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AmeriCorps State and National

2021 Planning Grant Project Progress Report Instructions

Who completes the Planning Grant Project Progress Report?

All National/Tribal planning grantees and State Commissions who have planning grant primes must 

complete a Planning Grant Project Progress Report (previously known as the Planning Grant GPR) 

describing the progress made during the planning period. (State Commissions must report on any 

planning subgrantees that are not attached to a planning grant prime via the regular end-of-year and 

final Progress Reports.)

What are the components of the PPR?

The PPR for planning grants and State Commission planning grant primes consists of a set of narrative 

responses. No Performance Data Element or performance measure data is requested.

Please complete the report using eGrants (http://www.nationalservice.gov/egrants/), AmeriCorps’

integrated, secure, web-based system for grants management, and follow these instructions. 

Please note: AmeriCorps State and National PPRs are not visible to grantees in eGrants until 4 months 

prior to their due date.

When is the Planning Grant PPR due?

The PPR is due 120 days after the grant end date.

If you cannot meet the submission deadline for the progress report, you must request an extension from 

your Portfolio Manager. Requests for extensions may be granted when:

1. The report cannot be finished in a timely manner for reasons legitimately beyond the control 

of the grantee, and

2. AmeriCorps receives a request explaining the need for an extension before the due date of the 

report.

Selecting the Right PPR

After logging into eGrants, click the “Progress Report” link in the lower right corner of the screen.

 
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Find the grant number for your planning grant or planning grant prime, and expand the list by clicking on 

the orange arrow key to the right of the grant number and grant name. 

Find the progress report with a due date of 120 days after your grant end date (the progress report type 

should be "Progress Report Lite Quarterly"), and click on the “edit” link. You will be taken to the main 

progress report screen. If you do not see a report that has the appropriate type and due date, please 

let your Portfolio Manager know.

Reporting Period

The reporting period is from the beginning of your planning grant/planning grant prime through the end 

date of the grant. The reporting period listed in eGrants may be incorrect; please ignore it.

General Information Tab

On this tab, you will see information for the progress report you have selected. Check the Progress 

Report Type and Due Date to ensure you have selected the correct report. If you have not selected the 

correct report, click the “Cancel” button and select the correct report. If you have selected the correct 

report, click the “Begin” button to open the progress report. If you return to this tab after starting the 

report, you will see a “Continue Working” button that allows you to open the report that is in progress.
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Open amendments on the same grant year as the PPR may interfere with data entry in the PPR. If you 

have amendment(s) currently in process that fit this description, please work with your Portfolio 

Manager to get the amendment(s) awarded or withdrawn before you start entering data into the PPR. 

Also, it is best to avoid initiating amendments on the same grant year while you are entering data into 

the PPR (i.e., after you open the PPR for the first time, but prior to submitting the PPR to AmeriCorps); 

same-year amendments awarded during the PPR data-entry process may result in the need to re-enter 

all of the data from scratch.

Narratives Tab

The Narratives tab asks grantees to reflect on activities and accomplishments during the planning grant 

period. State Commissions should not provide information from every planning grant subgrantee when 

responding to narrative questions; rather, they should provide high-level analysis of their planning grant 

portfolio supplemented by relevant examples. 

Click on the accordion panels to enter narratives. When accordion panels are closed, green checkmarks 

indicate that text has been entered in the text box. Text must be entered in every narrative field before 

submitting the PPR. For fields that are not required, if not providing narrative, enter “NA” in the text 

box.

Provide the following narratives (please limit your remarks to 1,500 words or less)*:

Narrative Field 1: Primary Activities (required):

Describe the primary activities you or your subgrantees engaged in during the planning period. (This 

may include activities to develop plans for the following aspects of an AmeriCorps program: member 

activities; member recruitment, training, and support; site management; performance measurement; 

oversight and monitoring; partnership development; sustainability; etc.)

Narrative Field 2: Accomplishments and Challenges (required):

• What were you or your subgrantees’ primary accomplishments during the planning period?

• What challenges did you or your subgrantees encounter during the planning year, and how did 

you/they address these challenges?

Narrative Field 3: Other Narrative (required):

Please describe how you or your subgrantees are better prepared to submit a high-quality application as 

a result of this planning grant. If you or any of your subgrantees do not plan to submit an application for 

an AmeriCorps program, please explain why not.

Click “Next” to go to the next tab.

*The PDF printout of the PPR often truncates the narratives entered in the Progress Report interface. 

However, the Progress Report screens themselves will accept 32,000 characters per narrative field and 

will save the entire narrative entered up to that limit, even if the narrative does not display fully in the 

PDF.

Summary Tab

This tab provides a summary of the data entered in previous tabs. 
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From this tab, you can view or print all text and data entered into the PPR by clicking “Print Overall GPR 

Summary.” 

To print a visual summary similar to the summary screen, click, “Print Grantee Report.”

To comment on this summary, enter text in the “Overall Grantee Note” text box. (Please note: there is a 

3,980-character limit on the “Overall Grantee Note” text box; any text entered above the character limit 

will not be saved.)

Submitting the PPR

When all data have been entered into the progress report, go to the Summary Tab and click the 

“Grantee – Submit to AmeriCorps” button.

REVIEWING FEEDBACK AND RESPONDING TO CLARIFICATION ITEMS IN THE PPR

For each tab where data are entered, the AmeriCorps Portfolio Manager reviews data and determines 

whether clarification is necessary. If clarification is required, the Portfolio Manager checks the 

“Clarification Required” box on each tab that requires clarification and returns the PPR for rework.

The following text fields for feedback and clarification appear on all tabs where data are entered:

• Program Officer Feedback – May contain feedback from the AmeriCorps Portfolio Manager. 

Grantees are not required to provide clarification regarding this feedback.

• Program Officer Clarification Items – Contains clarification items from the AmeriCorps Portfolio 

Manager. Grantees are required to respond to these clarification items.

• Grantee Clarification – Grantees use this text field to enter their responses to the clarification 

items that appear in the Program Officer Clarification Items field.

After responding to all clarification items, the grantee returns the report to AmeriCorps by clicking the 

“Grantee – Submit to AmeriCorps” button on the summary tab.

If the progress report does not require clarification or all clarification items have been satisfactorily 

addressed, the AmeriCorps Portfolio Manager will set the PPR status to “Reviewed.” The grantee will 

receive email notification and will be able to review all feedback provided in the progress report when 

the report is in Reviewed status.