Measurement 

Core Curriculum– Self-paced 

curriculum focused on 

comprehensive performance 

measurement strategies that rely on 

both performance and evaluation 

data. 

• Appendix B National Performance 

Measure Instructions- Summarizes 

performance measure requirements, 

provides a complete list of 

performance measures, and 

specifies allowable output/outcome 

pairings. 

Resources: Performance Measures

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Resources: Application

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Resource Name Resource Purpose

FY 2023 Native Nations & 

Indigenous Elders SDP 

NOFO

Establishes opportunity, application requirements, evaluation 

criteria, funding priorities, and more. 

Grant Application 

Instructions

Provides step-by-step instructions for navigating eGrants, 

AmeriCorps’ electronic grants management system.

Appendix B: National 

Performance Measure 

Instructions

Summarizes performance measure requirements, provides a 

complete list of performance measures, and specifies allowable 

output/outcome pairings. 

Appendix C: Terms and 

Definitions

Explains and defines the terminology that is relevant to this grant 

opportunity. 

Appendix F: Cost per 

Volunteer Calculator

Outlines the process for determining the cost per volunteer and 

helps track the overall cost effectiveness of an AmeriCorps Seniors 

volunteer program.
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Resource Name Resource Purpose

Indirect Cost Rate 

Agreement Instructions

Provides Step-by-step instructions for entering your Indirect Cost 

Rate Agreement, including for the de minimis rate, into eGrants

Technical Assistance Calls 

and Recordings

Provides a list of upcoming technical assistance webinars and links 

to the recordings of previous webinars. 

Frequently Asked Questions 

(FAQs)

Provides answers to most common questions regarding the Notice 

and application instructions.

National Service Hotline Offers help with eGrants; call 800-942-2677

Resources: Application, Continued
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Agenda

• AmeriCorps Seniors Brief Overview

• AmeriCorps Performance Measures

• AmeriCorps Seniors Work Plan

• Resources

• Performance Measures

• Application

• Q&A
Questions?

Please use the Q&A box to enter your question.

If your question is not answered, please email: 

AmeriCorpsSeniors@cns.gov

For more information and to review resources visit:

www.Americorps.gov/partner/funding-opportunities

Reminder: 

Applications are due April 5, 2023, 5:00 p.m. Eastern Time.

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