2022 AMERICORPS SENIORS 

AMERICAN RESCUE PLAN 

SENIOR DEMONSTRATION 

PROGRAM FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS Last Updated: December 20, 2021

Overview:

This document supplements the AmeriCorps Seniors FY2022 American Rescue Plan 

Senior Demonstration Program (American Rescue Plan SDP) Competition Notice of 

Funding Opportunity and Application Instructions. These FAQs will be updated 

periodically. New or updated questions will be clearly indicated within each section.

Contents

1. Award Information................................................................................................................................ 2

2. Eligible Organization ............................................................................................................................. 3

3. Selection Criteria and Review ............................................................................................................... 4

4. eGrants.................................................................................................................................................. 5

5. Budget................................................................................................................................................... 6

6. Required Documents ............................................................................................................................ 9

7. Volunteers and Volunteer Stations....................................................................................................... 9

8. Appendix A.......................................................................................................................................... 10

9. Performance Measures....................................................................................................................... 11

10. Other............................................................................................................................................... 12
1. Award Information

1.1. Is a separate application needed for each Geographic Service Area (GSA)

listed in Appendix A?

No. Applicants may apply for as many Geographic Service Area (GSA) as they 

wish in one application, provided that they are able to demonstrate sufficient local 

knowledge, presence, and administrative capacity to successfully sponsor each 

opportunity. Please make sure to use the correct GSA designation in your 

application.

1.2.How does my organization determine how much federal funding we should 

apply for?

As stated in the Notice of Funding Opportunity (Notice), applicants can determine 

the number of unduplicated volunteers or Volunteer Service Years (VSY) they

deem appropriate to serve the needs of their community(ies). The cost per

unduplicated volunteer is 1 per $1,000 in requested federal funding for nonstipended programs, while the cost of a VSY cannot exceed $7,500.00 for 

stipended programs.

1.3.Can an organization that wins this opportunity sub-contract to another 

organization to run American Rescue SDP?

No.

1.4.What are the responsibilities of a sponsor with respect to project 

management responsibilities? For example, can an SDP grantee contract 

out any of these key management responsibilities?

The applicant, or sponsor, is required to manage the grant, including completion 

of financial and programmatic reporting, training and support of volunteers, and 

general oversight of the program. Subcontracting to another entity to do this is 

not allowed.

1.5 We are a current AmeriCorps Seniors grantee with contracts for both FGP 

and SCP. If we have programming ideas for using stipended volunteers for 

the ARP SDP funding opportunity that includes innovations to both 

programs, is it preferable for us to submit one single application with a 

Work Plan that contains Performance Measures for both the Education and 

Healthy Futures Aging in Place Focus Areas? Or should we submit 2 

separate ARP SDP applications – one with Primary Focus Area identified as 

Education and the other with Primary Focus Area of Healthy Futures Aging 

in Place? *Added 9/22/21
One application can be submitted containing both Education and Healthy Futures 

Aging in Place. The applicant should identify one Primary Focus Area that meets 

their community need. 

2. Eligible Organization

2.1. Can two or more organizations jointly apply for one grant? 

No. One organization must be identified as the sponsor organization (the 

applicant). Other organizations could become volunteer stations (locations 

volunteers will be placed), however, would not be considered the grantee.

2.2. We are in the process of becoming a new non‐profit and do not yet have 

an EIN, IRS non‐profit status document, or a 990. Can we still apply? 

No. The applicant organization must be an established non‐profit at the time the 

application is submitted. If the organization does not yet have a 501(c) non‐

profit designation, it is not eligible to apply. Written proof that an organization 

has a 501(c) non-profit designation by the Secretary of State (or similar 

governmental organization in your state) would be sufficient documentation for 

the documentation requirement #14 in the Grant Application Instructions.

Please refer to the Notice for specific requirements and applicant eligibility.

2.3.If the geographic area I wish to serve is not listed in Appendix A, can I 

apply for that service area? 

Yes, current grantees may propose to provide a program to address COVID-19 

recovery in their approved Geographic Service Area (GSA) OR serve a county 

that is not part of their current grant’s approved GSA. Applications that propose 

programming for counties that currently are not served by a current AmeriCorps 

Seniors grantee will receive funding priority. Applicants are encouraged to 

propose programming in the service areas identified on Appendix A: List of 

Priority Areas.

2.4.Does a legal applicant need to have an address in the county? 

Although having an address in the community to be served is not required, the 

legal applicant should have sufficient local presence to directly manage the 

proposed AmeriCorps Seniors grant. The operation of an AmeriCorps Seniors 

grant cannot be delegated to another organization, even if the other organization 

is an affiliate of the legal applicant. 

2.5.Are labor organizations eligible to apply? 

No, labor organizations are not eligible to apply.
3. Selection Criteria and Review

3.1.How should applicants address the selection criteria described in the 

Notice for cost effectiveness & budget adequacy?

Please follow the Notice and the specific questions related to Cost-Effectiveness 

and Budget Adequacy. Responses may also be reflected in the budget and 

budget narrative.

3.2Selection Criteria E.1.f. Organizational Capability asks about staff 

positions. Is a full time SDP Director required for this competition or can 

there be a part time SDP Director?

A sponsor may negotiate the employment of a part‐time project director with 

AmeriCorps when it can be determined that such an arrangement will not 

adversely affect the size, scope and quality of project operations.

The applicant should clearly define in the organizational capability narrative staff 

positions and how those positions will ensure the accomplishment of program 

objectives.

3.3The Grant Application Instructions say to include the narrative components 

listed for STRENGTHENING COMMUNITIES in the Work Plan – so what do 

we write in this narrative section? Or in the Strengthening Communities 

narrative only included only in the Work Plans?

As stated in the Grant Applications Instructions, “Your Work Plans should align 

with the Strengthening Communities Narrative section of your grant application. 

Work Plans translate the narrative information that you provided into organized 

task plans that include the inputs (unduplicated volunteers), service activities, 

outputs, and outcomes. The Work Plans also provide a place for you to set 

targets for outputs and outcomes.

Reviewers will be assessing the work plans and the strengthening communities 

narrative to ensure that they are aligned. 

The character limit is 2000 characters for the community need statement, 

instrument description, and the service activity description in the work plans. 

There will be limited data that you will be able to put in those texts’ fields. The 

strengthening community’s narrative will give you the opportunity to answer the 

selection criteria E.1.b. Program Design.

3.4How is the DUNS number used during the review? 

The DUNS number is one of the items considered during the financial review. A 

DUNS number directly ties to an organization’s credit profile and should be 

obtained as soon as possible. An organization must have a DUNS number prior 

to submitting an application. 
4. eGrants

4.1.How do I enter my authorized representative name in my application? 

The authorized representative for your organization must login to eGrants with 

their own user account, click on the assurances and conditions, and submit the 

grant application. This will allow their name to show up as the authorized 

representative on the grant application. 

4.2.I cannot complete the validate function for the performance measures. 

When I go to validate, it says that I must have a performance measure for 

all objectives. What am I doing wrong? 

It is likely that you have checked an objective on the first Performance Measure 

screen and have not entered a work plan for that objective. Contact the National 

Service Hotline at 1-800-942-2677 or via webform if further assistance is needed. 

4.3.What should be entered in the “Other” narrative section? 

See section E.1.i Other- Evaluations Plan for full description of the Other 

Narrative criteria. 

4.4.We intend to hire someone new for the project director position if the grant 

was awarded. Who should we enter as the project director in eGrants if that 

person is not yet hired? 

You may enter another person who is currently at your organization, such as the 

person who would be the project director’s supervisor. If the grant is awarded, 

the project director’s name can be updated later in eGrants.

4.5.Our organization’s headquarters is located separately from where the 

American Rescue SDP project office would be located. Which address 

should be listed as the project location address in eGrants? 

Please see eGrants instructions on how to enter the organization headquarters 

address. When entering the project location (see the Grant Application 

Instructions), enter the project location address. 

4.6.Are footnotes or endnotes allowed in the application narrative? 

No. eGrants does not support the use of footnotes or endnotes. 

4.7.Is there a specific font or font size that should be used for the narrative? 

eGrants will format all font entered to a specific size. Font size cannot be altered 

in eGrants.

4.8.In order to estimate the length of my narratives, I am trying to set up my 

Microsoft Word document to correspond exactly with the spacing and font 
size that eGrants uses for the printable version of an application. What 

spacing and font does the eGrants system use? 

The eGrants system uses Georgia font, 11 point. The line spacing is 1.8, 

multiple. The header is 0.81” from the top, the footer is 0.24” from the bottom, the 

left indentation is 0.08”, and the right indentation is 0.12”. 

4.9.When I view the printable version of my application in eGrants, part of the 

service activity description is cut off by a page break and is not included 

on the following page. Will reviewers be able to see the full description? 

Yes. We will ensure that during the review there is a process for reviewers to 

view the entire description. 

4.10. I have been emailing my required documents to 

AmericanRescueSDP@cns.gov, but the documents section of my 

application in eGrants still shows ‘not sent’ next to each document. Why is 

this? 

You must manually update the document section of eGrants to indicate whether 

you have sent each document. It does not update automatically based on 

documents emailed.

4.11. When I view the pdf of my application narratives, I see upside down 

question marks instead of the apostrophes and other special characters 

that I entered. How can I fix this? 

eGrants does not support the use of special characters. There is not a solution 

for this issue other than to type your narratives without special characters. 

Reviewers will be aware of this issue.

4.12. Are tables allowed in the narratives section? If so, can the text within the 

tables be single‐ spaced? 

Tables are not permitted in the narrative section. eGrants only supports text.

5. Budget

5.1.There are two sections to enter the Source of Matching Funds, one in 

Budget Section I and another in Budget Section II. Do I have to complete 

both? It depends on which sections contain your non‐federal funds. If you 

include non‐federal funds (grantee share) in the budget for both Budget Section I 

and Budget Section II, then you would complete the Source of Matching Funds in 

both Budget Section I and Budget Section II. If you only have non‐federal funds 

in one of the budget sections, then you would only complete the Source of 

Matching Funds for the particular section where you budget your grantee share. 
5.2.In the indirect cost budget section, if we enter our indirect costs in the 

grantee share column rather than the CNCS share column, do we still have 

to submit our indirect cost rate agreement? * Updated 9/3/21

No. Applicants are no longer required to submit an indirect cost rate agreement 

to AmeriCorps. Instead they enter the details of the approved agreement in 

eGrants, following the instructions in the Application Instructions.

5.3.Please clarify how the “Excess Amount” category is to be used in 

calculating the budget. 

The Excess column of the budget may be used to reflect the amount of non‐

federal cash and in‐kind contributions generated by a sponsor in excess of the 

required percentage. An applicant is not required to utilize the excess column, 

but may do so if they choose. For instance, if project staff spend time on 

fundraising, the applicant may choose to reflect the amount of time spent on 

fundraising in the excess column as time spent on these activities cannot be paid 

for through CNCS funds or through non‐federal funds that are part of the required 

non‐federal share. 

5.4.We do not yet have an approved negotiated indirect cost rate agreement 

but we hope to have one in the next few months. How should we handle 

this? 

At the time the application is submitted, if an indirect cost rate agreement is not 

yet approved, the costs would have to be budgeted as direct costs. If the 

application is awarded and the indirect cost rate agreement is approved, an 

amendment could be done at a later time to adjust the budget for the new indirect 

cost rate agreement. 

5.5.Can federal funds from other sources be used towards the non‐federal 

match? 

Federal funds from other federal agencies, in most cases, are not allowed to be 

used as match on AmeriCorps Seniors grant awards. However, some federal 

agencies may specifically designate that their federal funding is allowed to be 

used as match on another federal award, such a AmeriCorps Seniors grant 

award. The applicant is responsible for determining whether a federal agency 

may allow their funding to be used as match on an SCP or FGP award All SCP 

and FGP grants must operate in accordance with the Uniform Administrative 

Requirements, Cost Principles, and Audits Requirements for Federal Awards

(Uniform Guidance), which can be found on page 17 of the FGP/SCP Notice.

5.6.What is the length of time for the fiscal year or budget year for American 

Rescue SDP? *Updated 9/22/21
The project and budget period is for twenty four months. Applicants will receive 

funding for two years upfront, to support programming. This means an 

application would not be needed for the second year of funding, however fiscal 

and programmatic reports would still be expected on regular cycle. 

5.7.Where can I find a definition of allowable in‐kind funding? 

As stated in the Uniform Guidance, 2 CFR Part 200, third‐party in‐kind 

contributions means the value of non‐cash contributions (i.e. property or 

services) that – (a) benefit a federally assisted project or program; and (b) are 

contributed by non‐federal third parties, without charge, to a non‐federal entity 

under a federal award.

5.8.Are dues for membership in the AmeriCorps Seniors Associations and 

other professional associations allowable as a grant cost? If so, how much 

do these dues typically cost?

Yes, under 2 CFR § 200.454, membership dues in professional associations are 

an allowable cost. AmeriCorps Seniors grantees can include membership dues 

for AmeriCorps Seniors and other professional associations in their grant 

budgets. They can be budgeted as AmeriCorps share and required grantee 

share, and as excess. Travel related with these associations can also be 

budgeted.

For typical cost of these dues, contact the professional association that you 

intend to join.

5.9.Can American Rescue SDP funds be used to hire a data manager?

Yes, American Rescue SDP funds may be used to help a sponsor provide levels 

of staffing and resources appropriate to accomplish the purposes of the project 

and carry out its project management responsibilities.

5.10. How do I know what volunteer insurance to include in the budget? Added 

9/22/22

Information regarding volunteer insurance requirements and other reimbursable 

expenses are included in AmeriCorps Seniors’ program specific regulations and 

while this funding is under ARP SDP, volunteer insurance is still required. 

Volunteer insurance could be obtained through an organization such as CIMA: 

http://www.cimaworld.com/nonprofits/protecting‐ volunteers/ or another volunteer 

insurance provider. 

• Stipend programs - Foster Grandparent Program (FGP) type of programs, 

please review the cost reimbursement section of the Federal Regulations 

at 45 CFR §2552.46
• Stipend programs - Senior Companion Program (SCP) grants, please 

review the cost reimbursement section of the Federal Regulations at 45 

CFR §2551.46

• Non-stipend programs - RSVP of programs, please review the cost 

reimbursement section of the Federal Regulations at 45 CFR §2553.43

6. Required Documents

6.1.Our organization is a department within city government. Does the 

Financial Management Survey need to be completed as though it is for the 

entire city government or only for our department? 

The Financial Management Survey should be completed for the entire city 

government.

6.2.When will we receive the Diversity Questionnaire? 

Currently, the Diversity Questionnaire is still under development. Once available, 

it will be posted on the Funding Opportunity page, as well as applicable pages. 

7. Volunteers and Volunteer Stations

7.1.Is more than one volunteer station required? 

There is no required number of volunteer stations. All American Rescue SDP

projects are required to have least one operating volunteer station. 

7.2.Can a volunteer station be included in more than one Performance Measure

if there is more than one service activity occurring at the station? 

Yes. Each Performance Measure is developed based on the service activities 

selected for an output or output/outcome pair, not based on one particular 

volunteer station. One volunteer station may have many service activities 

occurring there and so may appear in more than one Performance Measure.

7.3.Where can I find a list of station types for the station roster? *Added 9/3/21

If your application is selected for funding, the station roster must be submitted no 

later than 6 months from award start date. Your application should be submitted 

in eGrants without the station roster section completed. It is required that at least 

one active volunteer station be listed on the station roster for each Geographic 

Service Area (GSA) list on the application.

7.4.Does ‘unduplicated volunteers’ mean that a program must recruit new and 

unique volunteers every year?

No. AmeriCorps Seniors encourages sponsors to make all efforts to retain 

volunteers.
7.5 Can volunteers from existing AmeriCorps Seniors grants (FGP, SCP and/or 

RSVP) also serve in an American Rescue Plan SDP (Phase 2) grant and be 

counted as unduplicated volunteers in both? For example: If we are a FGP 

grantee and we are a awarded a SDP grant that includes Parent Support, 

can we have an existing FGP volunteer from our traditional program ALSO 

serve in the SDP grant for Parent Support? If so, will that same volunteer 

be counted as unduplicated for each grant? Can that same volunteer get 

paid stipends for the separately tracked hours for the separate activities for 

each grant? *Added 9/22/21

Volunteers who serve on both grants cannot be counted as unduplicated

volunteers on both grants. The volunteer should be counted in the area where 

he/she will make the most impact in terms of the type of service or in terms of the 

scope of service, such as the most number of hours served.

Volunteers can be included the Total Volunteers section of performance measures.

Award grantees must insure they have proper tracking and documentation 

systems to ensure volunteers are being count as unduplicated volunteers once. 

7.6 If there are two AmeriCorps Seniors programs serving in the same 

community (a Foster Grandparent program in Agency A and a Senior 

Companion program in Agency B), should the two programs coordinate 

review of unduplicated volunteers to ensure the volunteers are not being 

counted twice? *Added 10/5/21

No, grantees are not expected or required to coordinate unduplicated volunteers 

with other agencies. 

7.7 What is the difference between the total hours stipend volunteers are to 

serve and total Volunteer Service Years (VSY)? *Added 12/20/21

Individual volunteers serve for a minimum of 5 hours per week or 260 hours 

annually and a maximum of 40 hours per week or 2080 hours annually.

Volunteer Service Year (VSY) is a budget term which equals 1,044 hours per 

year. For example, a volunteer serving 2,088 hours per year (averaging 40 hours 

per week) serves 2 VSYs, while a volunteer serving 783 hours per year 

(averaging 15 hours per week) serves 3⁄4 of a VSY.

8. Appendix A

8.1.Can I still apply if I don’t see my desired service area listed on Appendix A: 

Priority Areas?

Yes. Current grantees may apply for their current service area or expand outside 

of their current area. Appendix A: Priority Areas list states and counties that 
have at least one of the priority areas of low vaccination rates, high to extreme 

poverty levels, and veteran services and engagement needs. Applications are 

not limited to the Appendix A, but any application that applies with at least one of 

the areas will have priority. 

8.2.If my application is selected for funding, can I later add other service areas 

to my project that are not currently served by another American Rescue 

SDP? Updated 9/21/21

No. At this time there is not a process for approving additional service areas or 

expanding into new geographic areas that are not served by American Rescue 

SDP. 

8.3.Will an opportunity be awarded to just one organization, or can it be split 

between multiple awards? 

Each opportunity is awarded to only one organization; with the exception of tribal 

areas. An applicant can apply to serve a tribal area and be awarded for service 

only in the tribal area, while an applicant can apply to service the surrounding 

community and only serve the Opportunities are not split between multiple 

awardees.

9. Performance Measures

9.1.What is a work plan? 

The work plan is a part of the grant application used to show how the sponsoring 

organization’s volunteers will serve in their communities and achieve specific 

results. The work plan contains one or more Performance Measures.

9.2.How frequently will I report on performance measures? How much time per 

month does it involve? 

You will be required to submit a full progress report annually on your progress 

toward your targets. Additionally, you will report on outputs semi‐annually. 

As stated in the Notice, recipients are required to provide bi‐annual progress 

reports and bi‐annual financial and narrative progress reports through eGrants. 

The time varies per grantee based on their internal recordkeeping. On average, 

AmeriCorps Seniors expects a burden of about 4 hours per report.

9.3.How does an applicant determine the Primary Focus Area?

The Primary Focus Area should be selected to align with the overall purpose of 

the grant proposal. See Appendix B: Performance Measures for list of focus 

areas. 

9.4.What is the difference between the Focus Areas and the funding priorities?
The Focus Areas are specific avenues in which volunteers of AmeriCorps 

Seniors can make an impact based on legislative statue for the AmeriCorps 

Seniors programs. Funding Priorities are social issues of specific interest to 

AmeriCorps Seniors.

9.5.If I am applying for $100,000 for a non-stipend program to be spent over the 

two years ($50,000 in year one, and $50,000 in year 2), does that mean I 

have to meet 50 unduplicated volunteers in year one and can use the same 

50 unduplicated volunteers in year 2, or 100 unduplicated volunteers over 

the two years? *Added 9/3/21

Reporting for the ARP SDP grant is cumulative for the whole two years. An 

applicant requesting 100,000 for a non-stipend program will have 100 

unduplicated volunteer goal.

10. Other

10.1. Is there a contact person that I can send questions to about this 

competition? 

All questions for this competition must be sent to 

AmericanRescueSDP@cns.gov. Although there is not a contact person for oneon-one technical assistance, questions submitted to this inbox will receive 

responses through this FAQ document. 

10.2. If an organization submits an application for this competition, is it 

obligated to remain in the competition until its completion, or can it 

withdraw its application at any time during the competition?

An organization may withdraw its application by sending an email as soon as 

possible to AmericanRescueSDP@cns.gov any time after grant application

submission. 

10.3. I would like to request information about the proposal in Spanish. 

Please submit a request to AmericanRescueSDP@cns.gov for any material you 

wish provided in Spanish. 

10.4. If there is currently an AmeriCorps Seniors program in the planned GSA,

can I apply for an American Rescue SDP grant? 

The technical answer is yes, because demonstration programs and regular 

programming are different, and ARP funding will end after two years. However, 

we would ask you to keep in mind some broader goals and implications: 

• Priorities for using ARP money is to serve communities in greatest need 

and to expand AmeriCorps Seniors programs in new underserved areas. 
• We also want to think about whether a community can support the 

recruitment of additional volunteers to serve in this second program

• If the grantee wants to move forward and submit an application - we will 

want them to support a strong argument for the need of this second 

program, we would prefer to see that second program focused on a 

different or expanded need, and/or potentially serving new communities 

along with the original.