Return on Investment Study: 

SBP AmeriCorps 

Submitted to:

AmeriCorps

250 E St., SW

Washington, DC 20024

Submitted by:

ICF Incorporated, LLC

9300 Lee Highway

Fairfax, VA 22031

https://www.icf.com

September 21, 2022 

This report was commissioned by AmeriCorps’ Office of Research and Evaluation 

under Contract # GS00Q14OADU209 and Order # 5332A20R0013. Information in this 

report is in the public domain. Please, direct communications related to this report to 

Lily Zandniapour at lzandniapour@cns.gov and Sarah Yue at syue@cns.gov. Cite 

this report as follows: Borgida, J., Clark, D., Kulka, L., Miller, B., Modicamore, D., 

Pershing, J., Thompson, P., Sarwana, M., & Voigt, G. (2022). Return on Investment 

Study: SBP. ICF.
Return on Investment Study: 

SBP AmeriCorps

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CONTENTS 

Executive Summary...............................................................................................................ES-1

Program Description .........................................................................................................ES-1 

Overview of Benefits and Costs.......................................................................................ES-1 

ROI Results..........................................................................................................................ES-2 

Introduction ................................................................................................................................. 1

Program Description...................................................................................................................2

Population Served..................................................................................................................2 

SBP Evaluation History ............................................................................................................2 

Selection of SBP for the AmeriCorps ROI Project................................................................2 

Comparable ROI Estimates...................................................................................................2 

ROI Methodology .......................................................................................................................3

Monetizing Program Benefits, Forgone Benefits (Opportunity Costs), and Program 

Costs ........................................................................................................................................5 

ROI Study Limitations............................................................................................................16

Program Benefits, Forgone Benefits (Opportunity Costs), Program Costs, and ROI 

Results ........................................................................................................................................17

Program Benefits ..................................................................................................................17

Forgone Benefits (Opportunity Costs)................................................................................18

Program Costs ......................................................................................................................19

ROI Results.............................................................................................................................20

Recommendations for Further Research................................................................................24

Conclusion ................................................................................................................................25

Appendix A: Program Benefits, Forgone Benefits, and Program Costs Included in 

Return on Investment Calculations.........................................................................................26

Appendix B: Additional Information on the Methodology...................................................33

Methodology Overview ......................................................................................................33

Measuring Program Benefits...............................................................................................34

Measuring Forgone Benefits (Opportunity Costs).............................................................49

Measuring Program Costs ...................................................................................................53

Calculating ROI ....................................................................................................................53

Appendix C: Results by Year...................................................................................................56

References ................................................................................................................................61
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LIST OF FIGURES

Figure 1. Benefits Among Stakeholder Groups Derived From SBP.........................................4

Figure 2. Benefits by Stakeholder Group................................................................................18

Figure 3. Funding Source Breakout.........................................................................................20

Figure 4. Unemployment Status Results From Friedman et al. (2016)..................................35

Figure 5. Compound Interest Formula Used to Calculate Investment Opportunity 

Cost............................................................................................................................................52

LIST OF TABLES 

Table 1. Benefits Realized From SBP by Stakeholder Group...................................................6

Table 2. SBP Project Cost Data..................................................................................................9

Table 3. Construction Cost Comparison ................................................................................10

Table 4. Rent Savings Comparison .........................................................................................11

Table 5. Program Benefits by Recipient .................................................................................18

Table 6. Forgone Benefits From Professional Opportunity Cost...........................................19

Table 7. Investment Opportunity Cost by Scenario and Funding Stream..........................19

Table 8. Program Cost by Funding Source for SBP................................................................20

Table 9. Program Benefits, Net Benefits, and Program Costs by ROI Scenario..................21

Table 10. ROI Results for SBP ....................................................................................................22

Table 11. Program Benefits, Forgone Benefits, and Program Costs Included in ROI 

Calculations ..............................................................................................................................26

Table 12. SBP AmeriCorps Member Benefits From the Living Allowance and Education 

Award ........................................................................................................................................35

Table 13. Additional Pre-Tax Earnings for SBP AmeriCorps Members From Reduced 

Unemployment Based on SBP AmeriCorps Member Demographics................................. 36

Table 14. Cumulative Additional Post-Tax Earnings Derived From Reduced 

Unemployment Due to Serving With SBP by Scenario..........................................................37

Table 15. Average Total Cost of Education and Portion Attributable to Education 

Award by Degree Type............................................................................................................38

Table 16. Estimates of the Number of Postsecondary Degrees Pursued Using the 

Education Award by Degree Type.........................................................................................39

Table 17. Additional Earnings From AmeriCorps Members’ Use of the Education 

Award ........................................................................................................................................40

Table 18. Government Costs by Educational Attainment Level per Individual’s 

Lifetime ......................................................................................................................................46

Table 19. 2020 Tax Rates and Ratio of Taxable Expenditures for SBP AmeriCorps 

Members’ Earnings, Living Allowances, and Education Awards ........................................47
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Table 20. State/Local and Federal Government Benefits by Stakeholder Group and 

by Scenario ...............................................................................................................................48

Table 21. Forgone Earnings of SBP AmeriCorps Members for a Service Term....................50

Table 22. Forgone Taxes Associated With the Forgone Earnings of SBP AmeriCorps 

Members for a Service Term....................................................................................................51

Table 23. Forgone Benefits From Investment Opportunity Cost Calculation by Scenario 

and Funding Stream.................................................................................................................52

Table 24. Funding Sources and Amounts for SBP (2018–2019).............................................53

Table 25. ROI Calculations for Short-Term Scenario..............................................................54

Table 26. ROI Calculations for Medium-Term Scenario........................................................55

Table 27. ROI Calculations for Long-Term Scenario..............................................................55

Table 28. SBP Program Benefits and Costs per Year.............................................................57

AUTHORS 

This study was conducted by researchers from ICF and BCT Partners: 

• Julia Borgida, ICF, Public Policy Researcher

• Danny Clark, ICF, Research Analyst 

• Lisa Kulka, BCT Partners, Research and Evaluation Analyst

• Benjamin Miller, ICF, Senior Director

• Dominic Modicamore, ICF, Lead Economist

• Janet Pershing, ICF, Vice President

• Phylicia Thompson, BCT Partners, Research and Evaluation Analyst

• Miriam Sarwana, BCT Partners, Research and Evaluation Manager

• George Voigt, ICF, Economics Analyst
ES-1 

Return on Investment Study: 

SBP AmeriCorps

Executive Summary 

Program Description

SBP is a national organization that engages 

in disaster recovery efforts across the 

country.1 SBP seeks to make vulnerable 

residents resilient to potential disaster and 

to streamline the rebuilding of homes for 

those who have survived disaster to 

reduce the time and cost of disaster relief. 

With the support of volunteers and donors, 

including AmeriCorps investment, SBP 

pursues that mission with five interventions: 

1) quickly rebuilding homes by utilizing 

private-sector innovations, 2) sharing 

rebuilding ideas and innovation with other 

organizations to provide relief as rapidly 

and efficiently as possible, 3) preparing 

home and business owners before and 

after a disaster to mitigate risks and 

promote resilience against possible future 

disasters, 4) advising policymakers on 

pressing recovery needs immediately after disasters so federal funding can be 

distributed sooner, and 5) advocating for improved strategies to prepare for disasters 

and provide relief when disasters occur. 

To better understand the impact of the program in relation to costs, AmeriCorps 

commissioned a return on investment (ROI) analysis by ICF, an independent research 

firm. ROI analyses of national service programs estimate the monetary value of benefits 

that a program generates per dollar invested. 

Benefits resulting from this program are expected to accrue over an extended period. 

For that reason, ROI estimates may be low or even negative in the short-term, but 

positive in the medium- and long-terms. 

Overview of Benefits and Costs

To calculate the ROI, the program benefits were identified, quantified, and compared 

to the program’s costs. Benefits of SBP’s activities include:

1 SBP was originally called “St. Bernard Project,” as the founders volunteered in Louisiana’s St. Bernard Parish 

following Hurricane Katrina. As the program has expanded to provide disaster relief services throughout the

United States, it has rebranded to “SBP.” 

AmeriCorps, the federal agency for 

volunteerism and national service, 

provides opportunities for Americans 

to serve their country domestically, 

address the nation’s most pressing 

challenges, improve lives and 

communities, and strengthen civic 

engagement. Each year, the agency 

invests more than $800 million in grants 

for local nonprofit, community, tribal, 

and state organizations; places more 

than 250,000 AmeriCorps members 

and AmeriCorps Seniors volunteers in 

intensive service roles; and empowers 

millions more to serve as long-term, 

short-term, or one-time volunteers. 

Learn more at AmeriCorps.gov. 
ES-2 

Return on Investment Study: 

SBP AmeriCorps

• Reduced construction time and construction costs for federal and state

governments. SBP reduces the time spent on home reconstruction, which 

decreases government spending on temporary housing during reconstruction. 

SBP also limits government spending on construction itself by rebuilding homes at 

a lower cost. 

• Additional earnings by AmeriCorps members. Serving in AmeriCorps leads to 

increased wages and reduced unemployment post-national service through skill 

acquisition, as well as increased educational attainment post-service.

• Living allowances, stipends, and education awards. AmeriCorps members 

receive living allowances and stipends during their national service and receive a 

Segal AmeriCorps Education Award after successful completion. 

• Increased tax revenue for government. Federal, state, and local governments 

receive more income tax revenue from increased AmeriCorps member earnings 

post-service, as well as additional sales tax revenue related to those earnings. 

Federal and state governments also realize tax revenue from the taxable living 

allowances, stipends, and education awards provided to AmeriCorps members. 

• Reduced lifetime spending on corrections, public assistance, and social 

insurance. Because of the increase in secondary and postsecondary educational 

attainment for AmeriCorps members, federal and state governments spend less 

on these items. 

It is important to note that, although there are likely benefits to the families and 

communities impacted by SBP’s reconstruction efforts, the data needed to quantify 

and monetize those benefits are not available. For that reason, this analysis does not 

include those benefits. 

Funding for SBP during the 2018–2019 program year totaled $29,619,288 and came from 

the following sources:

• Federal government (AmeriCorps) 

• State and local government 

• Private 

• Other 

ROI Results

Table ES-1 shows the ROI results. Each row represents a different ROI calculation 

depending on which benefits are considered (all benefits or only benefits to the federal 

government) and which funding is considered (federal funding only, or all funding, 

including contributions and non-federal grants, other contributions, and program fees). 

The ROIs are presented as dollars returned for every dollar of investment. The analysis 

used three different scenarios to estimate benefits under different assumptions. 

Specifically, the study assumed that increased earnings attributable to the programs 

last for 1 year (short-term scenario), 15 years (medium-term scenario), or 30 years (longterm scenario).
ES-3 

Return on Investment Study: 

SBP AmeriCorps

Table ES-1. ROI Estimates

ROI calculation

ROI scenario

Short-term Medium-term Long-term

Total benefits per federal dollar -$3.67 $3.38 $11.96

Total benefits per funder dollar -$1.27 $1.17 $4.14

Federal government benefits per federal dollar -$0.33 $1.61 $3.76

The program produces strong returns for the medium- and long-term scenarios when 

benefits to AmeriCorps members, program participants, and state/local governments 

are included. This is indicated by the results of the total benefits per federal dollar and 

the total benefits per funder dollar ROI calculations for these two scenarios. 

In the short-term scenario—which only includes benefits for 1 year post-program—the 

ROI results estimate a short-term loss on funding invested in the program. An ROI below 

the break-even point of $1 in the first year post-program is common in programs in 

which there is an initial one-time investment followed by the accrual of program 

benefits in the following years. It can require several years of benefits to recoup the 

initial investment and generate positive returns. An ROI of less than $0 indicates that the 

combination of opportunity costs and program costs exceeds the amount of funding 

invested for the period analyzed. 

The magnitude of the positive ROI estimates in the medium- and long-term scenarios is 

driven by the following factors:

• Educational attainment outcomes of AmeriCorps members. After serving in the 

AmeriCorps program, AmeriCorps members receive an education award, which 

is used by a portion of members to help pay for postsecondary degrees postservice. The additional educational attainment resulting from the use of the 

education award generates additional earnings for AmeriCorps members. 

• Employment outcomes of AmeriCorps members. Past studies establish that 

AmeriCorps members experience increased employment and increased earnings 

post-service. 
Return on Investment Study: 

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Introduction 

AmeriCorps contracted with ICF Incorporated, LLC (hereafter ICF) to research and 

quantify the return on investment (ROI) of several programs that rely on national 

service—specifically AmeriCorps—as a major resource to sustain operations. ROI 

analyses measure the performance of programs and build the base of evidence for 

future resource allocation decisions. ROI study results demonstrate the value of 

AmeriCorps programming to relevant stakeholders. 

This project began with a comprehensive literature review and preliminary assessments 

of whether ROI analyses were feasible for five national service programs. These 

feasibility studies included thorough reviews of these programs’ recent evaluations, 

detailed logic models, proposed ROI analysis methodologies for each program, and a 

scorecard mechanism that determined the viability of conducting an ROI analysis for 

each selected program. 

Upon completion of five feasibility studies, AmeriCorps selected four programs to be the 

subjects of ROI studies for fiscal year 2022. The programs selected included: 

Breakthrough Central Texas’s Austin program, Nevada Conservation Corps, SBP, and 

Washington State Department of Veterans Affairs Vet Corps. This ROI study measures 

the benefits of SBP’s activities against costs. 

This study is organized into five sections:

• Program Description describes the program’s design, activities, and objectives, 

along with the role that national service (specifically AmeriCorps) plays in its 

operation. This section also provides a brief history of past evaluations, outlines 

the factors that made this program a strong selection for an ROI study, 

underscores the population this program serves, and identifies a set of ROI 

estimates for programs that are similar to SBP. 

• ROI Methodology outlines how this analysis used various data sources to 

monetize benefits derived from SBP, describes its associated program costs, 

and explains how opportunity costs were calculated. 

• Benefits, Forgone Benefits (Opportunity Cost), Program Costs, and ROI Results

provides a detailed description of the program benefits, forgone benefits 

(opportunity cost), and program costs that are inputs into the ROI analyses and 

presents the results of the three ROI calculations across different assumptions. 

• Recommendations for Further Research explores ways AmeriCorps and others 

could further build the evidence base for this program and similar programs, 

including how to address limitations of this study.

• Conclusion summarizes key points from the ROI study overall.
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Program Description 

SBP is a national organization seeking to reduce the time and cost of disaster relief. With 

the support of volunteers and donors, including AmeriCorps investment, SBP pursues 

that mission with five interventions: 1) quickly rebuilding homes by utilizing private-sector 

innovations, 2) sharing rebuild ideas and innovation with other organizations to provide 

relief as rapidly and efficiently as possible, 3) preparing home and business owners 

before and after a disaster to mitigate risks and promote resilience against possible 

future disasters, 4) advising policymakers on pressing recovery needs immediately after 

disasters so federal funding can be distributed sooner, and 5) advocating for improved 

strategies to prepare for disasters and provide relief when disasters occur.

Population Served

SBP has served 80+ communities in total, according to their 2019 Annual Report,2 

of which 13+ have involved rebuilding efforts. SBP has built homes for more than 

2,140 families with the help of more than 130,000 volunteers in locations such as New 

Orleans, LA; Joplin, MO; Staten Island, NY; Rockaway, NY; Monmouth and Ocean 

counties, NJ; San Marcos, TX; Columbia, SC; Baton Rouge, LA; Houston, TX; Brazoria 

County, TX; Puerto Rico; the Florida Panhandle; and the Bahamas.

SBP Evaluation History

SBP’s program evaluations have not attempted to measure outcomes that can be 

used in ROI analysis. Instead, this analysis uses administrative data from SBP and other 

sources to calculate the benefits of SBP’s programming. 

Selection of SBP for the AmeriCorps ROI Project

ICF recommended making SBP’s disaster recovery programming the subject of an ROI

study after determining that it was feasible to measure and monetize certain program 

benefits, particularly savings from construction costs and reduced construction time. 

SBP operates throughout the Gulf Coast and Atlantic Coast, rebuilding homes 

impacted by natural disasters. SBP primarily serves low- and middle-income families to 

return them to safe and sanitary homes. This is the first AmeriCorps ROI study on a 

disaster recovery program. It pioneers strategies for monetizing outcomes associated 

with disaster recovery efforts. 

Comparable ROI Estimates

A literature review did not identify any ROI studies that examined disaster relief 

programs that focus on housing construction in a way similar to SBP. However, a 2020

Government Accountability Office (GAO) report assessed the cost-effectiveness of 

housing assistance programs provided after 2017 and 2018 hurricanes (GAO, 2020). 

The report found that FEMA does not have a data system that captures the data 

2 Nicole Asprodites, SBP contact, personal communication, March 7, 2022. Hereafter, all instances of SBP 

referenced as a data source were retrieved from this communication. 
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necessary to determine the cost of each unit and identified the lack of data available 

to accurately assess ROI specifically for FEMA’s disaster assistance housing program.

Although, there is a considerable amount of the literature on disaster relief efforts for 

housing construction, much of it only discusses mitigation and pre-disaster assistance

and does not examine ROI. 

ROI Methodology 

The methodology for estimating SBP’s ROI consisted of the following components: 

1. Measuring and monetizing program benefits.3 This included using program data 

provided by SBP, publicly available data, and other third-party sources to 

estimate the benefits to SBP AmeriCorps members and the government. 

The benefits realized across these stakeholder groups include:

o AmeriCorps members. SBP AmeriCorps members benefit from:

a) Living allowances and education awards

b) Increased earnings due to reduced unemployment

c) Increased lifetime earnings due to increased postsecondary education 

derived from the use of education awards

o Government. State, local, and federal governments benefit from:

a) Cost savings to the federal government on temporary housing costs due 

to reduced construction time; SBP also limits government spending on 

construction itself by rebuilding homes at a lower cost4

b) Increased income, Social Security, and Medicare tax revenue from SBP

AmeriCorps members’ increased earnings, and increased sales tax 

revenue from the increased economic activity that results from those 

increased earnings

3 The ROI analysis does not include any benefits to private insurance companies or homeowners from SBP’s 

reconstruction efforts. Although it is likely that private insurance companies and homeowners experience 

cost savings from SBP reconstruction activities, associated with lower costs and faster construction time 

frames, those savings are not included in the ROI analysis. Cost savings related to these benefits are only 

included for federal and state/local government. This is due to lack of data availability on the monetary 

expenditures borne by private insurance and homeowners related to disaster recovery efforts. 

4 ICF used HUD Quarterly Performance Reports to understand benefits to government related to the savings 

in temporary housing and construction costs. The HUD Quarterly Performance Reports document 

government expenditures from federal agencies (including FEMA) and state and local governments for 

disaster relief efforts throughout the United States, such as the implementation of many federal and state 

restoration and recovery programs, including the FEMA match program, small business loan and technical 

assistance programs, and other disaster-specific programs, such as the Restore Louisiana Homeowner

Assistance Program. All instances of HUD Quarterly Performance Reports used as data sources refer to the 

Great Floods of 2016 reports published by the Louisiana Division of Administration and quarterly reports

published by the New York State Governor’s Office of Storm Recovery.
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c) Reduced spending on corrections, public assistance, and social

insurance and increased tax revenue associated with SBP

AmeriCorps members’ increased educational attainment postservice

d) Tax revenue from SBP AmeriCorps members’ living allowances

and education awards

2. Estimating forgone benefits (opportunity costs). This ROI analysis estimated two

types of forgone benefits. The first was the professional opportunity cost to SBP

AmeriCorps members for their period of national service, during which they

could have earned more pay by doing other work. The second was the

investment opportunity cost for SBP AmeriCorps program funding that could

have been used for other purposes.

3. Assessing program costs. SBP provided program costs for the program year of

2018–2019. SBP costs for the 2018–2019 program year included operating costs,

AmeriCorps member expenses, non-AmeriCorps member expenses, and other

indirect costs. AmeriCorps member expenses included the living allowance

amounts received during service and the expected education awards received

post-service.

4. Calculating the ROI. The ROI analysis includes three ROI calculations, each

assessed under three scenarios representing different assumptions about the

persistence of program outcomes:

• Total benefits per federal dollar

• Total benefits per funder dollar5

• Federal government benefits per federal dollar

This analytical framework includes only those benefits that could be reasonably 

monetized given the available data and that likely would not have occurred without 

SBP. Figure 1 shows how SBP activities can result in benefits to SBP AmeriCorps members 

and federal, state, and local governments. 

Figure 1. Benefits Among Stakeholder Groups Derived From SBP

5 The different funder groups whose investment is in this calculation include the federal government (i.e., 

AmeriCorps) and state and local governments that provide match funding. 
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Available data establish that SBP AmeriCorps members enjoy earnings impacts as a 

result of serving with SBP. However, the data do not establish the duration of those 

benefits. To address a range of possible durations for those benefits, the analysis 

includes three scenarios:6 

• Short-term. This scenario assumes short-term earnings impacts. The assumption is 

that earnings impacts are limited to a single year after program exit. This scenario 

also assumes no lifetime benefits are realized.

• Medium-term. This scenario assumes a longer duration of earnings impacts. 

The assumption is that earnings impacts last 15 years. A 3 percent discount rate is 

applied each year to represent net present value in 2021 dollars.7 This scenario 

also assumes only half of the net present value of lifetime benefits is realized.

• Long-term. This scenario assumes sustained earnings impacts throughout SBP

AmeriCorps members’ working years. The assumption is that earnings impacts 

last 30 years. A 3 percent discount rate is applied each year to represent net 

present value in 2021 dollars. This scenario also assumes the entire net present 

value of lifetime benefits is realized.

The long-term scenario (i.e., 30 years of sustained employment and earnings benefits) 

represents roughly a lifetime of working years for a given person, while the short-term 

scenario assumes benefits for only the year after program participation or service is 

completed. The medium-term scenario (i.e., 15 years of sustained employment and 

earnings benefits) represents the midpoint between these two scenarios. 

Monetizing Program Benefits, Forgone Benefits (Opportunity Costs), 

and Program Costs

This analysis monetized an array of benefits and forgone benefits, and calculated 

program costs, to assess the ROI of SBP. Additional details on the methodology are 

provided in Appendix B. The period of program activity studied—October 2018 through 

September 2019—preceded the COVID-19 pandemic. SBP experienced disruptions to 

their program activities in more recent program years. 

6 These three scenarios consider varying durations of how long increased employment and earnings 

benefits last for SBP AmeriCorps members. They also consider varying durations for lifetime benefits that 

stem from the SBP program. For example, lifetime benefits in terms of decreased public assistance, social 

insurance, and corrections costs result from SBP AmeriCorps members’ higher educational attainment 

post-service. The analysis estimates lifetime benefits differently in the three scenarios. Specifically, the net 

present value of the entire lifetime benefit is realized for the long-term scenario, half of the net present 

value of the lifetime benefit is realized for the medium-term scenario, and no lifetime benefit amount is 

realized for the short-term scenario.

7 The Office of Management and Budget (1992) defines a discount rate as, “The interest rate used in 

calculating the present value of expected yearly benefits and costs” (p. 18). Regarding the 3 percent

discount rate, see Office of Management and Budget (2003).
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Program Benefits 

Outcomes of SBP result in monetizable benefits to SBP AmeriCorps members and 

federal, state, and local governments. Table 1 summarizes these benefits and data 

sources by stakeholder group. It is important to note that, although there are likely 

benefits to the families and communities impacted by SBP’s reconstruction efforts, the 

data needed to quantify and monetize those benefits are not available. For that 

reason, this analysis does not include those benefits. 

Table 1. Benefits Realized From SBP by Stakeholder Group

Stakeholder group Benefits

SBP AmeriCorps members • Additional earnings from reduced unemployment 

• Additional lifetime earnings from increased 

educational attainment as a result of education 

awards 

• Post-tax living allowances and education awards 

Federal, state, and local 

governments 

• Benefits to government of reduced construction 

time and construction costs 

• Decreased government spending on construction

• Decreased government spending on housing 

displaced families

• Tax revenue from increased earnings by SBP

AmeriCorps members post-program and sales tax 

revenue from the induced increased economic 

activity 

• Tax revenue from living allowances and education 

awards 

• Reduced lifetime spending on corrections, public 

assistance, and social insurance from increased 

educational attainment by SBP AmeriCorps 

members as a result of education awards

• Lifetime tax revenue from increased educational 

attainment by SBP AmeriCorps members as a result 

of education awards

Benefits to AmeriCorps Members

Post-Tax Living Allowances and Education Awards (Benefits to SBP AmeriCorps 

Members)

Member-specific benefits to AmeriCorps members serving with SBP include post-tax 

living allowances AmeriCorps State and National members receive during their national 

service and post-tax education awards they receive after service completion. All are 
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considered taxable income and thus result in increased government revenue.8 

The post-tax living allowance and the education award amount that was used to repay 

student loans were included in the ROI analysis as direct one-time benefits to SBP

AmeriCorps members. 

Additional Earnings From Reduced Unemployment (Benefit to SBP AmeriCorps 

Members)

Evaluations have shown that serving in AmeriCorps fosters higher skill acquisition, 

increased educational attainment, and higher income from increased employment 

post-national service.9 Freidman et al. (2016) found that unemployment among 

AmeriCorps members 6 months after their period of national service was 5 percentage 

points lower compared to 6 months before serving.10 To monetize this decrease in 

unemployment, the analysis first collected information on the demographic distribution 

of SBP AmeriCorps State and National members who served during the 2018–2019 

program year in terms of race/ethnicity, gender, age, and education level pre-service 

using data provided by SBP.11 The analysis then proceeded to:

1. Estimate SBP AmeriCorps members’ per-person average annual earnings 

(weighted by the above demographics) using data from the Current Population 

Survey’s Annual Social and Economic (ASEC) Supplement for 2020 (U.S. Census 

Bureau, 2020) 

2. Multiply the 5-percentage-point reduction in unemployment from Freidman et al. 

(2016) by the number of SBP AmeriCorps members who served during the most 

recent program year to estimate the number of additional SBP AmeriCorps 

members employed post-service 

3. Multiply the demographically weighted per-person average annual earnings by 

the number of additional SBP AmeriCorps members employed to estimate the 

total increased earnings attributable to national service

The earnings metrics for SBP AmeriCorps members were applied and discounted based 

on the short-term, medium-term, and long-term scenarios to represent net present 2021 

dollars. The post-tax SBP AmeriCorps members’ projected earnings represent the 

additional income earned by AmeriCorps members attributable to serving with the SBP 

program. 

8 The tax implications of the AmeriCorps member education award are stated here: AmeriCorps. (n.d.). 

Segal AmeriCorps Education Award. https://americorps.gov/members-volunteers/segal-americorpseducation-award

9 Relevant studies include Markovitz et al., 2008; Spera et al., 2013; Friedman et al., 2016; and Zeidenberg et 

al., 2016. 

10 See page 56 of Friedman et al. (2016).

11 SBP provided demographics for a 10 percent sample of their members.
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Additional Lifetime Earnings From Increased Educational Attainment as a Result 

of Education Awards (Benefit to SBP AmeriCorps Members)

Another benefit derived from national service is the higher educational attainment of 

AmeriCorps members. AmeriCorps members—as documented in Friedman et al. 

(2016)—can use their education awards either to pay for additional postsecondary 

educational attainment or to repay student loans. Friedman et al. (2016) reported that 

46 percent of AmeriCorps State and National members used their education award to 

pursue additional postsecondary education while 33 percent used it to repay student 

loans.12

This analysis estimated the expected increase in lifetime earnings of SBP AmeriCorps 

members attributable to the use of education awards to pay for additional 

postsecondary schooling. Based on the findings from Friedman et al. (2016), this ROI 

analysis estimated the amount in post-tax education awards that SBP AmeriCorps 

members used to pay for additional educational attainment. The analysis then 

estimated the value of the additional educational attainment attributable to the 

education awards in terms of lifetime earnings using data from Trostel (2015). These 

estimated additional post-tax lifetime earnings were included as a benefit to SBP 

AmeriCorps members. Additionally, lifetime earnings associated with the education 

award also generate benefits for federal, state, and local governments, as described in 

the section below. 

Benefits to Government

Construction-Related Benefits

The analysis calculated the benefits of SBP’s AmeriCorps program with administrative 

data from SBP along with HUD quarterly reports of reconstruction costs and census data 

on the length of time of housing reconstruction during the 2018–2019 program year. 

Because that time period preceded the COVID-19 pandemic, it best approximated 

normal circumstances. 

1. Construction Cost Savings

To calculate the difference in reconstruction cost between government agency 

reconstruction efforts and SBP-led reconstruction, ICF used SBP data on the average 

cost of a reconstruction project for each location,13 the total number of household 

reconstruction projects per location, and any additional operating costs attributed to 

reconstruction efforts. Table 2 details the number of projects SBP worked on in each 

location during the 2018-2019 program year, the average cost of reconstruction for SBP 

in each location, as well as the operating cost attributed to each project location.

12 Friedman et al. (2016). op. cit. Exhibit VIII-6.

13 Project locations based on the disasters SBP responded to during the 2018–2019 program year include: 

Bay County, Florida; Monmouth and Ocean counties, New Jersey; Rockaway, New York; Puerto Rico; New 

Orleans, Louisiana; Houston, Texas; Columbia, South Carolina; and Southern Louisiana. 
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To calculate each operating cost value, the total operating cost related to 

reconstruction activities (i.e., $13,019,697.56) was split based on the percentage of the 

overall reconstruction cost attributed to each project. For example, the cost of 

reconstruction projects in Florida made up 2 percent of the overall reconstruction cost 

to SBP. Therefore, 2 percent of the total operating cost was added to SBP project costs 

in that location. 

Table 2. SBP Project Cost Data

Project location*

Number 

of 

projects

Average project 

cost by location

Total project cost 

by location 

(number of 

projects X 

average project 

cost)

Additional 

operating cost 

per location

Florida 5 $34,958 $174,788 $242,852 

New Jersey 47 $39,715 $1,866,624 $2,593,503 

New York 27 $34,675 $936,226 $1,300,800

Puerto Rico 64 $15,712 $1,005,556 $1,397,127

New Orleans, Louisiana 20 $19,071 $381,415 $529,941

Houston, Texas 125 $28,810 $3,601,204 $5,003,542

South Carolina 66 $15,840 $1,045,467 $1,452,581 

Southern Louisiana 17 $21,141 $359,399 $499,352

*Refer to footnote 13 for specific project locations.

Source: SBP (2022)

The analysis compared these costs to the estimated cost for federal, state, and local

governments of rebuilding the same number of homes during the 2018–2019 program 

year, as derived from Quarterly Performance Reports to HUD for disaster recovery 

grants. HUD Quarterly Performance Reports are used to understand benefits to federal, 

state, and local governments related to the savings in temporary housing and 

construction costs. The HUD Quarterly Performance Reports document government 

expenditures from federal agencies (including FEMA) and state and local governments 

for disaster relief efforts throughout the United States, such as the implementation of 

many federal and state restoration and recovery programs, including the FEMA match 

program, small business loan and technical assistance programs, and other disasterspecific programs, such as the Restore Louisiana Homeowner Assistance Program. 

The HUD Quarterly Performance Reports contain information on total expenditures and 

homes reconstructed per quarter by grantee. The analysis estimated federal, state, and 

local government per-unit reconstruction costs in Florida, Puerto Rico, New Orleans, 

Houston, South Carolina, and Southern Louisiana based on average costs from Q4 2018 

and Q1–Q3 2019 HUD Quarterly Reports for the 2016 Louisiana Flood (Louisiana Division 

of Administration, 2022). The analysis estimated non-SBP rebuilding costs in New York 
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and New Jersey based on average costs from Q4 2018 and Q1–Q3 2019 HUD Quarterly 

Reports from Hurricane Sandy in 2012 (GOSR, 2022). Table 3 details the cost comparison. 

Table 3. Construction Cost Comparison

Project location*

Total SBP project cost

by location (total 

project cost + 

operating cost)

HUD quarterly report 

cost X number of SBP 

projects Difference in cost

Florida $417,640 $367,288 -$50,351

New Jersey $4,460,126 $506,236 -$3,953,890

New York $2,237,026 $290,817 -$1,946,209

Puerto Rico $2,402,683 $4,701,291 $2,298,608 

New Orleans, Louisiana $911,356 $1,469,153 $557,798 

Houston, Texas $8,604,746 $9,182,209 $577,463 

South Carolina $2,498,048 $4,848,207 $2,350,159 

Southern Louisiana $858,751 $1,248,780 $390,029

Total $22,390,376 $22,613,983 $223,607 

*Refer to footnote 13 for specific project locations.

Note: Numbers may not sum due to rounding.

Sources: SBP (2022) and HUD (2018–2019) 

The analysis then compared SBP’s costs in each project location with the estimated 

cost the federal government would have incurred to rebuild the same number of 

properties in those locations. As shown in Table 3, in locations such as New Jersey and 

New York, SBP reconstruction was found to be more expensive than the government 

efforts detailed in the HUD reports. This may be a result of variation in the work done by 

SBP and the work done by the contractors reporting to HUD or may be unique to the 

specific disaster addressed in those locations (Hurricane Sandy). Overall, this analysis 

estimated a total construction cost savings of $223,607 for the 2018–2019 program year. 

Of this cost savings, the analysis assumed that 75 percent can be attributed to the 

federal government, resulting in a cost savings to the federal government of $167,705.14

The remaining 25 percent can be attributed to state and local spending.

2. Cost Savings From Decreased Construction Time

The analysis used SBP-provided data on average construction time by project location

to calculate the cost savings from decreased construction time. SBP construction time

data was compared to census data on the average number of months from start to 

completion of new, privately owned, single-family residential buildings in 2018 and 2019

14 According to a 2019 Congressional Research Service report looking at federal disaster assistance after 

hurricanes Katrina, Rita, Wilma, Gustav, and Ike, federal government assistance usually accounts for 

75 percent of recovery spending, while the remaining 25 percent can be attributed to state and local 

spending. https://sgp.fas.org/crs/homesec/R43139.pdf
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(U.S. Census Bureau, 2019-b). Census data was organized by region of the United States. 

Therefore, SBP data from Florida, Puerto Rico, New Orleans, Houston, South Carolina, 

and Southern Louisiana were compared to census data from the South region of the 

United States, while SBP data from New Jersey and New York was compared to the 

Northeast region. 

The analysis compared the difference in the number of months needed to complete 

housing reconstruction and then multiplied the value by the average monthly rent for 

the corresponding metropolitan area for each project location (U.S. Census Bureau, 

2019-a). This rent-savings value was then multiplied by the number of SBP projects in 

each location during the 2018–2019 program year to generate a final cost savings 

value. Table 4 details the reduced number of months needed for SBP reconstruction 

efforts, as well as the total savings on rent attributed to each location.

Table 4. Rent Savings Comparison 

Project location*

Number of 

projects

Difference in 

months 

needed for 

reconstruction

Average 

monthly rent

Total rent 

savings by 

project location

Florida 5 10.83 $1,204 $65,197 

New Jersey 47 15.81 $1,482 $1,101,472 

New York 27 17.82 $1,482 $712,891

Puerto Rico 64 12.25 $482 $377,952

New Orleans, Louisiana 20 12.36 $983 $243,030

Houston, Texas 125 12.33 $1,139 $1,755,712 

South Carolina 66 12.478 $920 $757,681

Southern Louisiana 17 11.03 $887 $166,327

Total 371 N/A N/A $5,180,263

*Refer to footnote 13 for specific project locations.

Note: Numbers may not sum due to rounding.

Sources: SBP (2022) and U.S. Census Bureau (2019-a) 

The rent savings attributed to SBP reconstruction efforts benefits federal, state, and local 

governments because it represents reduced government expenses on housing 

displaced families while their homes are being rebuilt. The above analyses revealed 

cost savings of $5,180,263 for the 2018–2019 program year. Of this cost savings, the 

analysis assumed that 75 percent can be attributed to the federal government, 
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resulting in cost savings to the federal government of $3,885,197.15 The remaining 25 

percent is attributed to state and local savings.

Tax Revenue Generation and Reduced Spending (Benefits to Government)

The benefits to SBP AmeriCorps members result in benefits to the various levels of 

government. 

1. Benefits to Government From Increased Earnings by SBP AmeriCorps Members

State, local, and federal governments benefit from increased earnings by SBP 

AmeriCorps members. Those benefits include:

• Income tax revenue from increased earnings by SBP AmeriCorps members postservice. Federal income taxes, state income taxes, Medicare taxes, and Social 

Security taxes were estimated for the additional pre-tax earnings of SBP

AmeriCorps members based on 2020 rates. For both federal and state income 

taxes, the analysis estimated proportional tax rates representing the share of 

earnings paid in taxes. 

To estimate proportional tax rates that reflect federal- and state-level progressive 

tax brackets and standard deductions, the amount of total taxes paid was 

divided by the pre-tax earnings per SBP AmeriCorps member. For the state 

income tax rate, the analysis weighted individual state-level rates by their 

respective state populations to estimate a weighted national tax rate to apply 

program-wide. A weighted national tax rate was used because SBP AmeriCorps 

members may disperse to various locations nationwide following their service 

terms and continue to migrate over the course of their working years. 

• Sales tax revenue from the increased economic activity that results from 

increased earnings by SBP AmeriCorps members post-service. To estimate the 

additional sales tax revenue generated due to the additional post-tax earnings 

of SBP AmeriCorps members, the combined state and average local sales tax 

rate for the United States—weighted by states’ populations—was calculated. 

This analysis applied that rate to the estimated taxable expenditures of SBP 

AmeriCorps members based on their post-service pre-tax earnings using 

Consumer Expenditure Survey data (U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, 2021).16

The resulting product was then applied to the share of post-tax earnings 

attributable to serving with SBP to estimate state and local government sales tax 

revenue. 

15 According to a 2019 Congressional Research Service report looking at federal disaster assistance after 

hurricanes Katrina, Rita, Wilma, Gustav, and Ike, federal government assistance usually accounts for 

75 percent of recovery spending, while the remaining 25 percent can be attributed to state and local 

spending. https://sgp.fas.org/crs/homesec/R43139.pdf

16 To calculate the estimated taxable expenditures, Consumer Expenditure Survey (CE) Table 1203 was 

used from U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (2021). This table lists the annual expenditure means by pre-tax 

income tax brackets. Thus, the pre-tax earnings of SBP AmeriCorps members were used instead of their 

post-tax earnings to calculate this metric. Please visit this site for more details: 

https://www.bls.gov/cex/tables/calendar-year/mean-item-share-average-standard-error.htm#cu-income. 
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2. Benefits to Government From Increased Educational Attainment by SBP AmeriCorps 

Members

State, local, and federal governments benefit from increased postsecondary 

educational attainment by SBP AmeriCorps members. Those benefits include:

• Tax revenue from education awards. Education awards provided to SBP

AmeriCorps members upon service completion are subject to taxes, resulting in 

additional government revenue.17 This ROI analysis applied federal income, state 

income, Social Security, and Medicare tax rates to the expected total amount of 

education awards to be given to SBP AmeriCorps members to estimate these 

additional taxes. Both estimated proportional federal and state income tax rates 

were used. Sales taxes were not estimated for education awards because they

cannot be used for consumer purchases. 

• Reduced lifetime spending on corrections, public assistance, and social 

insurance from increased educational attainment as a result of education 

awards. Higher educational attainment is associated with less dependence on 

government assistance programs and lower incarceration rates (Blagg and 

Blom, 2018; Harlow, 2003). Because of SBP AmeriCorps members’ increased 

postsecondary educational attainment due to the use of the education award, 

state and local governments spend less. For the monetization of these benefits, 

the analysis paired the expected increase in postsecondary educational 

attainment of SBP AmeriCorps members with the expected difference in perperson lifetime government cost savings from Medicaid, SNAP, unemployment 

insurance, workers’ compensation, and corrections for individuals with different 

levels of educational attainment. The latter values were provided by Trostel 

(2015). 

• Lifetime tax revenue from increased educational attainment as a result of 

education awards. Another benefit related to SBP AmeriCorps members 

captured in this ROI study is the lifetime tax revenue generated from members’ 

higher postsecondary educational attainment due to the use of the education 

award. Here, the estimated increase in SBP AmeriCorps members’ 

postsecondary educational attainment was paired with the expected difference 

in per-person lifetime taxes for individuals with different levels of education as 

provided by Trostel (2015). This lifetime tax revenue includes federal income, 

state income, property, Social Security, Medicare, and sales taxes derived from 

use of the education award.

17 The tax implications of the AmeriCorps member education award are stated here: AmeriCorps. (n.d.). 

Segal AmeriCorps Education Award. https://americorps.gov/members-volunteers/segal-americorpseducation-award
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3. Benefits to Government From Living Allowances Received by SBP AmeriCorps 

Members

The living allowance provided to SBP AmeriCorps members during their service term is 

considered taxable income. This analysis applied a proportional federal income tax 

rate as well as Medicare and Social Security tax rates to the pre-tax living allowance 

amount received by SBP AmeriCorps members for the most recent program year. The 

analysis also applied a sales tax rate to the estimated taxable expenditures of SBP

AmeriCorps members based on their post-tax living allowance amount to estimate 

additional state and local government revenue. 

Forgone Benefits (Opportunity Costs)

The analysis incorporated two forgone benefits (opportunity costs) into each of the 

three ROI calculations for SBP: a professional opportunity cost to SBP AmeriCorps 

members and an investment opportunity cost to funders. The forgone benefits are 

subtracted from the program benefits to calculate the net benefits of the program. 

Those net benefits are then compared to program cost to calculate the ROI. These 

forgone benefits are referred to as the professional and investment opportunity costs. 

Professional Opportunity Cost to SBP AmeriCorps Members 

The first forgone benefit (opportunity cost) was the professional opportunity cost to SBP 

AmeriCorps members for their period of national service, during which they could 

otherwise be working and earning higher pay. To calculate this, this analysis estimated 

what SBP AmeriCorps members would have earned if they did not serve in SBP. 

Specifically, this analysis estimated the weighted average annual earnings of this group 

as well as their weighted unemployment rate using the demographic distribution of SBP 

AmeriCorps members for the 2018–2019 program year and Annual Social and 

Economic (ASEC) data. The demographics included were gender, age, race/ethnicity, 

and pre-service highest level of education. The weighted average annual earnings 

represent the expected earnings of the SBP AmeriCorps members if they were 

employed and not serving in the SBP program. The weighted unemployment rate 

represents how many of the SBP AmeriCorps members would have been unemployed if 

they did not serve in SBP. These weighted metrics were first used to estimate the portion 

of SBP members who would have been employed and then to calculate the 

aggregate earnings those employed individuals would have made without serving in 

SBP. Namely, they are used to calculate the aggregate post-tax earnings this 

population would forgo due to serving with SBP for one year. Some of the forgone 

earnings would have been paid in the form of taxes. To appropriately allocate 

opportunity costs between SBP AmeriCorps members and federal, state, and local 

governments, the analysis estimated the reduced tax revenue for federal income, state 

income, Social Security, and Medicare taxes. The analysis also estimated the reduction 

in sales tax from reduced consumption. Combined, these taxes represent what the 

various levels of government are forgoing in tax revenue when these individuals decide 

to serve in SBP instead of working for higher pay. The summation of all forgone taxes 

and the forgone post-tax earnings of SBP AmeriCorps members is called the total 

professional opportunity cost. 
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It is important to note that in the federal government benefits per federal dollar ROI 

calculation, only federal government (not total) benefits are included. Given this, only 

federal components of the professional opportunity cost are subtracted from all federal 

government benefits (i.e., forgone federal income, Social Security, and Medicare taxes) 

realized as a result of SBP in this ROI calculation. The parts of the professional 

opportunity cost removed from these total federal government benefits include the 

federal income, Social Security, and Medicare taxes forgone due to SBP AmeriCorps 

members forgoing earnings during their service year. The summation of these forgone 

federal taxes is called the federal professional opportunity cost. 

Investment Opportunity Cost to Funders 

The second opportunity cost used in this ROI analysis is an investment opportunity cost. It 

estimates the expected forgone return if all funds used to support SBP during the 2018–

2019 program year were invested in U.S. Treasury bonds instead. To calculate this, the 

analysis matched the 2018 real interest rates provided by the Office of Management 

and Budget (2020) to each of the scenarios leveraged in this ROI analysis: short-term, 

medium-term, and long-term.18 The rates of return for U.S. Treasury bonds provide a 

market-based estimate of return for low-risk investments. The real interest rate for the 

3-year maturity is used for the short-term scenario, the average between the 10-year 

and 20-year maturity rates is used as the rate for the medium-term scenario, and the 

30-year maturity rate is used for the long-term scenario. These real interest rates are 0.6

percent, 0.8 percent, and 1.0 percent, respectively (Office of Management and 

Budget, 2020). Also, the number of time periods elapsed on these bonds is equal to the 

number of years the short-term, medium-term, and long-term scenarios assume SBP 

AmeriCorps members’ employment and earnings gains are sustained: 1 year, 15 years, 

and 30 years, respectively. These bonds compound biannually, according to the 

U.S. Department of the Treasury (2019). The forgone accrued interest was calculated for 

each of the three scenarios if the funding amount used to support SBP was instead 

invested (U.S. Department of the Treasury, 2019). Note that for 1) the federal 

government benefits per federal dollar calculation and 2) the total benefits per federal 

dollar ROI calculation, the investment opportunity cost subtracted from the benefits in 

these calculations is the forgone accrued interest from investing only the federal funds 

into these U.S. Treasury bonds. This is called the federal investment opportunity cost. 

This is because these ROI calculations only include federal government (not total) 

program costs. For the other ROI calculation estimated in this analysis, the investment 

opportunity cost subtracted from the benefits realized is the accrued interest from 

investing all SBP funds (both federal and non-federal) into these U.S. Treasury bonds. This 

is called the total investment opportunity cost. See Appendix B for details.

18 The analysis used 2018 real interest rates for U.S. Treasury bonds because the SBP program year analyzed 

began in 2018. 
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Program Costs

The costs for SBP used for this ROI analysis include federal, state, local, and private 

funding to support program operations. The costs are specific to the 2018–2019 SBP 

program year. SBP costs for the 2018–2019 program year include operating costs, 

AmeriCorps member expenses, and other costs. Operating costs capture the majority 

of expenses, which include construction-related expenses and other program staff 

costs. AmeriCorps member expenses include the living allowance and other benefits 

members receive during service. Other costs are indirect costs incurred by SBP, 

including the organization’s construction work-in-progress value.19

ROI Study Limitations

This analysis was limited due to the lack of available data needed to capture all 

benefits from SBP programming. 

HUD Quarterly Performance Reports

The analysis used Quarterly Performance Reports provided to HUD following natural 

disasters as a baseline to calculate the cost savings resulting from SBP-led 

reconstruction. These reports include the number of single-family units rebuilt during a 

given quarter, as well as the funds expended in that quarter for each government 

grantee. This allowed ICF to calculate an average cost per unit for government-funded 

reconstruction during SBP’s 2018–2019 program year. However, the funds reported by 

each contractor were not exclusively construction costs. The reports do not provide a 

breakdown of administrative costs and other expenses that may be included. 

While these reports are currently the best publicly available source to understand 

government spending on home reconstruction, they may inflate or deflate the 

estimation of construction costs for non-SBP firms. ICF was able to include SBP operating 

costs related to construction in the analysis; however, these costs may not directly align 

to the corresponding value in the HUD reports. 

The availability of these reports was additionally limited. The analysis used Quarterly 

Performance Reports from the 2016 Louisiana floods (Louisiana Division of 

Administration, 2022), as well as reports from the State of New York following Hurricane 

Sandy in 2012 (GOSR, 2022), as a comparison for SBP activities. While these two reports 

align with the general regions of SBP’s work, they do not directly match each of the 

disaster areas SBP works in. 

Census-Provided Data

The census’s construction time estimates are only provided at a national level and for 

four regions of the United States. This results in a less-precise comparison of construction 

time to SBP projects. Additionally, the survey contains data of non-disaster-impacted 

construction, additionally contributing to a less-precise comparison. 

19 SBP (2022) 
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Attributing Benefits to the Federal Government

To estimate benefits from SBP’s construction efforts to the government, it is important to 

understand the amount of funding that is provided by the federal or state/local 

government following a disaster. This value may differ depending on the disaster; 

however, ICF was unable to find disaster-specific values. Therefore, government 

benefits related only to home construction were split according to a Congressional 

Research Service report (2019) attributing 75 percent of disaster recovery efforts to the 

federal government and 25 percent to state and local efforts. 

Monetizing Benefits to Homeowners and Private Insurance

The analysis does not include a discussion or monetization of benefits to private 

insurance companies or homeowners affected by SBP’s reconstruction efforts. This is 

due to lack of data availability on the benefits derived by these stakeholder groups 

and the corresponding monetary value of these benefits. This includes benefits of 

reduced time spent in temporary housing, such as reduced disruption for children, 

health-related benefits resulting from improved air quality in the newly construction 

home, and any potential savings by homeowners related to deductibles paid to 

insurance companies. Further research and data are needed to incorporate these 

benefits into a complete analysis. 

Program Benefits, Forgone Benefits (Opportunity Costs), Program 

Costs, and ROI Results 

This section provides estimates of program benefits, forgone benefits (opportunity 

costs), and program costs, along with the ROI results. 

Program Benefits 

Table 5 shows the estimates of monetized benefits of SBP by stakeholder group for each 

of the three scenarios. The majority of monetized benefits are realized by SBP

AmeriCorps members and the federal government. The benefits to federal and 

state/local governments are in part composed of cost savings realized by various 

federal government agencies that provide funds for disaster relief, including FEMA, and 

also specific state and local agencies that fund disaster relief efforts. As noted earlier, 

although it is likely that private insurance companies and the homeowners themselves 

experience cost savings from SBP reconstruction activities, those savings are not 

included in the ROI analysis. Those benefits are only included for federal and 

state/local governments. Other benefits to federal, state, and local governments 

include tax revenue generation associated with AmeriCorps members’ increased 

lifetime earnings and savings in public assistance associated with AmeriCorps members’ 

increased earnings and higher educational attainment. 
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Table 5. Program Benefits by Recipient

Recipient

Benefits by scenario

Short-term Medium-term Long-term

SBP AmeriCorps members $21,179,419 $86,149,863 $168,942,295

Federal government $9,055,757 $41,301,093 $80,572,549

State/local governments $3,100,597 $11,760,391 $22,592,825 

Total $33,335,774 $139,211,346 $272,107,669

Note: Numbers may not sum due to rounding. 

Figure 2 shows the percentage breakout of total benefits by stakeholder group for each 

of the three scenarios. In all three scenarios, both SBP AmeriCorps members and the 

federal government combined realized 93 percent or more of program benefits. The 

federal government alone realizes roughly 62 percent of the total benefits provided by 

the SBP program. 

Figure 2. Benefits by Stakeholder Group

Forgone Benefits (Opportunity Costs) 

Table 6 shows the breakdown of the forgone benefits from the professional opportunity 

cost to SBP AmeriCorps members and federal, state, and local governments in net 

present 2019 dollars. It lists the amount of post-tax earnings that members are 

forgoing—and the associated taxes forgone to government—due to members serving 

in SBP for a service term instead of working. This is called the total professional 
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opportunity cost. For the federal government benefits per federal dollar ROI 

calculation, only the forgone federal income, Social Security, and Medicare taxes were

subtracted from the total federal benefits that are realized due to SBP. The summation 

of these forgone federal taxes is called the federal professional opportunity cost. 

Table 6. Forgone Benefits From Professional Opportunity Cost

Forgone category

Professional opportunity 

cost amount across all scenarios 

Post-tax earnings for members $66,093,791

Federal income, Social Security, and Medicare taxes $13,445,792

State income and sales taxes $5,143,018

Total $84,682,601

Table 7 lists the forgone benefits from the investment opportunity cost incurred by 

scenario and when:

a) Total SBP program funds for the program year are invested in U.S. Treasury bonds 

b) Only federal SBP program funds (both program and education award funding) 

are invested in these bonds

Table 7 also lists the 2019 real interest rates and the number of years elapsed (with two 

payments a year) that were used as inputs to calculate the forgone accrued interest 

value for each scenario. 

Table 7. Investment Opportunity Cost by Scenario and Funding Stream

Funding stream

Forgone accrued interest by scenario 

Short-term

(1.30% interest rate 

and 1 year elapsed)

Medium-term

(1.45% interest rate 

and 15 years 

elapsed)

Long-term

(1.50% interest rate 

and 30 years 

elapsed)

Total SBP AmeriCorps

funding $244,579 $5,178,415 $14,198,958

Federal SBP

AmeriCorps funding 

only

$84,597 $1,791,155 $4,911,259

Program Costs

Table 8 shows the cost of SBP for the 2018–2019 program year by funding source, while 

Figure 3 shows what portion of SBP program funds were provided by AmeriCorps 

compared to other stakeholder groups (i.e., match funders). The table also highlights a 

further breakdown of these two funding streams, where applicable. Overall, the total 

cost of SBP for this program year was $29,619,288. Ten percent of SBP costs (almost $3 

million) was funded by the federal government. This amount includes the AmeriCorps 

State and National grant and the expected education awards. The remaining 90
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percent (or roughly $27 million) consisted of match funding from state and local 

governments, private funding, and other revenue sources. 

Table 8. Program Cost by Funding Source for SBP

Funder Funding provided for the program year ($)

AmeriCorps $2,995,538

State/local $5,493,637

Private grants & donations $19,717,218

Other $1,412,895

Total $29,619,288

Note: Numbers may not sum due to rounding. 

Figure 3. Funding Source Breakout

ROI Results

This analysis developed three ROI estimates using the three scenarios (short-term, 

medium-term, and long-term). As noted above, the ROI calculations compare the net 

benefits of SBP with program costs to calculate the ROI. 

Table 9 shows the program gross benefits, forgone benefits, net benefits, and costs of 

SBP programming that are used in three ROI calculations. 

 
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Table 9. Program Benefits, Net Benefits, and Program Costs by ROI Scenario

Benefits and costs

ROI scenario (2021$)

Short-term Medium-term Long-term

Total program gross benefits $33,335,774 $139,211,346 $272,107,669

AmeriCorps member benefits $21,179,419 $86,149,863 $168,942,295

Federal government benefits $9,055,757 $41,301,093 $80,572,549

State/local government benefits $3,100,597 $11,760,391 $22,592,825

Total forgone benefits (opportunity cost) $85,011,777 $91,652,171 $103,792,818

Forgone benefits to members (forgone 

earnings post-taxes) 

$66,093,791 $66,093,791 $66,093,791

Forgone tax revenue from members’ 

earnings 

$18,588,810 $18,588,810 $18,588,810

Forgone tax revenue federal government $13,445,792 $13,445,792 $13,445,792

Forgone tax revenue state/local 

government

$5,143,018 $5,143,018 $5,143,018

Forgone benefits from total investment (all 

funders)

$244,579 $5,178,415 $14,198,958

Forgone benefits from federal 

government investment 

$84,597 $1,791,155 $4,911,259

Total program net benefits (total program 

gross benefits – total forgone benefits) 

-$51,676,003 $47,559,175 $168,314,851

Net benefits members (member benefits – 

forgone benefits members) 

-$44,914,372 $20,056,072 $102,848,504 

Net benefits federal government (federal 

government benefits – forgone tax 

revenue to federal government – forgone 

benefits from federal government 

investment)

-$4,474,632 $23,064,146 $62,215,498 

Program cost $40,702,170 $40,702,170 $40,702,170

Federal government cost $14,078,420 $14,078,420 $14,078,420

Non-federal government cost $26,623,750 $26,623,750 $26,623,750

ROI for total benefits per federal dollar 

(Total program net benefits / federal 

government cost)

-$3.67 $3.38 $11.96

ROI for total benefits per funder dollar 

(Total program net benefits / program 

cost) 

-$1.27 $1.17 $4.14

Federal government benefits per federal 

dollar (net benefits federal government / 

federal government cost) 

-$0.33 $1.61 $3.76
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Table 10 summarizes the ROI results for SBP across the short-term, medium-term, and 

long-term scenarios. Three different ROI results are calculated for each scenario. 

Since two of the calculations include benefits to society, the results are expressed as 

cost–benefit ratios, while maintaining the ROI terminology. Specifically, these ratios take 

the form of the sum of monetized benefits over the sum of applicable program costs. 

The ROIs expressed as cost–benefit ratios in this study can be interpreted as the amount 

of dollars returned for every dollar of investment (or program cost).20 See Appendix B for 

the formulas used to calculate each ROI calculation.

Table 10. ROI Results for SBP

ROI calculation

ROI scenario

Short-term Medium-term Long-term

Total benefits per federal dollar -$3.67 $3.38 $11.96

Total benefits per funder dollar -$1.27 $1.17 $4.14

Federal government benefits per federal dollar -$0.33 $1.61 $3.76

SBP produces strong returns for the medium- and long-term scenarios when benefits to 

SBP AmeriCorps members and federal government benefits are included. This is 

indicated by the results of the total benefits per federal dollar and the total benefits 

per funder dollar ROI calculations for these two scenarios. 

In the short-term scenario—where benefits for only 1 year post-program are included—

ROIs range from -$3.67 for total benefits per federal dollar to -$0.33 for federal benefits 

per federal dollar. An ROI below the break-even point of $1 in the first year postprogram is common in programs in which there is an initial one-time investment

followed by the accrual of program benefits in the following years. It can require 

several years of benefits to recoup the initial investment and generate positive returns.

An ROI of less than $0 indicates that the combination of opportunity costs and program 

costs exceeds the amount of funding invested for the period analyzed. 

In the medium-term scenario, all stakeholder groups realized a combined return of 

$3.38 for every dollar invested by the federal government in SBP. Moreover, for every 

dollar invested in SBP from all funders, $1.17 is returned to both members and all levels 

of government combined. For every dollar invested by the federal government, the 

federal government alone receives a return of $1.61. 

For the long-term scenario, the ROI for total benefits per federal dollar, total benefits 

per funder dollar, and federal government benefits per federal dollar were $11.96, 

$4.14, and $3.76, respectively. 

20 ROIs can be expressed in percentages or as ratios, such as in this study. Although not shown as a ratio in 

the results, the ROIs in this study show the amount of return for every $1 invested. 
Return on Investment Study: 

SBP AmeriCorps

23

The magnitude and direction of the ROI calculations are driven by several factors: 

• Cost savings to the federal government resulting from reduced spending on 

home reconstruction and temporary housing. In all three ROI scenarios, 

SBP reconstruction activities led to cost savings for federal and state/local 

governments. These cost savings are realized by various federal government 

agencies that provide funds for disaster relief, including FEMA, and also specific 

state and local agencies that also fund disaster relief efforts. As noted earlier, 

although it is likely that private insurance companies and the homeowners 

themselves experience cost savings from SBP reconstruction activities, those 

savings are not included in the ROI analysis.

• Medium- and long-term accumulation of benefits. In the short-term, two of the 

ROI calculations result in losses because only 1 year of SBP AmeriCorps members’ 

post-program employment and earnings gains are factored in while the entire 

program cost is considered. Additionally, the short-term scenario does not 

include any lifetime benefits in terms of additional earnings and increased tax 

revenue that stem from the impacts of SBP AmeriCorps members and SBP

program participants. As these benefits accumulate over time, the analysis 

shows positive returns. This is indicated by the ROI results in the medium- and 

long-term scenarios (15 years and 30 years post-program, respectively).

• The employment outcomes of SBP AmeriCorps members. According to Friedman 

et al. (2016), the percentage of AmeriCorps members unemployed was 

5 percentage points lower 6 months after serving in AmeriCorps versus 6 months 

before. This gain in employment results in increased earnings and tax revenue.

• The educational attainment outcomes of SBP AmeriCorps members. AmeriCorps 

State and National members receive education awards after serving in an 

AmeriCorps program; the award is used by a portion of members to help pay for 

postsecondary degrees post-service. The additional educational attainment 

resulting from the use of the education award generates additional lifetime 

earnings for SBP AmeriCorps members and additional lifetime tax revenue and 

savings for federal, state, and local governments. 

Government funding serves as a catalyst for private funding of evidence-based social 

services programs. For the ROI calculations of 1) total benefits per federal dollar and 

2) total benefits per funder dollar, AmeriCorps’s requirement of match funding also 

contributed to the magnitude of outcomes. Federal government funding of SBP

programming serves as a catalyst for other funding, specifically that from state and 

local governments. This additional funding—amounting to about $5,493,637 for SBP for 

the 2018–2019 program year—allowed SBP to serve more parents and families than 

otherwise would have been served under the federal funding alone. Though it may not 

impact the ROI, because it is a per-unit metric, match funding leads to greater 

investment in SBP and thus to a greater impact as more individuals and families are 

served. 
Return on Investment Study: 

SBP AmeriCorps

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Recommendations for Further Research 

Future ROI studies for national and community service programs such as SBP can be 

strengthened in several ways. 

Recommendation 1: Determine the persistence of short- and long-term impacts for 

program participants and AmeriCorps members. The persistence of impacts, such as 

earnings or employment, is often not measured in evaluations because it requires 

long-term tracking. Although a scenario-based approach that accounts for variations 

in the persistence of impacts can be used, as was completed in this ROI analysis,

rigorous research on the long-term impact of programming will enable AmeriCorps to 

determine a single value for ROI calculations and avoid relying on the scenario-based 

approach. For example, Friedman et al. (2016) reported the unemployment status of 

AmeriCorps member alumni 6 months before service, 6 months after service, and during 

the summer of 2016. The authors indicate that data for the latter timepoint was 

collected anywhere from 3 to 11 years after service completion depending on the 

AmeriCorps member alumni cohort (i.e., 2005, 2010, or 2013). The varying data 

collection periods for the cohorts makes it difficult to measure the duration of benefits. 

Thus, instead of collecting outcome measures at a time that varies by AmeriCorps 

member or program participant, studies should track outcomes of interest at the same 

intervals, multiple times after program or service completion, to provide greater insight 

into the duration and consistency of benefits.

Recommendation 2: Document outcomes using third-party data sources. Using thirdparty data, along with or in place of self-reported data, can also improve the accuracy 

of program outcome measurements. While self-reported data are easier to obtain—

especially via the use of survey instruments—they have several disadvantages. Some 

answers may be exaggerated, respondents may not answer honestly, and response 

biases could affect results. AmeriCorps programs should—where possible—leverage 

data from third-party sources either to provide data for their program evaluation or to 

corroborate findings from self-reported data. For example, if employment and earnings 

outcomes are of interest, unemployment insurance data—which are submitted by 

employers—could be used to verify members’ wages or employment status postservice. Additionally, if degree completion data are of interest, such as in the case of 

this ROI analysis, data from the National Student Clearinghouse (NSC) could be used to 

verify what portion of SBP AmeriCorps members pursued higher education and which 

degrees were completed post-program with the help of the education award. Were 

degree or employment outcomes data available from third-party data sources (like 

NSC), those data may make more precise ROI estimates possible. 

Recommendation 3: Quantify ripple effects. Earnings impacts on program participants 

and AmeriCorps members likely have positive benefits for those individuals’ families and 

surrounding communities. Rigorous research on those potential ripple effects would 

enable AmeriCorps to capture a broader array of benefits of this and other programs, 

which would be expected to result in an increased ROI. Specifically, the longitudinal 

impacts on program participants could be collected alongside the ripple effects their 

outcomes have on their families and communities to determine how long these indirect 
Return on Investment Study: 

SBP AmeriCorps

25

impacts are sustained after program participation or completion. For instance, studying 

how SBP program participation impacts parents’ employment status, educational 

attainment, substance or alcohol use, as well as mental and physical health would 

result in a more comprehensive ROI estimate. 

Recommendation 4: Research SBP’s impact on homeowners and the benefits to this

stakeholder group. As previously mentioned, this analysis does not account for benefits 

to homeowners who are beneficiaries of SBP’s reconstruction efforts. To understand the 

full benefit of SBP, more research is needed on those benefits and ways to monetize 

them. Those benefits may include health benefits from improved air quality following 

home reconstruction, such as decreased prevalence of asthma. The reduced 

construction time may yield homeowner benefits related to mental health, improved 

proximity to work and school, and reduced disruption to children’s well-being. 

Recommendation 5: Quantify cost savings to homeowners/property owners and private 

insurance companies. As previously mentioned, this ROI analysis does not account for 

the savings to homeowners and private insurance companies related to the 

reconstruction efforts of SBP, namely the lower cost and shorter time frame for housing 

reconstruction. To include these benefits, data on expenditures for these groups 

related to disaster reconstruction efforts should be examined further. 

Recommendation 6: Research economic impact on communities. Disasters often have 

substantial negative economic impacts on the affected communities. Additional 

research could document those impacts and quantify how disaster recovery programs 

like SBP lessen them.

Conclusion 

Based upon these findings, investment in SBP results in favorable impacts under the 

medium- and long-term scenarios when society and government benefits are both

included. Specifically, impacts are realized by the following stakeholder groups in this 

ROI analysis: SBP AmeriCorps members and the federal government. 

The ROI results indicate that the benefits realized across all stakeholder groups outweigh 

the investment made by the federal government for the medium- and long-term 

scenarios. Specifically, the combined return to society and government per federal 

dollar is -$3.67 under the short-term scenario, $3.37 under the medium-term scenario, 

and $11.96 under the long-term scenario. 

When all funding (from the federal government and other funders) is considered, every 

dollar in funding results in a return of $1.17 under the medium-term scenario and $4.13

under the long-term scenario. 

Lastly, when considering the ROI to the federal government alone, the short-, medium-, 

and long-term scenario results are -$0.33, $1.61, and $3.76 in return for every dollar 

invested, respectively. 
Return on Investment Study: 

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Appendix A: Program Benefits, Forgone Benefits, and Program Costs Included 

in Return on Investment Calculations 

In Table 11, the three columns on the right indicate by an “X” if the program benefits, forgone benefits (opportunity cost), 

or program cost is included in the numerator or denominator of a return on investment (ROI) calculation.

Table 11. Program Benefits, Forgone Benefits, and Program Costs Included in ROI Calculations

Benefit or cost 

Total net 

benefits per 

federal dollar

Total net benefits 

per funder dollar 

Federal 

government net 

benefits per 

federal dollar

Benefit Stakeholder group Data sources X indicates inclusion in the ROI numerator

Decreased costs of 

home reconstruction 

Federal, state, and 

local governments 

• SBP

• HUD Quarterly 

Performance 

Reports 

• Congressional 

Research 

Service report 

(2019)

X X X 

Decreased length of 

resident 

displacement

Federal, state, and 

local governments 

• SBP

• U.S. Census 

Bureau 

(2019-a) 

X X X 
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Benefit or cost 

Total net 

benefits per 

federal dollar

Total net benefits 

per funder dollar 

Federal 

government net 

benefits per 

federal dollar

Increased earnings of 

national service 

members due to 

increased 

employment and 

education of 

AmeriCorps members

AmeriCorps members • SBP

• Friedman et al. 

(2016) 

• U.S. Census 

Bureau 

(2019-a) 

• U.S. Bureau of 

Labor Statistics 

(2019-a) 

• U.S. Bureau of 

Labor Statistics 

(2019-b)

X X 

Increased income 

tax revenue due to 

increased earnings of 

AmeriCorps members

Federal and state 

governments

• Friedman et al. 

(2016)

• U.S. Census 

Bureau 

(2019-a) 

• U.S. Bureau of 

Labor Statistics 

(2019-a) 

• Tax rate data 

on 

Bankrate.com 

and Loughead

(Tax 

Foundation, 

2020)

X X X 
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Benefit or cost 

Total net 

benefits per 

federal dollar

Total net benefits 

per funder dollar 

Federal 

government net 

benefits per 

federal dollar

Increased Social 

Security and 

Medicare tax 

revenue due to 

increased earnings of 

AmeriCorps members

Federal government • Friedman et al. 

(2016)

• U.S. Census 

Bureau 

(2019-a) 

• U.S. Bureau of 

Labor Statistics 

(2019-a) 

• Social Security 

Administration 

(2020)

X X X 

Increased sales tax 

revenue due to 

increased earnings of 

AmeriCorps members

State and local 

governments

• Friedman et al. 

(2016)

• U.S. Census 

Bureau 

(2019-a) 

• U.S. Bureau of 

Labor Statistics 

(2019-a) 

• U.S. Bureau of 

Labor Statistics 

(2021) 

• Loughead (Tax 

Foundation, 

2020)

X X 

AmeriCorps member 

living allowances and 

education awards

AmeriCorps members • SBP

X X 
Return on Investment Study: 

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Benefit or cost 

Total net 

benefits per 

federal dollar

Total net benefits 

per funder dollar 

Federal 

government net 

benefits per 

federal dollar

Reduced spending 

on lifetime public 

assistance, 

corrections, and 

social insurance due 

to increased 

educational 

attainment of 

AmeriCorps members

Federal, state, and 

local governments 

• Trostel (2015)

• Zeidenberg et 

al. (2016)

• U.S. Census 

Bureau (2019-a) 

X X X

Forgone benefits 

(opportunity cost) Payer Data sources X indicates inclusion in the ROI denominator

Opportunity costs of

forgone market 

wages for 

AmeriCorps members

AmeriCorps members • SBP

• U.S. Census 

Bureau (2019-a) 

• U.S. Bureau of 

Labor Statistics 

(2019-b)

X X X
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Benefit or cost 

Total net 

benefits per 

federal dollar

Total net benefits 

per funder dollar 

Federal 

government net 

benefits per 

federal dollar

Opportunity costs of

federal taxes on 

forgone market 

wages for 

AmeriCorps members 

(e.g., federal income 

and Social Security 

taxes)

Federal government • SBP

• U.S. Census 

Bureau (2019-a) 

• U.S. Bureau of 

Labor Statistics 

(2019-a) 

• U.S. Bureau of 

Labor Statistics 

(2019-b) 

• Tax rate data 

on 

Bankrate.com 

and Loughead

(Tax 

Foundation, 

2020)

• Social Security 

Administration 

(2020)

X X X
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Benefit or cost 

Total net 

benefits per 

federal dollar

Total net benefits 

per funder dollar 

Federal 

government net 

benefits per 

federal dollar

Opportunity costs of

state and local taxes 

on forgone market 

wages for 

AmeriCorps members 

(e.g., state income 

and state/local sales 

taxes)

State and local 

governments 

• SBP

• U.S. Census 

Bureau (2019-a) 

• U.S. Bureau of 

Labor Statistics 

(2019-a) 

• U.S. Bureau of 

Labor Statistics 

(2019-b)

• U.S. Bureau of 

Labor Statistics 

(2021)

• Loughead (Tax 

Foundation, 

2020)

X X X

Opportunity costs of 

federal funders

Federal government • AmeriCorps 

• U.S. Department 

of the Treasury 

(2019)

X X X 

Opportunity costs of 

other program 

funders

Non-government 

funders

• SBP

• U.S. Department 

of the Treasury 

(2019)

X 
Return on Investment Study: 

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Benefit or cost 

Total net 

benefits per 

federal dollar

Total net benefits 

per funder dollar 

Federal 

government net 

benefits per 

federal dollar

Program cost Payer Data sources X indicates inclusion in the ROI denominator

AmeriCorps grant 

costs (excluding 

living allowances and 

education awards 

provided to 

AmeriCorps 

members)

Federal government 

(AmeriCorps)

• AmeriCorps 

X X X

AmeriCorps member 

living allowances and 

education awards

Federal government 

(AmeriCorps)

• AmeriCorps 

X X X

SBP costs SBP • SBP X

State and local 

government funding

State and local 

governments

• SBP X

Other nongovernment costsNon-government 

funders

• SBP X
Return on Investment Study: 

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Appendix B: Additional Information on the Methodology 

This appendix provides additional details on the methodology used for this study, as a 

supplement to the methodology section in the main report. It describes the steps used 

to calculate the return on investment (ROI), the results of interim calculations that 

contribute to the ROI calculations, and assumptions that underlie the analysis. 

Methodology Overview 

Calculating the ROI for SBP included the following steps: 

• Measuring and monetizing program benefits to SBP AmeriCorps members and 

the different levels of government

• Estimating forgone benefits (opportunity costs) 

• Assessing program costs 

• Calculating the ROI

This ROI analysis included only those benefits that could be reasonably monetized given 

the available data and that likely would not have occurred without SBP. 

Although SBP AmeriCorps members experience positive benefits from SBP in terms of 

increased employment and earnings (described below), available data do not 

establish how long these specific impacts are sustained over time. To address a range 

of possible durations for those benefits, three scenarios were developed for this ROI 

study: 

• Short-term. This scenario assumes short-term earnings impacts. The assumption is 

that earnings impacts are limited to a single year after program exit. This scenario 

also assumes no lifetime benefits are realized. 

• Medium-term. This scenario assumes a longer duration of earnings impacts. The 

assumption is that earnings impacts last 15 years. A 3 percent discount rate is 

applied each year to represent net present value in 2021 dollars.21 This scenario 

also assumes only half of the net present value of lifetime benefits is realized. 

• Long-term. This scenario assumes sustained earnings impacts throughout SBP

AmeriCorps members’ working years. The assumption is that earnings impacts 

last 30 years. A 3 percent discount rate is applied each year to represent net 

present value in 2021 dollars. This scenario also assumes the entire net present 

value of lifetime benefits is realized. 

21 The Office of Management and Budget (1992) defines a discount rate as, “The interest rate used in 

calculating the present value of expected yearly benefits and costs” (p. 18). Regarding the 3 percent

discount rate, see Office of Management and Budget (2003).
Return on Investment Study: 

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34

There are some differences between the three scenarios. One is the length of time that 

increased employment—and earnings associated with that employment—are 

sustained. The other is what portion of lifetime benefits, when applicable, are realized.22

For each ROI calculation, three estimates using the three scenarios were developed, 

which is shown in greater detail in the Calculating ROI section. 

Measuring Program Benefits 

The first step in estimating ROI for SBP is to measure and monetize the program benefits. 

SBP AmeriCorps members and various levels of government benefit from SBP. These 

benefits were identified through an extensive literature review and data collection 

process. The methods used to measure benefits for each of these stakeholder groups 

are described below. 

Benefits to SBP AmeriCorps Members 

The SBP AmeriCorps members who provide services as part of SBP experience benefits 

due to their national service. This analysis estimated the following benefits: 

• Living allowance and education award 

• Increased earnings due to reduced unemployment

• Increased lifetime earnings due to increased postsecondary education derived 

from the use of education awards

Living Allowance and Education Award 

Living allowances are given to AmeriCorps members during their 1-year service term to 

pay for various living expenses—such as housing and groceries—and they sometimes 

include members’ workers’ compensation and health insurance when applicable. 

Regarding education awards, according to Friedman et al. (2016), a significant portion 

(i.e., 46 percent) of AmeriCorps State and National member alumni use them to pay for 

additional postsecondary education at colleges, graduate schools, and 

technical/vocational schools, while others (i.e., 33 percent) use them to pay off 

outstanding student loans. The remaining 21 percent do not use their education 

awards. 

Both the living allowances and education awards (considered one-time benefits that 

are not discounted or spread over time) are taxable and represent member benefits. 

However, only the portion of education awards used by members to pay off existing 

student loans is considered a direct member benefit. The portion that is utilized to 

22 These three scenarios consider varying durations of how long increased employment and earnings 

benefits last for SBP AmeriCorps members. They also consider varying durations for lifetime benefits that 

stem from the SBP program. For example, lifetime benefits in terms of decreased public assistance, social 

insurance, and corrections costs result from SBP AmeriCorps members’ higher educational attainment postservice. The analysis estimates lifetime benefits differently in the three scenarios. Specifically, the net present 

value of the entire lifetime benefit is realized for the long-term scenario, half of the net present value of the 

lifetime benefit is realized for the medium-term scenario, and no lifetime benefit amount is realized for the 

short-term scenario.
Return on Investment Study: 

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pursue further postsecondary education is only used in calculating members’ additional 

lifetime earnings due to the increased educational attainment they experience postservice from using the education award. This is done to avoid double counting. This 

analysis included the post-tax values of the living allowance and the portion of the 

education award used to repay student loans as SBP AmeriCorps member benefits, 

which are listed in Table 12. The portion of the education award used to fund additional 

postsecondary education is discussed in the following section.

Table 12. SBP AmeriCorps Member Benefits From the Living Allowance and Education 

Award

Benefit Post-tax value Notes

Living allowance $2,857,762 Post-tax living allowances members 

receive during service

Education award used to 

pay off student loans $3,759,965 Post-tax education award amount used to pay off outstanding student loans

Total $ 6,617,727

Source: Friedman et al. (2016)

Increased Earnings Due to Reduced Unemployment 

According to Friedman et al. (2016), the percentage of AmeriCorps members 

unemployed was 5 percentage points lower 6 months after serving in AmeriCorps 

compared to 6 months before serving. The study did not provide actual employment 

rates for AmeriCorps members pre- and post-service, but instead provided the 

unemployment rates shown in Figure 2 (17 percent vs. 12 percent) in which the change

between them represents a 5-percentage-point decrease. 

Figure 4. Unemployment Status Results From Friedman et al. (2016)23

Source: Friedman et al. (2016)

23 “Currently” refers to the summer 2016 survey. Respondents were from the 2005, 2010, and 2013 

AmeriCorps cohorts, so respondents varied in how much time had elapsed since their AmeriCorps service.
Return on Investment Study: 

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36

A direct member benefit from being employed post-service is additional income 

earned. To monetize this 5-percentage-point decrease in unemployment, ICF 

requested that SBP provide the gender, age, pre-service educational attainment, and 

race/ethnicity distribution of AmeriCorps members who served with the SBP program for 

the most recent program year. Based on those demographics, the analysis used annual 

average earnings data from the Current Population Survey’s Annual Social and 

Economic (ASEC) Supplement for March 2019 to estimate SBP AmeriCorps members’ 

additional earnings due to the reduced unemployment (U.S. Census Bureau, 2019-c). 

Specifically, the analysis used ASEC data to calculate the per-person pre-tax average 

annual earnings for 18- to 34-year-olds weighted by the demographic distribution of SBP

AmeriCorps members who served during the 2018–2019 program year. This value was 

$40,576 as shown in Table 13. The analysis then multiplied the 5-percentage-point 

decrease in unemployment from Friedman et al. (2016) by the number of SBP

AmeriCorps member full-time equivalents (FTEs) who served during the most recent 

program year (i.e., 2,293). This estimated the number of additional SBP AmeriCorps 

member FTEs employed due to national service (i.e., 115). To estimate the additional 

pre-tax earnings that stemmed from the reduced unemployment, the $40,576 annual 

earnings amount was multiplied by the additional number of SBP AmeriCorps members 

employed post-service. This represents the additional income earned by SBP

AmeriCorps members due to serving with SBP. 

Table 13. Additional Pre-Tax Earnings for SBP AmeriCorps Members From Reduced 

Unemployment Based on SBP AmeriCorps Member Demographics

Metric

Value 

(2019$)

Average per-person pre-tax annual earnings of employed 18- to 34-year-olds 

weighted by SBP AmeriCorps member demographics (e.g., gender, 

race/ethnicity, and pre-service education level)

$40,576 

Reduction in AmeriCorps members’ unemployment 5% 

Total expected increase in earnings, per member $2,029

SBP AmeriCorps member FTEs 2,293

Cumulative additional pre-tax earnings $4,650,990*

Cumulative additional post-tax earnings $3,777,371

*This value is undiscounted; thus, the values do not sum in the table. 

Sources: SBP (2022), Friedman et al. (2016), and U.S. Census Bureau (2019-c) 

To avoid double counting, the additional post-tax earnings is used to calculate the 

direct benefit to SBP AmeriCorps members, rather than the additional pre-tax earnings. 

The post-tax annual earnings in Table 13 excludes payroll taxes (e.g., federal and state 

income, Social Security, and Medicare). The payroll tax rates used are described in 

more detail in the Benefits to Government section. 

Based on these calculations, the cumulative additional post-tax earnings for SBP 

AmeriCorps members for the three different scenarios—discounted to 2019 dollars using 

data from the Office of Management and Budget (2003)—are shown in Table 14. These 
Return on Investment Study: 

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monetary amounts represent the additional post-tax earnings realized due to the 

employment gain that is solely attributed to SBP. 

Table 14. Cumulative Additional Post-Tax Earnings Derived From Reduced 

Unemployment Due to Serving With SBP by Scenario

Scenario

Cumulative additional post-tax earnings 

due to serving with SBP (2019$)

Short-term $4,650,990

Medium-term $69,621,434

Long-term $152,413,865

Sources: SBP, Friedman et al. (2016), U.S. Census Bureau (2019-c), and Office of Management and Budget

(2003)

Increased Lifetime Earnings Due to Increased Postsecondary Education Derived 

From the Use of Education Awards 

The AmeriCorps education award pays 

for some portion of members’

increased postsecondary educational 

attainment, and the future earnings 

derived from that educational 

attainment is treated as a direct 

benefit to SBP AmeriCorps members. To 

calculate the portion of members’ 

increased educational attainment that 

is attributable to SBP, this analysis used

cost data from the National Center for 

Education Statistics (NCES). Table 15

details the average total cost for each 

degree type and the portion of the 

cost that the post-tax education 

award amount represents (i.e., $5,234

represents $6,155 before taxes24). The

analysis used these percentages to 

estimate the lifetime benefits of 

postsecondary educational 

attainment that can be attributed to 

the education award. For instance, 

according to NCES (2020), the average annual cost of a public, in-state, 4-year 

academic institution during the 2018–2019 academic year was $24,869. This amounts to 

more than $100,000 for four years if expressed in 2019 dollars. The $4,857 post-tax 

24 This analysis used the 2020 to 2021 AmeriCorps education award amount ($6,345) but discounted it to net 

present 2019 dollars using the Consumer Price Index. For more information about this education award, 

please see https://americorps.gov/members-volunteers/segal-americorps-education-award/find-out-more. 

Additional earnings derived from SBP

AmeriCorps members’ reduced 

unemployment were calculated annually 

and then discounted based on the shortterm, medium-term, and long-term 

scenarios in net present 2019 dollars. 

For additional earnings derived from SBP

AmeriCorps members’ increased 

postsecondary educational attainment—

due to using education awards—Trostel 

(2015) did not provide data on how 

earnings accrue over time. Therefore, this 

analysis treated the increases in earnings 

as lifetime values expressed in 2019

dollars. The analysis assumed 100 percent 

of those lifetime earnings accrued by 

year 30 (i.e., in the long-term scenario), 50 

percent accrued by year 15 (i.e., in the 

medium-term scenario), and nothing 

accrued 1 year post-program (i.e., in the 

short-term scenario). 
Return on Investment Study: 

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education award only represents 5 percent of the cost of that degree, so SBP, 

accordingly, could only be credited with 5 percent of the completion of SBP 

AmeriCorps members’ bachelor’s degrees post-service. 

Table 15. Average Total Cost of Education and Portion Attributable to Education Award 

by Degree Type

Degree type25 Average cost (2019$)

Percentage of degree total cost 

covered by post-tax education award

Some college $30,824 15.8%

Bachelor’s degree $101,948 4.8%

Graduate degree $24,342 20.0%

Sources: AmeriCorps (n.d.), U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (2019-a), NCES (2019), and NCES (2020) 

To determine the future lifetime earnings (and later, the associated lifetime taxes, 

which are described in the Benefits to Government section) realized due to the use of 

the education award post-service, the analysis first determined the number of 

additional postsecondary degrees estimated to be completed by degree type. The 

2,293 SBP AmeriCorps member FTEs who served during the 2018–2019 program year 

were distributed by the education award use findings listed in Friedman et al. (2016) 

across the degree types. Specifically, Friedman et al. (2016) reported 46 percent of 

AmeriCorps State and National member alumni used their education award to pursue 

postsecondary degrees after program completion. This makes the number of SBP

AmeriCorps member FTEs expected to use the education award to pursue additional 

postsecondary education roughly equal to 1,055. Specifically, Friedman et al. (2016) 

indicated that the 46 percent comprises 2 percent using the education award to 

attend a technical or vocational training program, 21 percent using it to obtain a 

bachelor’s degree, and 23 percent using it for graduate school.26 This results in the 

number of SBP AmeriCorps members estimated to pursue—due to using the education 

award—an associate degree, a bachelor’s degree, or a graduate degree post-service 

to be roughly 46, 482, and 527, respectively. These values are shown in Table 16. 

25 Costs for an associate degree include tuition, required fees, books, and supplies for a public, in-state, 

2-year program; costs for a bachelor’s degree include tuition, required fees, books, supplies, and 

on-campus housing for a public, in-state, 4-year program; costs for a graduate degree include tuition and 

required fees for a public, in-state, 2-year graduate program. 

26 This analysis considers the use of the education award to attend a technical or vocational training 

program from Friedman et al. (2016) to be synonymous with using it to pursue an associate degree.
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Table 16. Estimates of the Number of Postsecondary Degrees Pursued Using the 

Education Award by Degree Type

Degree type

Total SBP

AmeriCorps 

member FTE count

Percentage estimated to 

pursue postsecondary 

education according to 

Friedman et al. (2016) 

Number of 

degrees pursued 

using the

education award

Associate degree 2,293 2% 45.9

Bachelor’s degree 2,293 21% 481.5

Graduate degree 2,293 23% 527.4

All degrees — 46% 1,055

Note: Numbers may not sum due to rounding. 

Sources: AmeriCorps (n.d.), SBP (2022), U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (2019-a), SBP, Friedman et al. (2016), 

NCES (2020), and NCES (2019)

Next, the difference in the additional lifetime pre-tax earnings from one degree type to 

the subsequent degree type was estimated using data provided by Trostel (2015), 

which is shown in the fifth column of Table 17.27 For instance, using Trostel (2015) data, 

the lifetime earnings of someone with an associate degree is about $875,000, while that 

of someone with a bachelor’s degree is almost $1.3 million. The difference between 

these two metrics (roughly $417,000 as show in Table 17) represents the additional

lifetime earnings realized as a result of gaining a bachelor’s degree if an associate 

degree was already completed. This process was completed for all postsecondary 

degree types to conservatively estimate the additional lifetime earnings realized by SBP

AmeriCorps members due to an increase in postsecondary educational attainment. 

Trostel (2015) also included data on lifetime taxes paid, which was then used to 

estimate the post-tax lifetime earnings that would be realized per additional 

postsecondary degree received. Specifically, the lifetime taxes paid amounts were 

subtracted from the pre-tax additional lifetime earnings amounts to estimate the 

additional post-tax lifetime earnings, a direct benefit to SBP AmeriCorps members. 

27 For an associate degree, comparisons were made between metrics for a high school diploma and those 

for an associate degree. For a bachelor’s degree, comparisons made were between metrics for an 

associate degree and those of a bachelor’s degree. For a graduate degree, comparisons made were 

between metrics for a bachelor’s degree and those of a master’s degree. 
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Table 17. Additional Earnings From AmeriCorps Members’ Use of the Education Award

Degree type 

Percentage 

of SBP 

AmeriCorps 

members 

expected to 

pursue 

postsecondary 

education 

FTE SBP 

AmeriCorps 

members 

Percentage 

of degree 

tuition 

covered by 

education 

award 

Additional 

lifetime 

earnings 

of the 

degree 

(pre-tax) 

Additional 

lifetime 

earnings 

from 

education 

award 

(pre-tax) 

Additional 

lifetime 

earnings 

from 

education 

award 

(post-tax) 

Expected to 

not use award 

for 

postsecondary 

education 

54% 1,238 N/A N/A N/A N/A 

Associate 

degree

2% 46 15.8% $170,286 $1,230,449 $625,966

Bachelor’s 

degree

21% 482 4.8% $526,201 $12,070,798 $6,510,599

Graduate 

degree

23% 527 20.0% $467,083 $49,148,417 $30,565,412

Total 100% 2,293 — $62,449,664 $37,701,976 

Note: Numbers may not sum due to rounding.

Sources: AmeriCorps (n.d.), U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (2019-a), SBP, Friedman et al. (2016), NCES (2020), 

NCES (2019), and Trostel (2015)

To isolate the increase in additional lifetime earnings specific to members using the 

education award, the number of SBP AmeriCorps members who used the education 

award for this purpose by degree type was reduced by the percentage of the degree 

cost that can be covered by the post-tax education award received post-service, 

displayed in the fourth column of Table 17. Then, this amount is applied to the 2019 

additional lifetime earnings by degree type to calculate the additional lifetime earnings 

realized by AmeriCorps members from their increase in postsecondary educational 

attainment that is credited to the use of the education award post-service. The 

additional lifetime earnings amount is roughly $62 million across the FTE SBP AmeriCorps 

members. Of note, these lifetime earnings are in addition to the earnings derived from 

SBP AmeriCorps members’ gains in employment as delineated in the subsequent 

section. To reiterate, the earnings from SBP AmeriCorps members’ reduced 

unemployment differs depending on the scenario (i.e., short-term, medium-term, and 

long-term) since it is uncertain how long these earnings will persist. For the net lifetime 

earnings—and all lifetime benefits in this ROI analysis—the entire amount is realized in 

the long-term, half of it is realized in the medium-term, and no amount is realized in the 

short-term. 
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Benefits to Government 

State and Local Government 

State and local government benefits from: 

• Additional state income tax revenue from SBP AmeriCorps members’ increased 

earnings due to reduced unemployment

• Additional lifetime state and local taxes due to SBP AmeriCorps members’

increased postsecondary educational attainment28

• Additional lifetime state and local taxes due to SBP program participants’

increased secondary educational attainment29

• Additional state and local taxes from the living allowance and education award 

received by these members

• Additional state and local sales tax revenue from SBP AmeriCorps members’ 

increased consumption due to reduced unemployment

• Reduced lifetime spending on social insurance and corrections30 due to SBP

AmeriCorps members’ increased postsecondary educational attainment

• Decreased government spending on construction

• Decreased government spending on housing displaced families

The methodology of the main report provides a detailed description of government 

benefits derived from SBP construction activities (reduced spending on construction 

and housing displaced families). All other benefits are discussed further below. 

28 This benefit was calculated using lifetime tax revenue data from Trostel (2015). These values summed 

lifetime state income taxes, lifetime property taxes, and lifetime sales taxes by education level. 

29 Ibid.

30 Reduced spending on public assistance due to SBP AmeriCorps members’ increased postsecondary 

educational attainment is included as a federal government benefit, not a state and local government 

benefit. This is because public assistance includes programs funded at the federal level (e.g., TANF, etc.).
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State income tax revenue: To measure 

income tax revenue generation that 

stems from reduced unemployment for 

state governments (any local income 

taxes are not included), the additional 

pre-tax earnings of SBP AmeriCorps 

members that are solely attributed to 

SBP are taxed by a weighted, 

estimated proportional state income 

tax rate. This tax rate considers statespecific progressive tax brackets and 

standard deduction amounts. Based 

on the taxable income, the analysis 

estimated the proportional state 

income tax for each state as the 

amount of state income taxes paid per 

SBP AmeriCorps member divided by 

their pre-tax earnings. This analysis then 

calculated the weighted average of 

these state-specific tax rates—using 

these states’ populations from the 

5-year estimates of the 2019 American 

Community Survey—to estimate a 

weighted national tax rate (U.S. Census 

Bureau, 2019-a). A weighted national 

tax rate was used because SBP AmeriCorps members may disperse to various locations 

nationwide following their service terms and continue to migrate over the course of 

their working years.

Lifetime state income tax revenue values are also provided by Trostel (2015) by 

education level. Based on the number of postsecondary degrees estimated to be 

obtained due to the use of the education award received after serving with the SBP

program, additional lifetime state income taxes are realized. Thus, the additional 

lifetime state income taxes paid values—informed by data from Trostel (2015)—were 

first converted to 2019 dollars. The analysis then multiplied them by the inferred number 

of degrees obtained using the education award. 

State governments also receive state income taxes from the education awards SBP

AmeriCorps members receive post-service. The analysis estimated the pre-tax 

education award amount in 2019 dollars (i.e., $6,120).31 Then the analysis multiplied it by 

the number of SBP AmeriCorps member FTEs expected to redeem the award and use it 

to pursue postsecondary education or to repay outstanding student loans, based on 

31 This analysis used the 2020 to 2021 AmeriCorps education award amount ($6,345) but discounted it to net

present 2019 dollars using the Consumer Price Index. For more information about this education award, 

please see https://americorps.gov/members-volunteers/segal-americorps-education-award/find-out-more. 

Additional tax revenue derived from SBP 

AmeriCorps members’ reduced 

unemployment, living allowances, and 

education awards was calculated using 

tax rates specific to each per-person 

monetary amount. 

For additional tax revenue derived from 

SBP AmeriCorps members’ increased 

postsecondary educational 

attainment—due to using education 

awards—as well as from SBP program 

participants’ increased secondary 

educational attainment, Trostel (2015) 

did not provide specific tax rates. 

Therefore, this analysis treated the 

increases in tax revenue as lifetime 

values expressed in 2019 dollars. The 

analysis assumed 100 percent of those 

lifetime tax revenues accrued by year 30 

(i.e., in the long-term scenario), 50 

percent accrued by year 15 (i.e., in the 

medium-term scenario), and nothing 

accrued 1 year post-program (i.e., in the 

short-term scenario).
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findings from Friedman et al. (2016). The result represents the pre-tax cumulative 

education award amount expected to be received by SBP AmeriCorps members. 

The portion of this value taxed by state income taxes was estimated using a weighted 

state income tax rate specific to the per-person education award amount. 

Additionally, state income taxes were estimated for the living allowance amount

received by SBP AmeriCorps members during their service term using tax rates specific 

to the per-person value. The different rates used for these member benefits are 

enumerated in Table 19. 

State and local sales tax revenue: To measure sales tax revenue generation for state 

and local governments that stems from reduced unemployment, a weighted state and 

local sales tax rate was applied to the amount of SBP AmeriCorps members’ cumulative 

additional post-tax earnings that are available to be spent on taxable goods. To 

establish a weighted state and local sales tax, this analysis first summed the state sales 

tax rate and the average local sales tax rate for each state using data from 

Cammenga (2020). Then, using 2019 data from the American Community Survey 

(U.S. Census Bureau, 2019-a), these state-level combined state and local sales tax rates 

were weighted based on the population of each state. The resulting weighted average 

sales tax rate used in this analysis was 7.43 percent. 

To estimate the additional post-tax earnings as a result of reduced unemployment that 

was spent on taxable goods, data from the Consumer Expenditure Survey (U.S. Bureau 

of Labor Statistics, 2021) were used. These data show the amount of spending on a 

number of different goods and services by national consumers across several different 

pre-tax income brackets.32 The proportion of earnings that is spent on taxable goods 

(such as alcoholic beverages, housekeeping supplies, apparel, etc.) was then 

calculated for consumers with incomes that matched the per-person average pre-tax 

earnings of SBP AmeriCorps members. This value was 41.3 percent. This proportion was 

then applied to SBP AmeriCorps members’ cumulative additional post-tax earnings to 

calculate the post-tax monetary amount they spend on taxable goods. Then the sales 

tax rate (i.e., 7.43 percent) was applied to estimate the resulting sales tax revenues that 

go to state and local governments due to SBP AmeriCorps members’ reduced 

unemployment post-service. 

Trostel (2015) also provides additional lifetime state and local sales tax values by 

education level. Using these values, the analysis calculated the additional sales tax 

revenue realized by state and local governments as a result of SBP AmeriCorps 

members using their education award to achieve higher postsecondary educational 

attainment post-service. These values represent a direct benefit to state and local 

governments in the form of increased tax revenue. 

32 To calculate the estimated taxable expenditures, Consumer Expenditure Survey (CE) Table 1203 was 

used from U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (2021). This table lists the annual expenditure means by pre-tax 

income tax brackets. Thus, the pre-tax earnings of SBP AmeriCorps members were used instead of their 

post-tax earnings to calculate this metric. Please visit this site for more details: 

https://www.bls.gov/cex/tables/calendar-year/mean-item-share-average-standard-error.htm#cu-income. 
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State and local government cost savings: State and local governments also benefit 

from SBP programming through lifetime savings in social insurance and corrections—as 

reported in Trostel (2015)—due to the increase in SBP AmeriCorps members’ 

postsecondary educational attainment after program exit. Of note, social insurance 

includes unemployment insurance and workers’ compensation. To calculate these 

lifetime non-federal government savings, the analysis first calculated the decrease in 

social insurance and corrections costs (and thus, savings) from one education level to 

the subsequent education level using data from Trostel (2015) and then multiplied these 

monetary amounts by the number of additional postsecondary degrees estimated to 

be obtained due to the use of the education awards. 

To determine what portion of this differential represents lifetime cost savings to state or 

local governments versus the federal government, a different method was employed 

for each of these cost savings areas. For social insurance, 50 percent of lifetime 

unemployment insurance cost savings and all the lifetime cost savings for workers’ 

compensation are apportioned to state and local governments (Oswald, 2018). 

Regarding reductions in lifetime corrections spending, the portion between the federal 

and state or local governments was determined based on data from Hyland (2015). 

Specifically, this report found that 8.4 percent of U.S. corrections costs is paid by the 

federal government and the remaining 91.6 percent is paid by state and local 

governments. Therefore, almost 92 percent of the lifetime cost savings in corrections 

due to SBP AmeriCorps members experiencing an increase in postsecondary 

educational attainment post-service are allocated to state and local governments. 

Federal Government 

The federal government benefits from: 

• Additional federal income, Social Security, and Medicare tax revenue from SBP 

AmeriCorps members’ increased earnings due to reduced unemployment

• Additional federal income, Social Security, and Medicare taxes from the living 

allowance and education award received by these members

• Additional lifetime federal taxes due to SBP AmeriCorps members’ increased 

postsecondary educational attainment

• Additional lifetime federal taxes due to SBP program participants’ increased 

secondary educational attainment

• Reduced lifetime spending on public assistance, social insurance, and 

corrections due to SBP AmeriCorps members’ increased postsecondary 

educational attainment

• Decreased government spending on construction

• Decreased government spending on housing displaced families

The methodology of the main report provides a detailed description of government 

benefits derived from SBP construction activities (reduced spending on construction 

and housing displaced families). All other benefits are discussed further below. 
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Federal income tax revenue: To measure federal income tax revenue that stems from 

reduced unemployment, the additional pre-tax earnings of SBP AmeriCorps members 

that are solely attributed to SBP—as well as the pre-tax living allowance and education 

award amounts received by SBP AmeriCorps members—are taxed by a federal income 

tax rate. The rates used are estimated proportional tax rates that consider the standard 

deductions and progressive tax brackets specific to federal income taxes as provided 

by El-Sibaie (2019). To reiterate, an estimated proportional tax rate equals the total 

amount of taxes estimated to be paid divided by the pre-tax amount of the value to 

be taxed (e.g., per-person average pre-tax earnings). The specific federal income tax 

rates used for these different benefits are enumerated in Table 19. Of note, different tax 

rates were used because they were specific to the per-person pre-tax earnings, living 

allowance, and education award amounts.

For the additional lifetime earnings of SBP AmeriCorps members that is based on their 

increase in postsecondary educational attainment—fueled by the use of the education 

award—Trostel (2015) provides additional lifetime federal income tax values. 

Social Security and Medicare tax revenue: Social Security and Medicare tax revenue 

are measured as fiscal gains as a result of the additional pre-tax earnings of SBP 

AmeriCorps members from their reduced unemployment and as a result of the pre-tax 

living allowances and education awards amounts received by members. However, tax 

rates specific to each revenue source are used. Social Security and Medicare use flat 

tax rates, 6.2 percent and 1.45 percent, respectively; thus, these rates are applied to 

the additional pre-tax earnings of SBP AmeriCorps members to calculate the additional 

amount of revenue the federal government receives. These same rates are also 

applied to the living allowance and education award amounts received by SBP

AmeriCorps members to calculate additional tax revenue. Moreover, additional lifetime 

Social Security tax revenue realized for the federal government—as a result of SBP 

AmeriCorps members using their education award to complete a higher education 

degree type post-service—is provided by Trostel (2015). 

Federal government cost savings: The federal government realizes cost savings in public 

assistance, social insurance, and corrections due to the increased postsecondary 

educational attainment of SBP AmeriCorps members after program exit. Specifically, 

the number of additional postsecondary degrees estimated to be earned by SBP

AmeriCorps members post-service as well as data from Trostel (2015) were used to 

estimate the federal government portion of lifetime cost savings on social insurance 

(which is composed of workers’ compensation and unemployment insurance, as noted 

earlier), public assistance (e.g., SNAP, Medicaid, TANF, etc.), and corrections. 

Table 18 shows the lifetime costs to the federal versus the state and local governments 

for each of these areas—where applicable—by education level in 2012 dollars as 

presented in Trostel (2015). The differences in these lifetime costs from one education 

level to the next represent cost savings per degree obtained. 
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Table 18. Government Costs by Educational Attainment Level per Individual’s Lifetime

Source of government cost

Associate degree 

(2012$)

Bachelor’s degree 

(2012$)

Graduate degree 

(2012$)

Public assistance $31,803 $14,480 $9,394

Social insurance $8,209 $5,863 $4,732

Federal $3,570 $2,660 $2,090

State/local $4,639 $3,204 $2,643

Corrections $4,055 $1,190 $725

Federal $341 $100 $61

State/local $3,714 $1,090 $664

Source: Trostel (2015) 

Note: Numbers may not sum due to rounding.

As mentioned earlier in this appendix, as a result of SBP, the analysis estimated an 

additional 1,055 SBP AmeriCorps members would redeem the education award to 

pursue additional postsecondary education. Based on the portion of degree costs 

covered by the post-tax education award, this analysis calculated that an additional 

associate degree, bachelor’s degree, and graduate degree would be obtained due 

to SBP. To conservatively calculate the federal government’s lifetime savings associated 

with these education gains, the differences between the public assistance, federal 

social insurance, and federal corrections lifetime costs for these education levels and 

those that precede them are calculated and then expressed in 2019 dollars. These 

values are then multiplied by the number of additional postsecondary degrees 

estimated to be obtained—where appropriate—to represent the total cost savings 

realized by the federal government due to the SBP program. As previously mentioned 

where discussing the state and local governments’ allocation of the reduction in 

lifetime social insurance and corrections expenditures, the federal government receives 

50 percent of the lifetime cost savings in unemployment insurance (part of social 

insurance; Oswald, 2018), and more than 8 percent of the lifetime cost savings in 

corrections (Hyland, 2015). These federal government savings are shown in Table 20.

Table 19 shows the tax rates applied to SBP AmeriCorps members’ additional pre-tax 

and post-tax earnings (derived from reduced unemployment), depending on the type 

of revenue being calculated. It also enumerates the tax rates used for the pre-tax living 

allowance and education award amounts received by SBP AmeriCorps members 

during their service term or upon service completion, respectively. 
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Table 19. 2020 Tax Rates and Ratio of Taxable Expenditures for SBP AmeriCorps 

Members’ Earnings, Living Allowances, and Education Awards

Metric

Rate for 

additional 

earnings & 

education 

award*

Rate for living 

allowance & 

education 

award** Notes

Estimated 

proportional 

federal 

income tax 

8.11% 0.00% • Tax rates are used that consider the 

progressive tax brackets and 

standard deductions specific to 

federal income taxes. 

• These rates are dependent on and 

applied to the pre-tax value of 

each metric being taxed.

Estimated 

proportional 

state 

income tax 

3.20% 1.15% • Tax rates are used that consider the 

progressive tax brackets and 

standard deductions specific to 

each state’s income taxes. Each 

state’s tax rate is weighted based 

on the state’s population and 

summed to estimate a weighted 

national average. 

• These rates are dependent on and 

applied to the pre-tax value of 

each metric being taxed.

Social 

Security tax 

6.20% 6.20% • Social Security tax rate for 

employees and employers.

• These rates are applied to the pretax value of each metric being 

taxed.

Medicare 

tax 

1.45% 1.45% • Medicare tax rate for employees 

and employers.

• These rates are applied to the pretax value of each metric being 

taxed.

Sales tax 7.43%; N/A to 

the 

education 

award

7.43%; N/A to the 

education award

• The combined state and average 

local tax rate for each state was 

summed and weighted based on 

states’ populations to calculate a 

national weighted average sales 

tax rate. 

• The rate is applied to the additional 

post-tax earnings of members as 

well as their post-tax living 

allowance amount.
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Metric

Rate for 

additional 

earnings & 

education 

award* 

Rate for living 

allowance & 

education 

award** Notes

Ratio of 

taxable 

expenditures 

per national 

consumer

41.29%; N/A 

to the 

education 

award 

57%; N/A to the 

education award

• Percentage of post-tax earnings 

spent on taxable goods and 

services that is used to calculate 

sales tax from post-tax earnings. 

• Ratio is dependent on the pre-tax 

value of members’ additional 

earnings or the pre-tax living 

allowance amount.

*These rates are only used for the portion of the education award used to repay outstanding student loans. 

**These rates are only used for the portion of the education award used for additional schooling. 

Sources: Cammenga (2020), Social Security Administration (2020), U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, 2021, and 

El-Sibaie (2019)

Summary of Benefits to Government 

Table 20 shows the amount of tax revenue generated and savings in expenditures for 

state and local versus federal government that are solely credited to SBP and 

calculated using the methods described above. These government revenue and 

savings amounts are benefits that are included in the three ROI calculations, and they 

are derived from SBP program impacts.

Table 20. State/Local and Federal Government Benefits by Stakeholder Group and by 

Scenario

 

Benefit type

Benefit

Long-term Medium-term Short-term

State/local government 

benefits $22,592,825 $11,760,391 $3,100,597

State income tax 

revenue $6,359,310 $3,320,905 $677,741

State and local sales tax 

revenue $6,946,868 $3,463,563 $829,727

Savings in 

unemployment 

insurance 

$3,101,370 $1,416,681 $94,640

State and local savings 

in corrections spending $4,834,310 $2,208,274 $147,522

State and local 

construction-related 

savings

$1,350,967 $1,350,967 $1,350,967

Federal government 

benefits $80,572,549 $41,301,093 $9,055,757 
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Benefit type

Benefit

Long-term Medium-term Short-term

Federal income tax 

revenue $19,872,845 $10,377,829 $1,444,677 

Federal Social Security

and Medicare tax 

revenue 

$15,202,726 $7,939,093 $1,154,236 

Savings in Medicare, 

SNAP, etc. $37,824,526 $17,277,941 $1,154,236

Federal savings in 

unemployment 

insurance 

$3,101,370 $1,416,681 $94,640

Federal savings in 

corrections $518,179 $236,700 $15,813

Federal constructionrelated savings $4,052,902 $4,052,902 $4,052,902

Total $103,165,374 $53,061,484 $12,156,354 

Note: Numbers may not sum due to rounding.

Measuring Forgone Benefits (Opportunity Costs)

The analysis included two types of forgone benefits, referred to as opportunity costs, 

in each of the three ROI calculations to conservatively estimate the return of SBP

programming: forgone benefits from a professional opportunity cost to SBP AmeriCorps 

members and forgone benefits from an investment opportunity cost to funders. Each of 

these forgone benefit (opportunity cost) types is subtracted from the total program 

benefits—that stem from SBP programming—to calculate net benefits. Net benefits are 

then compared to the program cost to calculate each ROI. The methodologies used to 

calculate these two forgone benefits (opportunity costs) are described below. 

Forgone Benefits From Professional Opportunity Cost to SBP AmeriCorps Members

There is a professional opportunity cost to SBP AmeriCorps members for their period of 

national service, during which they could have otherwise been working. This includes 

both the forgone earnings of SBP AmeriCorps members for their service term and the 

forgone taxes associated with those lost earnings. To calculate this, the analysis first 

used the demographic distribution of SBP AmeriCorps members for the 2018–2019

program year—in terms of gender, age, race/ethnicity, and pre-service education 

level—and ASEC data to estimate the weighted unemployment rate for this population 

(i.e., 5.3 percent). This represents how many of these SBP AmeriCorps members would 

have been unemployed if they did not serve with SBP. Using the weighted 

unemployment rate and the number of SBP AmeriCorps member FTEs who served 

during the 2018–2019 program year, the analysis estimated the number of members 

who would have been employed without serving with SBP based on their demographic 

characteristics. Then the analysis multiplied this value by the weighted post-tax annual 

earnings. This is derived from the pre-tax annual earnings listed in Table 13. The 

methodology used to calculate this latter monetary amount is described in the previous 
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Increased Earnings Due to Reduced Unemployment section. The post-tax amount 

subtracts all applicable payroll taxes (e.g., federal income, state income, Medicare, 

and Social Security). Combined, these values represent what SBP AmeriCorps members 

would have earned in total if they did not serve in SBP. Separately, the analysis then 

multiplied the number of FTE SBP AmeriCorps members who served by the amount they 

earned during their national service in the form of a living allowance (i.e., $1,467 per 

person). This represents the aggregate amount SBP AmeriCorps members earned 

during their service term. The difference between what they would have earned if they 

did not serve and what they did earn because they served equals the total post-tax 

earnings forgone due to serving in SBP. These values and the formula used to calculate 

these forgone post-tax earnings are shown in Table 22. 

Table 21. Forgone Earnings of SBP AmeriCorps Members for a Service Term

Row Component Value Source

A SBP AmeriCorps member FTEs 2,293 SBP (2022)

B Weighted unemployment rate 5.3% U.S. Census Bureau. (2019-c) 

& SBP

C Weighted post-tax annual earnings per 

person $40,576

U.S. Census Bureau. (2019-c), 

U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. 

(2019-a), & SBP

D Gross earnings from AmeriCorps 

stipend per person $1,467 SBP

E Total net earnings forgone $84,682,601 [A x (1 – B) x C] – (A x D)

Note: Numbers may not sum due to rounding. 

The second portion of this professional opportunity cost was the forgone taxes 

associated with the earnings of SBP AmeriCorps members lost for this year of service. 

Federal income, state income, Social Security, and Medicare taxes specific to the 

per-person weighted pre-tax earnings amount were calculated. Specifically, 

the estimated proportional federal and state income tax rates used were 8 percent 

and 3 percent, respectively. The analysis also estimated the sales taxes lost based on 

the per-person post-tax earnings forgone by the SBP AmeriCorps members. Using data 

from the Consumer Expenditure Survey (U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, 2021), the 

analysis estimated that based on the per-person weighted pre-tax earnings of SBP 

AmeriCorps members (i.e., $40,576), 41 percent of their income would have been spent 

on taxable goods, as opposed to 57 percent of the living allowance. Then the 

weighted combined state and local sales tax rate (i.e., 7.43 percent)—used earlier in 

this analysis to calculate government benefits—was applied to the difference in 

expected spending on taxable goods to represent the resulting sales tax revenue lost 

due to individuals serving with SBP instead of working for higher pay. The totals for these 

taxes are listed in Table 22. 
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Table 22. Forgone Taxes Associated With the Forgone Earnings of SBP AmeriCorps 

Members for a Service Term

Forgone taxes

Taxes without 

service term

Taxes realized 

from living 

allowance

Net taxes 

forgone

Federal income taxes $6,967,573 $0 $6,967,564

Social Security and Medicare taxes $6,735,557 $257,338 $6,478,219

State income taxes $2,613,801 $108,347 $2,505,454

Sales taxes $2,669,663 $140,446 $2,529,217

Total taxes $18,986,593 $506,130 $18,480,463

Note: Numbers may not sum due to rounding. 

For the federal government benefits per federal dollar ROI calculation, only federal 

government (not total) benefits are included. Because of this, only federal components 

of the professional opportunity cost are subtracted from all federal government 

benefits—realized due to SBP—in this ROI calculation. The parts of the professional 

opportunity cost subtracted from these total federal government benefits include the 

forgone net federal income taxes (i.e., $6,967,564) and the net forgone Social Security 

and Medicare taxes (i.e., $6,478,219). The sum of these two values is called the federal 

professional opportunity cost. The sum of all the values listed in Table 22 and the 

forgone post-tax earnings of SBP AmeriCorps members is called the total professional 

opportunity cost. These naming conventions are referenced in the Calculating ROI 

section. 

Forgone Benefits From the Investment Opportunity Cost to Funders 

The investment opportunity cost estimates the expected forgone return if funds used to 

support the activities and positions of SBP AmeriCorps members during the most recent 

program year were invested in U.S. Treasury bonds instead. An investment opportunity 

cost is calculated for two different funding streams: 1) all SBP program funding for the 

2018–2019 program year and 2) only federal funding for the same program year. This is 

done because two of the three ROI calculations only have federal (not total) program 

costs included. Thus, for 1) the federal government benefits per federal dollar and 2) 

the total benefits per federal dollar ROI calculations, the investment opportunity cost 

subtracted from the benefits in these calculations is the forgone accrued interest from 

investing only the federal funds into these U.S. Treasury bonds. For the other ROI 

calculation, the investment opportunity cost subtracted from the benefits realized is the 

forgone accrued interest from investing all SBP program funds (both federal and nonfederal) into these U.S. Treasury bonds. Therefore, the analysis estimated forgone 

accrued interests across all three scenarios when 1) all SBP program funds and 2) only 

federal SBP program funds are invested in U.S. Treasury bonds.

To calculate these forgone accrued interest values, the analysis first matched real 

interest rates provided by the Office of Management and Budget (2020) to each of the 

scenarios included in this ROI analysis. The real interest rate for the 3-year maturity was 

used for the short-term scenario, the average between the 10-year and 20-year 
Return on Investment Study: 

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maturity rates was used as the rate for the medium-term scenario, and the 30-year 

maturity rate was used for the long-term scenario. These real interest rates were 0.6

percent, 0.8 percent, and 1.0 percent, respectively (Office of Management and 

Budget, 2020). Also, the number of years elapsed on these U.S. Treasury bonds was 

equal to the number of years the different scenarios assumed SBP AmeriCorps 

members’ employment and earnings gains were sustained. These values are 1 year, 15 

years, and 30 years for the short-term, medium-term, and long-term scenarios, 

respectively. Given that U.S. Treasury bonds compound biannually, according to the 

U.S. Department of the Treasury (2019), the formula used to calculate the forgone 

accrued interest for each of the three scenarios for the two funding streams is listed in

Figure 5, where A equals the forgone accrued interest (e.g., the investment opportunity 

cost), P equals the amount of one of the funding streams, r equals the 2019 real interest 

rate, and t equals the number of years elapsed. 

Figure 5. Compound Interest Formula Used to Calculate Investment Opportunity Cost

Based on this formula, the forgone benefits from the investment opportunity cost 

calculated by scenario and funding stream are listed in Table 23, along with their 

associated inputs. The forgone accrued interest amounts for all funding are called the 

total investment opportunity costs while that for federal funding only are called the 

federal investment opportunity costs. These naming conventions are referenced in the 

Calculating ROI section. 

Table 23. Forgone Benefits From Investment Opportunity Cost Calculation by Scenario 

and Funding Stream

Metric

Short-term Medium-term Long-term

All funding

Federal 

funding 

only All funding

Federal 

funding 

only All funding

Federal 

funding 

only

Real 

interest 

rate 

0.6% 0.8% 1.0% 

Years 

elapsed 1 15 30

Funding 

amount $40,702,170 $14,078,420 $40,702,170 $14,078,420 $40,702,170 $14,078,420 

Forgone 

return 

(accrued 

interest) 

$8,014,046 $2,771,968 $5,178,415 $1,791,155 $14,198,958 $4,911,259 

Note: The real interest rates used are the 2018 real interest rates due to the fact that the SBP

program year commenced in 2018.
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Measuring Program Costs

Table 24 shows the costs of SBP by funding source. 

Table 24. Funding Sources and Amounts for SBP (2018–2019) 

Funding source Amount Percentage of total

Cost categories $31,208,822 100%

Operating (including construction-related expenses 

and in-kind labor)

$23,417,516 75%

AmeriCorps member expenses $3,363,892 11%

Non-AmeriCorps member expenses $6,052,538 19%

Other -$1,624,764* -5%

Funding sources $29,619,288 100%

AmeriCorps $2,995,538 10%

State/local funding $5,493,637 19%

Other $1,412,895 5%

Private $19,717,218 67%

*The “Other” funding identified in the cost category includes the construction work-in-progress value for SBP 

during the 2018–2019 program year.33

Note: Numbers may not sum due to rounding.

Source: SBP (2022)

Calculating ROI 

To complete the three ROI calculations for SBP, the sum of applicable program benefits 

is reduced by the forgone benefits, or the professional and investment opportunity costs 

(where appropriate), and then compared to the cost of the program. As described 

previously, these three ROI calculations are calculated for each of the three scenarios: 

short-term, medium-term, and long-term. 

Since two of the calculations include benefits to society (e.g., SBP AmeriCorps 

members), the results are expressed as cost–benefit ratios, while maintaining the ROI 

terminology. Specifically, these ratios take the form of the sum of monetized benefits 

over the sum of applicable program costs. The ROIs expressed as cost–benefit ratios in 

this study can be interpreted as the amount of dollars returned for every dollar of 

investment (or program cost).34 

33 The construction work-in-progress value accounts for the costs incurred to date compared to the project 

budget and percentage of the project that has been completed. This value can show if the project is 

either over-billing or under-billing to date. 

34 ROIs can be expressed in percentages or as ratios, such as in this study. Although not shown as a ratio in 

the results, the ROIs in this study show the amount of return for every $1 invested. 
Return on Investment Study: 

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The formulas used to calculate each of the three ROIs are shown below:35

Table 25, Table 26, and Table 27 show the total benefits, opportunity costs, program 

costs, and ROI results for each scenario.

Table 25. ROI Calculations for Short-Term Scenario

Components

Total benefits per 

federal dollar 

(2019$)

Total benefits per 

funder dollar 

(2019$)

Federal government 

benefits per federal 

dollar (2019$)

Total program benefits $33,335,774 $33,335,774 $9,055,757

Total forgone benefits 

(opportunity costs) $13,690,371 $85,011,777 $13,690,371

Total program costs $14,078,420 $40,702,170 $14,079,420

Result -$3.67 -$1.27 -$0.33

35 Non-government stakeholders in this ROI analysis include SBP AmeriCorps members. 
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Table 26. ROI Calculations for Medium-Term Scenario

Components

Total benefits per 

federal dollar (2019$)

Total benefits per 

funder dollar 

(2019$)

Federal government 

benefits per federal 

dollar (2019$)

Total program 

benefits $139,211,346 $139,211,346 $41,301,093

Total forgone 

benefits 

(opportunity costs) 

$18,624,207 $91,652,171 $18,624,207

Total program 

costs $14,078,420 $40,702,170 $14,078,420

Result $3.38 $1.17 $1.61

Table 27. ROI Calculations for Long-Term Scenario

Components

Total benefits per 

federal dollar (2019$)

Total benefits per 

funder dollar 

(2019$)

Federal government 

benefits per federal 

dollar (2019$)

Total program

benefits $272,107,669 $272,107,669 $80,572,549

Total forgone 

benefits 

(opportunity costs) 

$27,644,750 $103,792,818 $27,644,750

Total program 

costs $14,078,420 $40,702,170 $14,078,420

Result $11.96 $4.14 $3.76
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Appendix C: Results by Year 

Table 28 shows the breakdown of costs and benefits over a 30-year period. Program 

activities create a stream of benefits over time for AmeriCorps members, the federal 

government, state and local governments, and society. Opportunity costs that occur 

from participation in the program apply to the first year, and forgone benefits to funders 

accrue over time. Program costs are expended in the first year only. 
Return on Investment Study: 

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Table 28. SBP Program Benefits and Costs per Year

Benefits and costs Year 1 Year 2 Year 3 Year 4 Year 5 Year 6 Year 7 Year 8 

Benefits $33,335,774 $10,067,296 $10,293,845 $10,527,190 $10,767,535 $11,015,091 $11,270,073 $11,532,705 

AmeriCorps member 

benefits

$21,179,419 $6,872,175 $7,015,891 $7,163,918 $7,316,386 $7,473,428 $7,635,181 $7,801,787

Federal government 

benefits

$9,055,757 $2,515,568 $2,580,012 $2,646,390 $2,714,760 $2,785,180 $2,857,713 $2,932,422

State and local 

government benefits

$3,100,597 $679,554 $697,942 $716,882 $736,390 $756,483 $777,179 $798,496

Forgone benefits 

(opportunity costs) 

$103,600,587 $474,314 $474,314 $474,314 $474,314 $474,314 $474,314 $474,314 

Forgone benefits to 

members

$66,093,791 $0 $0 $0 $0 $0 $0 $0

Forgone tax revenue $18,588,810 $0 $0 $0 $0 $0 $0 $0

Federal taxes $13,445,792 $0 $0 $0 $0 $0 $0 $0

State/local taxes $5,143,018 $0 $0 $0 $0 $0 $0 $0

Forgone benefits from 

total investments (all 

funders)

$244,579 $352,417 $352,417 $352,417 $352,417 $352,417 $352,417 $352,417

Forgone benefits from 

federal investments

$84,597 $121,897 $121,897 $121,897 $121,897 $121,897 $121,897 $121,897

Program costs $40,702,170 $0 $0 $0 $0 $0 $0 $0 

Federal government costs $14,078,420 $0 $0 $0 $0 $0 $0 $0

Non-federal costs $26,623,750 $0 $0 $0 $0 $0 $0 $0
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Benefits and costs Year 9 Year 10 Year 11 Year 12 Year 13 Year 14 Year 15 Year 16 

Benefits $11,803,215 $12,081,841 $12,368,826 $12,664,421 $12,968,883 $13,282,479 $13,605,483 $13,938,177 

AmeriCorps member 

benefits

$7,973,391 $8,150,143 $8,332,197 $8,519,713 $8,712,855 $8,911,791 $9,116,695 $9,327,746

Federal government 

benefits

$3,009,372 $3,088,631 $3,170,268 $3,254,353 $3,340,962 $3,430,168 $3,522,051 $3,616,690

State and local 

government benefits

$820,453 $843,068 $866,361 $890,354 $915,066 $940,520 $966,737 $993,741

Forgone benefits 

(opportunity costs) 

$474,314 $474,314 $474,314 $474,314 $474,314 $474,314 $474,314 $481,429 

Forgone benefits to 

members

$0 $0 $0 $0 $0 $0 $0 $0

Forgone tax revenue $0 $0 $0 $0 $0 $0 $0 $0

Federal taxes $0 $0 $0 $0 $0 $0 $0 $0

State/local taxes $0 $0 $0 $0 $0 $0 $0 $0

Forgone benefits from 

total investments (all 

funders)

$352,417 $352,417 $352,417 $352,417 $352,417 $352,417 $352,417 $357,703

Forgone benefits from 

federal investments

$121,897 $121,897 $121,897 $121,897 $121,897 $121,897 $121,897 $123,725

Program costs $0 $0 $0 $0 $0 $0 $0 $0 

Federal government costs $0 $0 $0 $0 $0 $0 $0 $0

Non-federal costs $0 $0 $0 $0 $0 $0 $0 $0
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Benefits and costs Year 17 Year 18 Year 19 Year 20 Year 21 Year 22 Year 23 Year 24 

Benefits $14,280,852 $14,633,807 $14,997,351 $15,371,801 $15,757,484 $16,154,739 $16,563,910 $16,985,357 

AmeriCorps member 

benefits $9,545,129 $9,769,033 $9,999,655 $10,237,195 $10,481,861 $10,733,867 $10,993,433 $11,260,787

Federal government 

benefits $3,714,168 $3,814,571 $3,917,986 $4,024,503 $4,134,216 $4,247,220 $4,363,614 $4,483,500

State and local 

government benefits $1,021,554 $1,050,203 $1,079,710 $1,110,103 $1,141,408 $1,173,652 $1,206,863 $1,241,070

Forgone benefits 

(opportunity costs) $481,429 $481,429 $481,429 $481,429 $481,429 $481,429 $481,429 $481,429 

Forgone benefits to 

members $0 $0 $0 $0 $0 $0 $0 $0

Forgone tax revenue $0 $0 $0 $0 $0 $0 $0 $0

Federal taxes $0 $0 $0 $0 $0 $0 $0 $0

State/local taxes $0 $0 $0 $0 $0 $0 $0 $0

Forgone benefits from 

total investments (all 

funders)

$357,703 $357,703 $357,703 $357,703 $357,703 $357,703 $357,703 $357,703

Forgone benefits from 

federal investments $123,725 $123,725 $123,725 $123,725 $123,725 $123,725 $123,725 $123,725

Program costs $0 $0 $0 $0 $0 $0 $0 $0 

Federal government costs $0 $0 $0 $0 $0 $0 $0 $0

Non-federal costs $0 $0 $0 $0 $0 $0 $0 $0
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Benefits and costs Year 25 Year 26 Year 27 Year 28 Year 29 Year 30 

Benefits $17,419,448 $17,866,561 $18,327,087 $18,801,429 $19,290,002 $19,793,231 

AmeriCorps member 

benefits

$11,536,161 $11,819,796 $12,111,940 $12,412,849 $12,722,784 $13,042,018

Federal government 

benefits

$4,606,983 $4,734,170 $4,865,172 $5,000,105 $5,139,086 $5,282,236

State and local 

government benefits

$1,276,304 $1,312,595 $1,349,974 $1,388,475 $1,428,131 $1,468,977

Forgone benefits 

(opportunity costs) 

$481,429 $481,429 $481,429 $481,429 $481,429 $505,500 

Forgone benefits to 

members

$0 $0 $0 $0 $0 $0

Forgone tax revenue $0 $0 $0 $0 $0 $0

Federal taxes $0 $0 $0 $0 $0 $0

State/local taxes $0 $0 $0 $0 $0 $0

Forgone benefits from 

total investments (all 

funders)

$357,703 $357,703 $357,703 $357,703 $357,703 $375,588

Forgone benefits from 

federal investments

$123,725 $123,725 $123,725 $123,725 $123,725 $129,912

Program costs $0 $0 $0 $0 $0 $0 

Federal government costs $0 $0 $0 $0 $0 $0

Non-federal costs $0 $0 $0 $0 $0 $0
Return on Investment Study: 

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