2024 AmeriCorps State & National

Mandatory Supplemental 

Information

Amended January 30, 2024
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The AmeriCorps State & National Mandatory Supplemental Information is intended to provide 

applicants with additional information for the preparation of their applications under the AmeriCorps 

State and National Notice of Federal Funding Opportunity. The Supplemental Information provides

both detailed definitions of certain terms included in the Notice as well as additional details regarding

how to properly file an application under the Notice. This Supplemental Information is incorporated by 

reference in the Notice, and applicants must comply with any requirements stated in this Supplemental 

Information.

AmeriCorps Member: An AmeriCorps member is an individual who engages in community service 

through an approved national service position. Members may receive a living allowance and other 

benefits while serving. Upon successful completion of their service, members earn a Segal

AmeriCorps Education Award that they can use to pay for higher education expenses or apply to 

qualified student loans.

Asset Based Approach/Frame: Instead of looking at what a community needs or lacks, the 

approach focuses on utilizing the 'assets' that are already there. The approach facilitates the 

empowerment of individuals and communities by helping them to identify and share their 

strengths and then work together to create their own social innovations.

Capacity Building: A set of activities that expand the scale, reach, efficiency, or effectiveness of 

programs and organizations. These activities achieve lasting positive outcomes for the beneficiary 

populations served by AmeriCorps-supported organizations (i.e., AmeriCorps programs). As a general

rule, AmeriCorps considers capacity building activities to be indirect services that enable AmeriCorps - 

supported organizations to provide more, better, and sustained direct services. Grantees cannot solely

intent for capacity building activities to support the administration or operations of the organization.

Capacity building activities must:

1) Support or enhance the program delivery model

2) Respond to the program’s goal of increasing, expanding, or enhancing services in order to 

address the most pressing needs identified in the community

3) Enable the program to provide a sustained level of more or better direct services after the 

capacity building services end.

Child Care: The AmeriCorps Childcare Benefit Program is available for eligible, active, full-time 

AmeriCorps State and National members who need the benefit to serve. Visit the AmeriCorps

Childcare Program website for more information on this member benefit.

Cost Reimbursement Grants: These grants fund a portion of program operating costs and 

AmeriCorps member living allowances, with flexibility to use all of the funds for allowable costs 

regardless of whether or not the program recruits and retains all AmeriCorps members. Cost 

reimbursement grants include a formal matching requirement and require the submission of a budget 

and financial reports.

Enrollment Rate: The AmeriCorps member enrollment rate is calculated as slots filled, plus refill slots 

filled, divided by slots awarded.

Evidence-based: Evidence-based programs that have been rigorously evaluated and have

demonstrated positive results for at least one key desired outcome. Rigorous evaluation means 

conducting at least one Randomized Controlled Trial (RCT) or Quasi-Experimental Design (QED)

evaluation of the same intervention described in the application.
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Evidence-based interventions on the AmeriCorps Evidence Exchange: Interventions supported by 

positive results from rigorous evaluations that are documented at Evidence Exchange.

Evidence-based interventions include but are not limited to the following:

• Environmental Stewardship: Evidence Brief: Effective AmeriCorps-Funded Environmental

Stewardship Programs

• Economic Opportunity: Evidence Brief: Effective CNCS-Funded Economic Opportunity

Programs

• Education: Evidence Brief: Effective CNCS-Funded Education Programs

• Healthy Futures: Evidence Brief: Effective CNCS-Funded Healthy Futures Programs

Interventions funded in FY22 assessed as having strong or moderate evidence include:

• Evaluation of College Possible's College-Fit Initiative 2018-2020

• REACH Corps FY19 End of Grant Evaluation

• Teach For America National AmeriCorps Evaluation: 2017–18 and 2018–19 School Years

• Birth and Beyond AmeriCorps: AmeriCorps Quasi- Experimental Program Evaluation 2018-

2021

Evidence-informed: Programs in this category use the best available knowledge, research, and 

evaluation to guide program design and implementation, but do not have scientific research or 

rigorous evaluation of the intervention described in the application.

Applicants may be evidence-informed if they have incorporated research from other evidence-based 

programs into their program designs and/or have collected performance measurement data on the 

intervention described in the application.

Evidence Tiers

Pre-preliminary evidence means the applicant has not submitted an outcome or impact

evaluation of the same intervention described in the application, although the applicant may have 

collected some performance data on the intervention (e.g., data on intervention outputs and/or 

outcomes). Applicants in this tier must describe in the Evidence Base section of the application

how their program design is evidence-informed (see definition above). Applicants may also cite 

prior performance measure data if applicable.

Preliminary evidence means the applicant has submitted up to two outcome evaluation reports 

(non-experimental) that evaluated the same intervention described in the application and yielded 

positive results on one or more key desired outcomes of interest as depicted in the applicant’s 

logic model. The outcome evaluations may either have been conducted internally by the 

applicant organization or by an entity external to the applicant. The study design must include

pre- and post-assessments without a statistically matched comparison group or a post-assessment 

comparison between intervention and comparison groups. In some cases, a retrospective prepost assessment may be considered, but its use must be justified in the text of the evaluation 

report.

AmeriCorps grantees recompeting for their third competitive grant cycle are required to submit an 

evaluation report of their AmeriCorps funded program. The AmeriCorps -required evaluation report

may count towards one of the two reports allowed for the Preliminary evidence tier or may
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be submitted in addition to this. In the latter case, all three evaluation reports will be considered 

against the review criteria.

If the applicant is not required to submit an evaluation report of their AmeriCorps funded 

program, then more than two reports will not be considered.

Moderate evidence means the applicant has submitted up to two well-designed and wellimplemented evaluation reports that evaluated the same intervention described in the application 

and identified evidence of effectiveness on one or more key desired outcomes of interest as 

depicted in the applicant’s logic model. Evidence of effectiveness (or positive findings) is 

determined using experimental design evaluations (i.e., Randomized Controlled Trials (RCT)) or 

Quasi-Experimental Design evaluations (QED) with statistically matched comparison (i.e., 

counterfactual) and treatment groups. The ability to generalize the findings from the RCT or QED 

beyond the study context may be limited (e.g., single-site.) The evaluations were conducted by an 

independent entity external to the organization implementing the intervention.

AmeriCorps grantees recompeting for their third competitive grant cycle are required to submit an 

evaluation report of their AmeriCorps funded program. The AmeriCorps-required evaluation 

report may count towards one of the two reports allowed for the Moderate evidence tier or may 

be submitted in addition to this. In the latter case, all three evaluation reports will be considered 

against the review criteria.

If the applicant is not required to submit an evaluation report of their AmeriCorps funded 

program, then more than two reports will not be considered.

Strong evidence means the applicant has submitted up to two evaluation reports demonstrating 

that the same intervention described in the application has been tested nationally, regionally, or

at the state-level (e.g., multi-site) using a well-designed and well-implemented experimental

design evaluation (i.e., Randomized Controlled Trial (RCT)) or a Quasi-Experimental Design 

evaluation (QED) with statistically matched comparison (i.e., counterfactual) and treatment

groups. Alternatively, the proposed intervention’s evidence may be based on multiple (up to two) 

well-designed and well-implemented QEDs or RCTs of the same intervention described in the 

application in different locations or with different populations within a local geographic area. The 

overall pattern of evaluation findings must be consistently positive on one or more key desired 

outcomes of interest as depicted in the applicant’s logic model. Findings from the RCT or QED 

evaluations may be generalized beyond the study context. The evaluations were conducted by an 

independent entity external to the organization implementing the intervention.

AmeriCorps grantees recompeting for their third competitive grant cycle are required to submit 

an evaluation report of their AmeriCorps funded program. The AmeriCorps required evaluation 

report may count towards one of the two reports allowed for the Strong evidence tier or may be 

submitted in addition to this. In the latter case, all three evaluation reports will be considered 

against the review criteria.

If the applicant is not required to submit an evaluation report of their AmeriCorps funded 

program, then more than two reports will not be considered.

Impact evaluation: An evaluation that provides statistical evidence of how well a program achieves its 

desired outcomes and what effect it has on service recipients and/or service participants compared to 

what would have happened in the absence of the program. Impact evaluations must be designed to
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provide evidence of a causal relationship between program activities and outcomes (45 C.F.R. § 

2522.700). Grantees must use an experimental or quasi-experimental evaluation design (i.e., the 

evaluation must include a control group or a statistically matched comparison group).

Same intervention described in the application: The intervention evaluated in submitted evaluation

reports must match the intervention proposed in the application in the following areas, all of which 

must be clearly described in the Program Design and Logic Model sections of the application:

• Characteristics of the beneficiary population, including evidence of current or historic 

inequities facing the population

• Characteristics of the population delivering the intervention

• Dosage (frequency, duration) and design of the intervention, including all key components 

and activities

• The context in which the intervention is delivered

• Outcomes of the intervention

Evaluation reports that do not sufficiently match the intervention proposed by the applicant will not be 

considered applicable and will not be reviewed or receive any points.

Fixed Amount Grants: These grants provide a fixed amount of funding per Member Service Year 

(MSY) that is substantially lower than the amount required to operate the program. Organizations use 

their own or other resources to cover the remaining costs. Programs are not required to submit

budgets or financial reports, there is no specific match requirement, and programs are not required to 

track and maintain documentation of match. However, AmeriCorps provides only a portion of the cost 

of running the program and organizations must raise the additional resources needed to run the 

program. Programs can access the funds, provided they recruit and retain the members supported 

under the grant based on the MSY level awarded. Professional Corps programs applying for 

operational funding through a Fixed Amount grant must submit a budget in support of their request 

for operational funds.

• Full-cost Fixed Amount grants: Fixed Amount grants are available for programs that enroll all

types of member slots and use their own resources to cover all other costs. Professional Corps 

may only have full-time members. Programs can access funds under the grant based on

enrolling and retaining the full complement of members supported under the grant.

• Education Award Grants (EAP) Fixed Amount grant: Programs apply for a small fixed 

amount per MSY, can enroll all types of member slots, and use their own resources to cover all

other costs. Programs can access funds under the grant based on enrolling the full 

complement of members supported under the grant. As with full-cost fixed amount grants, 

there are no specific match or financial reporting requirements for EAP fixed amount grants.

State Commissions can withhold up to 2% administrative funds from fixed price grants from single 

state applicants that are not competitive planning grants.

The following text has been deleted:

Match Replacement Funds: are available for Native Nation applicants and are additional agency 

funds to meet the match requirements. For operating grants, applicants can request up to 85% of total 

member living allowance as match replacement and 100% of required match for non-member living 

allowances as match replacement. For Native Nation planning grants, applicants can request 100% of 

their required match as match replacement.
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Match Waiver: can be requested to decrease the required match amount. Please see the Match 

Waiver information for AmeriCorps State and National Grantees located on the AmeriCorps website’s 

Manage Your Grant webpage.

Member Service Location: A member service location is the site at which an AmeriCorps member is

placed to provide their service to the community.

Member Service Year (MSY): One Member Service Year (MSY) is equivalent to a full-time AmeriCorps

position (at least 1,700 service hours.) Applicants are not required to apply for a minimum number of 

MSYs.

National Direct Applicants

Multi-state: Organizations that propose to operate AmeriCorps programs in more than one state or 

territory apply directly to AmeriCorps.

Federally-recognized Indian Tribes: Applicants that are Native Nations apply directly to AmeriCorps 

(see the Eligible Applicants section in the Notice.)

State and Territories without Commissions: Applicants in South Dakota, American Samoa, the 

Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands, and the U.S. Virgin Islands apply directly to 

AmeriCorps because this State and Territories have not established a State Commission.

Note: All applicants must select the correct NOFA in eGrants that corresponds to their national direct 

applicant status as listed above.

New Applicant: For the purposes of determining eligibility for a full cost fixed price grant, 

AmeriCorps defines “new applicant” as an applicant that is applying for an AmeriCorps State and 

National grant for the first time or is a former grantee (non-formula) whose last AmeriCorps State and 

National grant was received more than five years ago. Current formula grantees applying for the first 

time for a full cost fixed grant are not considered new applicants.

Operating Site: An operating site is the organization that manages the AmeriCorps program on 

behalf of the multi-state recipient of the grant from AmeriCorps. A multi-state grantee must have an 

operating site in each state in which it has AmeriCorps members. AmeriCorps members may be 

placed at the operating site, or an operating site may place AmeriCorps members at multiple member 

service locations.

AmeriCorps anticipates that applicants have a carefully considered plan for their project 

implementation and have identified operating sites based on demonstrated community needs. 

AmeriCorps expects the sites proposed at the time of application to align with those involved in 

project implementation. However, if necessary, applicants can modify their list of operating sites 

during the clarification process or through an amendment to the application, if funded.

Other Revenue: funds necessary to operate an AmeriCorps program that are not AmeriCorps funds 

or grantee share (match) identified in the budget. Programs should not enter the total operating 

budget for their organization unless the entire operating budget supports the AmeriCorps program. 

Programs that have additional revenue sources not included in the matching funds section of the 

budget should provide the amount of this additional revenue that supports the program. This amount 

should not include the AmeriCorps or grantee share amounts in the budget. Fixed amount grantees
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should enter all non-AmeriCorps funds that support the program in this field. All fixed grants will have 

other revenue.

Planning Grants: A planning grant provides support to a grant recipient to develop an AmeriCorps

program that will engage AmeriCorps members in implementing evidence-based interventions to 

solve community problems. Grant recipients are awarded up to $240,000 for a 12-month planning 

period and are expected to be better prepared to compete for an AmeriCorps program grant in the 

following grant cycle. A planning grant may not be used to support AmeriCorps members. Applicants

must apply for a Cost Reimbursement grant. The project period is no more than a year, with a start

date proposed by the applicant. The project start date may not occur prior to the date AmeriCorps 

awards the grant.

Professional Corps: A Professional Corps is a program model composed of AmeriCorps members 

serving as professionals, i.e., teachers, health care providers, police officers, engineers, attorneys, or 

other professionals. The programs recruit and place qualified members in communities with an 

inadequate number of such professionals. Professional Corps applicants and/or applicants determined

to be a Professional Corps by AmeriCorps must demonstrate that the community in which it will place 

AmeriCorps members serving as professionals has an inadequate number of said professionals.

Professional Corps members’ salaries/compensation, including childcare, are paid entirely by the 

organizations with which the members serve and are not included in the budget request to 

AmeriCorps. The living allowance or salary provided to AmeriCorps members in Professional Corps

programs does not count toward the matching requirement. AmeriCorps requires Professional Corps 

programs to cover the operating expenses associated with the AmeriCorps program through nonAmeriCorps resources. AmeriCorps will only consider operating funds of up to $1,000 per MSY if an 

applicant is able to demonstrate significant organizational financial need based on the materials 

reviewed by AmeriCorps. These grants are fixed amount grants.

Applicants may propose any authorized program type. In the case that a proposed program fits more 

than one program type (e.g., a program could be either a professional corps or a traditional program), 

AmeriCorps staff will make a determination as to program type that will be considered for funding. The 

determination will be based on data provided within the application and supplemental materials 

submitted with the application. The determination may be different from the program type proposed

by the applicant.

AmeriCorps reserves the right to determine if an applicant (whether or not the applicant has applied 

as a Professional Corps) has sufficiently demonstrated that they cannot effectively operate an 

AmeriCorps program without receiving AmeriCorps operating funds. There may be specific 

circumstances where AmeriCorps determines that a legal applicant has not demonstrated the need for 

operational grant funds due to other funding resources. Where AmeriCorps due diligence review of an 

application shows that the applicant has a historically high level of support from non-AmeriCorps

sources and as a result has levels of unrestricted funding that exceeds the requested level of

AmeriCorps funding, AmeriCorps may choose to not provide operational grant funding.

Prohibited Activities: 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 (see 45 CFR § 2520.65):

1. Attempting to influence legislation

2. Organizing or engaging in protests, petitions, boycotts, or strikes
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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 a. a business organized for profit, b. a labor union, c. a partisan political 

organization, d. a nonprofit organization that fails to comply with the restrictions contained in section 

501(c)(3) of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 related to engaging in political activities or substantial 

amount of lobbying except that nothing in these provisions shall be construed to prevent participants 

from engaging in advocacy activities undertaken at their own initiative, and e. an organization 

engaged in the religious activities described in paragraph C. 7. above, unless AmeriCorps assistance is

not used to support those religious activities

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

11. Such other activities as AmeriCorps may prohibit.

AmeriCorps members may not engage in the above activities directly or indirectly by recruiting,

training, or managing others for the primary purpose of engaging in one of the activities listed above. 

Individuals may exercise their rights as private citizens and may participate in the activities listed above 

on their own initiative, on non-AmeriCorps time, and using non-AmeriCorps funds.

Retention Rate: The AmeriCorps member retention rate is calculated as the number of members 

exited with education award (full or partial award) divided by the number of members enrolled.

Rural Communities: AmeriCorps uses rural-urban commuting area (RUCA) codes to classify program

addresses as either rural or urban for analytic purposes. RUCA codes classify U.S. census tracts using 

measures of population density, urbanization, and daily commuting. Census tracts with an urban 

cluster population less than 50,000 are considered rural (RUCA codes 4-10). Applicants are 

encouraged to designate themselves as serving rural communities if some or all service locations are 

in rural areas as defined by RUCA codes or if the program can provide other compelling evidence that 

the program is rural in the narrative portion of the application. This self-designation will be considered 

in grant-making decisions.

For more information about RUCA codes, please visit the USDA website.
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The Office of Grant Administration uses Beale Codes when assessing alternative match requirements 

as required by Statue (45 CFR 2521.60(c)).

Same Project: Two projects will be considered the same if they: address the same issue areas, address 

the same priorities, address the same objectives, serve the same target communities and population, 

or utilize the same sites.

Existing grantees must get approval from agency staff to be considered a new project.

If an applicant is applying for a different program model (a new project), select New. Current and 

previous grantees need to get approval from agency staff to be considered a new project. AmeriCorps 

will consider a project to be new if there is a meaningful difference between it and previous projects in

a comparison of the following characteristics, among others: the objectives and priorities of the

projects; the nature of the services provided; the program staff, participants, and volunteers involved; 

the geographic locations in which the services are provided; the populations served; and the 

proposed community partnerships. (§ 2522.340).

Requests to be considered a new project should include information about how the new project differs 

from the previous project in the characteristics noted above. The request should also include the 

proposed name of the new project. AmeriCorps staff will review the request to determine if the 

proposed project does represent a meaningful difference from the previous project or if the proposed 

project is an example of natural program evolution over time. If it is determined that the project is new, 

agency staff will create a new project in eGrants. Applicants must request new projects significantly in 

advance of their application deadline.

Single-State Applicants Definition for the Competitive and Public Health AmeriCorps NOFOs: 

Single-state applicants are organizations that propose to operate in only one state; they must apply 

through the Governor-appointed State or Territory Commissions. Each State and Territory Commission 

administers its own selection process and submits to AmeriCorps the applicants it selects to compete

for funding. Single-State applicants must contact their State Commissions to learn about their state or 

territory processes and deadlines which may be significantly earlier than the AmeriCorps deadlines

and may have additional requirements. The list of State and Territory Commissions can be found on 

AmeriCorps website.

A single-state application submitted directly to AmeriCorps by the applicant rather than the State

Commission will be considered noncompliant and will not be reviewed.

Single-State Applicants Definition for the AmeriCorps State and National Planning Grants NOFO: 

Single-state applicants are organizations that propose to operate in only one state; they must apply 

directly to AmeriCorps as a National Direct.

Unallowable Activities: In addition to the Prohibited Activities, the following restrictions also apply to 

the service of AmeriCorps members:

Nonduplication: AmeriCorps assistance may not be used to duplicate an activity that is already 

available in the locality of a program. AmeriCorps assistance will not be provided to a private nonprofit 

entity to conduct activities that are the same or substantially equivalent to activities provided by a State 

or local government agency in which such entity resides unless the entity complies with the following 

“nondisplacement” requirements. Note: In section below Corporation = AmeriCorps
Nondisplacement:

1. An employer may not displace an employee or position, including partial displacement such as 

reduction in hours, wages, or employment benefits, as a result of the use by such employer of a 

participant in a program receiving Corporation assistance.

2. An organization may not displace a volunteer by using a participant in a program receiving 

Corporation assistance.

3. A service opportunity will not be created under this chapter that will infringe in any manner on the 

promotional opportunity of an employed individual.

4. A participant in a program receiving Corporation assistance may not perform any services or 

duties or engage in activities that would otherwise be performed by an employee as part of the 

assigned duties of such employee.

5. A participant in any program receiving assistance may not perform any services or duties, or 

engage in activities, that—

i. Will supplant the hiring of employed workers; or

ii. Are services, duties, or activities with respect to which an individual has recall rights 

pursuant to a collective bargaining agreement or applicable personnel 

procedures.

6. A participant in any program receiving assistance may not perform services or duties that 

have been performed by or were assigned to any—

i. Presently employed worker;

ii. Employee who recently resigned or was discharged;

iii. Employee who is subject to a reduction in force or who has recall rights pursuant to 

a collective bargaining agreement or applicable personnel procedures;

iv. Employee who is on leave (terminal, temporary, vacation, emergency, or sick); or

v. Employee who is on strike or who is being locked out.

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