Welcome to the AmeriCorps State and National Grant Funding Presentation. This is the 

fourth in a series of webinars for potential AmeriCorps Grant applicants. This 

presentation will walk you through the different types of AmeriCorps grant funding that 

are available to your organization.

1
In this session you will learn about:

The Six Focus Areas for AmeriCorps Funding

How AmeriCorps Funding Works

The Different Grant Types for AmeriCorps

And Additional Resources

The session will conclude with a brief evaluation

2
AmeriCorps State and National aims to focus grant making in six areas identified by the 

Serve America Act:

Disaster Services

Economic Opportunity

Education

Environmental Stewardship

Healthy Futures and

Veterans and Military Families

Much more information about each of these focus areas and other funding initiatives 

can be found in the Notice of Funding Opportunity. Please review it carefully.

3
Before we discuss the different categories of AmeriCorps Grants, you need to 

understand the ways in which AmeriCorps funding is awarded to an organization.

AmeriCorps grants are 3-year commitments. The grant funds are awarded on an annual 

basis. In the first year, an applicant submits a full application for review. In years 2 and 

3, as a grantee you will submit your request for funding and members, and a reduced 

amount of narrative information for review. 

After the third year, you will have to recompete, submitting another full application for 

review, if you intend to continue the program. 

Organizations may apply for a cost-reimbursement grant or a fixed-amount grant.

4
Cost reimbursement grants fund a portion of program operating costs and member 

living allowances with flexibility to use all of the funds for allowable costs regardless of 

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

Cost reimbursement grants are available to all applicants regardless of whether or not 

they have previously received AmeriCorps funding.

5
If you choose to apply for a cost reimbursement grant, you must provide a detailed 

budget with your application submission. The budget may include program operating 

costs such as personnel, training, travel and supplies; member support costs such as 

the member living allowance and health insurance; and indirect costs associated with 

program administration.

Cost reimbursement grants must meet specific match requirements as described in the 

Notice of Funding Opportunity and the AmeriCorps regulations.

A grantee with a cost reimbursement grant must also submit two financial reports to 

CNCS annually.

6
There are three main types of cost reimbursement grants. Traditional cost 

reimbursement grants support the majority of AmeriCorps programs. There are no 

restrictions on the type of member slot that may be requested under traditional costreimbursement grants. The maximum amount of funding that may be requested per 

member service year, or cost per MSY, is published annually in the AmeriCorps Notice 

of Funding Opportunity (NOFO).

A planning grant is a type of cost reimbursement grant provided to new AmeriCorps 

applicants that does not include AmeriCorps member positions.

Cost reimbursement grants can also be used to support Professional Corps programs. 

Planning Grant and Professional Corps will be discussed on the following slides.

7
AmeriCorps State and National sometimes offers planning grants as well as program 

grants. The purpose of a planning grant is to support an organization’s development 

of a new AmeriCorps program. 

Applicants for planning grants must not have received an AmeriCorps program 

grant in the past.

Planning grants are for one year only and do not support AmeriCorps 

members. During the planning period, the applicant designs an AmeriCorps 

program which addresses a need in their community or communities.

Planning grants may be offered by State Service Commissions for their states 

or by CNCS for multi-state or tribal programs. However, they are not offered 

every year. You must review the current Notice of Funding Opportunity closely 

to determine if and how you can apply for a planning grant for the current 

year’s competition. 

8
Professional Corps is a program model that recruits and places qualified members in 

positions as teachers, health care providers, police officers, engineers, or other 

professionals. To be eligible to receive a Professional Corps grant, applicants MUST 

demonstrate an inadequate number of such professionals in the communities in which 

they intend to serve.

Professional Corps member salaries are paid entirely by the organizations with which 

the members serve. Member salaries or living allowances may not be included in the 

grant budget.

Professional corps applicants can apply for a fixed amount OR a cost reimbursement 

grant.

9
AmeriCorps funding can also be awarded on a fixed amount basis. There are a few 

different types of fixed amount grants, however the following information pertains to 

all fixed amount programs:

Fixed amount grants provide a specific dollar amount per MSY to an organization.

In order to access all of the funds provided, programs must recruit and retain all 

AmeriCorps members supported under the grant based on the MSY level awarded.

New applicants who have not previously received AmeriCorps funds are not eligible 

to apply for fixed amount grants.

10
Like cost-reimbursement grants, fixed amount grants support only a portion of program 

operating costs. Organizations are responsible for raising the additional funds needed 

to run the program.

Programs are not required to submit budgets as part of their applications, and they are 

not required to submit financial reports. There is also no formal matching requirement. 

However, applicants will be asked to identify in their applications the total amount 

budgeted to operate the program and explain how the organization will raise the 

additional resources it will need.

11
There are three types of fixed-amount grants: Full-Time Fixed, or less than full-time 

serving in a full-time capacity; Education Award Program, or EAP; and Professional 

Corps. Professional Corps grants were discussed on a previous slide; the other two 

types of fixed-amount grants will be discussed on the next couple of slides.

12
Full-time fixed amount grants may only be used to support full-time AmeriCorps 

members, or less than full-time members serving in a full-time capacity (for example, 

members who serve full-time during the summer). The maximum cost per MSY is 

published annually in the AmeriCorps Notice of Funding Opportunity or NOFO. 

As a reminder, full-time fixed amount grants are available only to recompeting

programs; new applicants are not eligible to apply for fixed-amount grants.

13
Education Award Programs apply for a small fixed amount per MSY and use their own 

resources to cover all other program expenses. Unlike full-time fixed amount grants, 

EAP programs may enroll members for any slot type and there is no requirement that 

members serve in a full-time capacity.

Programs are not required to pay a living allowance to members and can access all 

grant funds based on enrolling the full complement of members supported under the 

grant. This is different than the full-time fixed amount, which must enroll and retain all 

members in order to access the full amount of grant funds.

14
To recap what we just discussed, a Cost reimbursement grant = budget, financial 

reporting, match requirement, and full access to grant funding

Fixed Amount grants = no match, no budget and no financial reporting, however access

to all funding is dependent on enrollment and retention of all AmeriCorps members. 

New applicants may not apply for fixed amount grants.

No matter which grant type you request, the grant funding will supply only a portion of 

your program costs. You will need to secure additional resources to support program 

operations.

15
Now we will briefly review the different mechanisms by which AmeriCorps State and 

National grants are awarded. Which mechanism you use to apply for a grant will 

depend on the type of entity you are representing, where your program will operate, 

and the stage of development of your program.

The Grant Types for AmeriCorps are:

AmeriCorps State

National Direct

Indian Tribes

Planning Grants

16
We discussed single state AmeriCorps programs and state service commissions in the 

Introduction to AmeriCorps State and National webinar. Please review that webinar for 

more detailed information.

17
Multi-state AmeriCorps programs are also called National Directs. Our definition of 

national is a program operating in at least 2 states. These applicants submit directly to 

the Corporation for funding. For additional details on multi-state AmeriCorps programs, 

please review the Introduction to AmeriCorps State and National webinar.

18
AmeriCorps State and National sets aside 1% of our funding to support programs that 

are developed and administered through federally recognized tribes. Specific 

eligibility requirements for Indian Tribes were discussed in the Intro to AmeriCorps 

State and National presentation. Please review that presentation for more detailed 

information. 

These include any Indian tribe, band, nation, or other organized group or community, 

including any Native village, Regional Corporation, or Village Corporation as defined 

under the Alaska Native Claims Settlement Act, that the United States Government 

determines is eligible for special programs and services provided under federal law to 

Indians because of their status as Indians. The definition also includes tribal 

organizations controlled, sanctioned, or chartered by one of these entities.

A nonprofit that desires to apply for a grant as a “tribal organization” on behalf of a 

federally-recognized tribe, or multiple specific federally-recognized tribes, must 

submit a sanctioning resolution adopted by the Tribal Council (or comparable tribal 

governing body) of each tribe. The resolution must identify the nonprofit by name as a 

“tribal organization” and it must authorize the nonprofit organization to act on behalf 

of and include the tribe in a CNCS grant application for the purpose of conducting the 

activities and providing the services described in the application.

AmeriCorps releases a separate NOFO specifically for Indian Tribes, which may include 

19
both regular grants and planning grants. Programs eligible to apply for AmeriCorps 

Indian Tribes funding may choose to apply to either the AmeriCorps Indian Tribes 

NOFO or to the main AmeriCorps NOFO. Please note that the release date and 

application deadline for the AmeriCorps Indian Tribes NOFO may differ from those of 

the main NOFO.

19
This slide provides a quick reference to help you determine where to submit your 

AmeriCorps application.

20
This concludes the Categories of AmeriCorps Grants presentation. This is the fourth in 

a series webinars to assist grant applicants in understanding how to apply for 

AmeriCorps funding. In addition to these webinars, please review the Notice of 

Funding Opportunity and other materials posted on our website to help you prepare 

to apply for an AmeriCorps grant.

In addition to the various online resources, the AmeriCorps Outreach team will host 

calls to assist applicants as you complete the application process. You can also sign up 

for periodic email updates by clicking on the “Get Email Updates” link at the top righthand corner of the CNCS website.

21
Thank you for your participation, please complete the session evaluation. 

22
If you have questions please contact CNCS via internet or phone at these addresses. 

23