Congressional 

Budget Justification

Fiscal Year 2014

AmeriCorps | Senior Corps | Social Innovation Fund | 

George H. W. Bush Volunteer Generation Fund 
The Corporation for National and Community Service (CNCS) is the federal agency dedicated to community-driven civilian service 

for the purpose of improving lives, strengthening communities and fortifying the civic health of our nation.
Table of Contents

Part I. Overview.

Part II. Budget Request.

Part III. Bill Language and Analysis .

Part IV. Performance. 

Part V. Organizational Structure. 

Part VI. Budget Activites. 

Budget Activity 1: AmeriCorps State and National....................................................................................................................................19

Budget Activity 2: AmeriCorps VISTA........................................................................................................................................................23

Budget Activity 3: AmeriCorps National Civilian Community Corps...........................................................................................................28

Budget Activity 4: State Service Commission Support Grants ..................................................................................................................33

Budget Activity 5: National Service Trust..................................................................................................................................................35

Budget Activity 6: RSVP ...........................................................................................................................................................................36

Budget Activity 7: Foster Grandparent Program........................................................................................................................................40

Budget Activity 8: Senior Companion Program..........................................................................................................................................43

Budget Activity 9: Subtitle H, Innovation, Demonstration, and Assistance................................................................................................46

Budget Activity 10: Subtitle J, Training and Technical Assistance.............................................................................................................53

Budget Activity 11: Evaluation..................................................................................................................................................................54

Budget Activity 12: Salaries and Expenses...............................................................................................................................................57

Disability Inclusion Strategy.....................................................................................................................................................................59

Part VII. Office of Inspector General. 

Part VIII. Appendix. 
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CNCS FY 2014 Congressional Budget Justification E

Overview | PART I 

Message from the CEO

I am pleased to present the Fiscal Year 2014 Congressional Budget Justification for the Corporation for National 

and Community Service (CNCS).

The budget request will improve lives, strengthen communities, expand economic opportunity, foster innovation 

and civic engagement, and engage millions of Americans in solving critical problems through national service.

For nearly two decades, CNCS has invested in community solutions across the nation — working hand 

in hand with local partners to tackle our most pressing challenges. Through AmeriCorps, Senior Corps, the 

Social Innovation Fund, and other initiatives, CNCS programs engage more than five million Americans in 

results-driven service each year at more than 70,000 locations across the country, from large cities to small 

towns to rural areas. 

CNCS brings vital leadership, resources, and coordination to some of the most pressing challenges facing 

America: educating students for jobs of the 21st century; supporting individuals, families, and neighborhoods on the road to economic recovery; 

addressing the needs of military families and a new generation of veterans returning from war; helping communities rebuild after natural disasters; 

promoting health and wellbeing; and preserving the nation’s parks and public lands. 

The unique value of national service is how it benefits the recipients of service, the people who serve, and the larger community and nation. CNCS 

multiplies the impact of its federal investment by leveraging hundreds of millions of non-federal dollars, mobilizing millions of additional volunteers, 

and operating its programs with a high degree of accountability, transparency, and efficiency.

Expanding Economic Opportunity

Through all our programs, CNCS builds economic opportunity. Whether providing job counseling to returning veterans, delivering independent living 

services to seniors, rebuilding after natural disasters, or helping students graduate, national service programs expand opportunity. Our programs help 

individuals build economic independence, increase family stability, and create more sustainable, resilient communities. 

In addition, national service provides a pathway to education and employment for those who serve — whether disconnected youth, veterans, military 

families, seniors, new Americans, people with disabilities, and others. By helping more Americans graduate from high school, gain career skills, pursue 

higher education, and find work, this budget will provide immediate and long term benefits to individuals and communities.

Driving Impact and Innovation

This budget request continues the vision of the bipartisan Edward M. Kennedy Serve America Act to target resources on a core set of critical national 

problems and evaluate our impact. It carries forward our Strategic Plan by requiring our programs to use a common set of performance measures 

to evaluate progress. We are using competition to fund high quality, high value programs that achieve measurable results, and we are working to 

maximize this investment by emphasizing leverage and performance.

Recognizing the need for new approaches to complex problems, we are fostering innovation through all of our programs. Through the Social Innovation 

Fund, we will continue to leverage substantial private sector support for the growth of evidence-based programs that improve the lives and build the 

economic independence of low-income individuals. 
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Growing National Service and Volunteerism

Volunteers provide enormous social and economic benefit to our communities and the nation. The budget request provides key resources for CNCS 

to strengthen the nation’s volunteer sector, support the vital work of State Service Commissions, bring more Americans into service, and build the 

capacity of organizations to recruit and retain volunteers to address critical community needs.

To strengthen volunteer management practices across the country, the budget requests an increase for the Volunteer Generation Fund to invest in 

organizations using best practices for recruitment and retention, including skill building and skill matching. Recognizing his exemplary life of public 

service and leadership in volunteerism, the budget renames the program the George H.W. Bush Volunteer Generation Fund.

To help meet the strong demand for national service opportunities, we will seek to expand our use of cross-sector partnerships. Building on the model 

of FEMA Corps and School Turnaround AmeriCorps, we will explore other partnerships with federal agencies and the private sector to use service as a 

cost-effective solution to critical challenges while expanding education and economic opportunity for those who serve. 

National Service Works for America 

America has always been at its best when citizens work together, joined in common purpose. A sense of shared responsibility is woven into the fabric 

of our nation. 

For more than 45 years, successive Administrations of both parties have invested in national service as a way to tap the ingenuity and can-do spirit of 

the American people. At this time of social need, when Americans of all ages are looking for ways to give back, national service is a smart investment. 

Guided by the Serve America Act, this budget will expand opportunities for Americans to serve, focus service on our toughest challenges, and increase 

the impact of citizens in their communities, building a better future for our people, neighborhoods, and nation.

In Service,

Wendy Spencer

Chief Executive Officer
CNCS FY 2014 Congressional Budget Justification 1

Overview | PART I 

Overview | PART I

Over the past two decades, the Corporation for National and Community 

Service has invested in community solutions across the nation. Working 

hand in hand with local partners, CNCS improves lives, expands 

economic opportunity, bolsters civic and faith-based organizations, and 

engages millions of Americans in solving problems in their communities. 

Through AmeriCorps, Senior Corps, the Social Innovation Fund, the Volunteer 

Generation Fund and other initiatives, CNCS programs engage more than five 

million Americans in results-driven service each year at more than 70,000 

locations across the country, from large cities to small towns to rural areas.

CNCS brings vital leadership, resources, and coordination to some of the 

most pressing challenges facing America: educating students for jobs 

of the 21st century, supporting individuals, families, and neighborhoods 

on the road to economic recovery; addressing the needs of military 

families and a new generation of veterans returning from war; helping 

communities rebuild after natural disasters; promoting health and wellbeing, and preserving the nation’s parks and public lands. 

Through all its programs, CNCS expands economic opportunity — 

helping disconnected youth, new Americans, veterans, military families, 

seniors, people with disabilities, and others acquire the skills, education, 

and training they need for productive employment. By helping more 

Americans graduate, pursue higher education, and find work, national 

service provides immediate benefits to the community and significant 

long-term benefits to service recipients and those who serve.

CNCS strengthens the social safety net in a unique and effective way, by 

bolstering — not displacing — the civic, neighborhood, and faith-based 

organizations that serve our communities. Serving in many of the nation’s 

most impoverished communities, CNCS participants provide vital support 

to tens of thousands of organizations — food banks, homeless shelters, 

community health clinics, youth centers, veterans service facilities, schools, 

universities, and other community organizations.

CNCS multiplies the impact of its federal investment by leveraging hundreds 

of millions of non-federal dollars and mobilizing millions of volunteers.
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CNCS FY 2014 Congressional Budget Justification 3

Budget Request | PART II

Budget Request | PART II

FY 2014 Budget Request 

The FY 2014 CNCS Budget Request reflects CNCS’s priority to invest 

in high quality, high value programs that maximize their impact in the 

communities they serve. The request of $1.061 billion represents an 

increase of $12.249 million or 1.2 percent above the enacted level.

At a time of social need and fiscal constraint, CNCS is focusing its 

investments on cost-effective programs that produce results, by 

supporting local organizations and leveraging outside resources to assist 

individuals and communities in need and put more Americans on the 

pathway to economic opportunity. 

By strengthening competition, aligning resources, leveraging our 

investments, and measuring performance, the budget will enable CNCS 

and the network it supports to meet community needs with higher levels 

of cost-effectiveness, accountability and impact.

Specifically, CNCS proposes to:

• Support approximately 82,000 AmeriCorps members, engaged in 

high-impact service addressing the critical challenges identified in the 

Serve America Act: disaster services, economic opportunity, education, 

environmental stewardship, healthy futures, and veterans and 

military families. Serving in many of the nation’s most impoverished 

communities, AmeriCorps members solve problems and provide vital 

support to America’s education and civic sectors, helping thousands 

of nonprofit and faith-based organizations expand their reach and 

impact on pressing local problems. At a time of high unemployment 

among youth, AmeriCorps engages members in training and skillbuilding. A term of service also provides an opportunity for members 

to earn money to further their education and succeed in the workforce. 

Skill development and access to education through national service 

programs prepare youth for the jobs of tomorrow.

• Continue to support the validation and growth of evidence-based 

programs that improve the lives of low-income individuals through the 

Social Innovation Fund (SIF). Each federal dollar invested in the SIF will 

be matched by up to three private and non-federal dollars. From its 

first three years of grants, the SIF expects to leverage approximately 

$360 million in non-federal resources. Within this level, the Budget 

proposes $4 million to facilitate access to administrative data for 

evaluation and performance reporting.

• Engage older Americans in quality service opportunities with a sharper 

focus on program outcomes and impact. To achieve this, CNCS is 

seeking legal authority to expand competition to the Foster Grandparent 

Program (FGP) and the Senior Companion Program (SCP), building on 

the success of the RSVP competition. Expanding competition to include 

all three Senior Corps programs would align them with other agency 

grant programs, and will increase the accountability and impact of 

Senior Corps grants.

• Make continued and necessary improvements in CNCS’s information 

technology (IT) infrastructure in the areas of financial and grants 

management in alignment with CNCS’s IT Strategic Plan.

• Leverage its experience with public/private partnerships to establish 

new service corps that will provide a dedicated response to some of the 

nation’s most pressing issues. CNCS is exploring both existing and new 

relationships with other federal agencies where there is opportunity for 

national service participants to provide a cost-effective response to 

priority issues highlighted in the Serve America Act. Moreover, CNCS will 

collaborate with the nonprofit sector in the development of these corps 

and will seek investment from both the corporate and philanthropic 

communities to maximize the size and scope of these new initiatives. 

The FY 2014 Budget Request makes critical investments in programs 

and activities that will continue to address the social and economic 

challenges facing our communities. These investments are also aimed 

at building the capacity of CNCS and grantees toward achieving greater 

accountability, efficiency, and impact. 

AmeriCorps State and National: The FY 2014 Budget Request of $345.8 

million will support approximately 73,200 AmeriCorps State and National 

members who will be engaged in programs across the country. This 

represents an increase of approximately 5,800 members over the FY 2012 

level. Driven by local needs, these AmeriCorps members will serve in a 

variety of positions, including teachers and tutors, disaster responders 

and outreach coordinators for veterans and military families.
4 CNCS FY 2014 Congressional Budget Justification 

The Corporation for National and Community Service

AmeriCorps VISTA: The FY 2014 Budget Request of $94.820 million 

will support an estimated 7,700 full-time and summer AmeriCorps 

VISTA members focused on anti-poverty projects serving economically 

disadvantaged Americans, particularly those facing long-term 

unemployment and other impediments to financial stability. The program 

continues to identify cost efficiencies in training and travel, and will 

allocate those savings to support member enrollment.

AmeriCorps National Civilian Community Corps: The FY 2014 

Budget Request of $29.882 million will support an estimated 1,200 

AmeriCorps NCCC members to gain leadership and employment skills 

while providing vital support to communities in disaster response and 

recovery, infrastructure improvement, environmental stewardship and 

conservation, urban and rural development, and energy conservation. 

An additional 1,600 FEMA Corps members are expected to be supported 

with FEMA funding.

State Service Commissions: The FY 2014 Budget Request of $14.841 

million will provide critical support to State Service Commissions for 

implementing and administering AmeriCorps programs and key service 

initiatives in states. This increased investment of $1.4 million over the 

FY 2012 enacted level will enhance the Commissions’ ability to meet 

the priority needs of the state, successfully cultivate high-performing 

nonprofit organizations, and increase accountability and impact by 

providing training and technical assistance.

National Service Trust: The FY 2014 Budget Request of $207.293 million, 

along with anticipated carryover, will fund Segal AmeriCorps Education 

Awards for eligible AmeriCorps members who complete their terms of 

service. The maximum award for full-time service is $5,645.

Senior Corps: The FY 2014 Budget Request for the Senior Corps programs 

(Foster Grandparent Program, Senior Companion Program, and RSVP) of 

$207.491 million will support Americans aged 55 and older, in improving 

educational outcomes for at-risk and special needs youth; connecting veterans 

and military families to needed services; responding to disasters; and helping 

low-income seniors stay in their homes and avoid costly institutional 

care. Reflecting CNCS’s commitment to modernization, program impact, 

and accountability, the budget requests legal authority for expanding 

competition to the Foster Grandparent and Senior Companion programs. 

Innovation, Demonstration, and Assistance: The FY 2014 Budget Request 

of $61.830 million provides key resources for CNCS to strengthen the 

nation’s volunteer sector, bring more Americans into service, encourage 

social innovation, strengthen existing national service programs, 

and support and encourage new forms of national service and civic 

participation. This request, an increase of $8.550 million over the FY 

2012 enacted level, will grow the impact of high-performing organizations 

in improving the lives of people in low-income communities, engage 

more Americans in service, and strengthen the capacity of organizations 

to recruit and retain volunteers to address critical community needs. 

Specifically, CNCS requests $48.815 million for the Social Innovation Fund, 

$10 million for the George H. W. Bush Volunteer Generation Fund, and 

$3.02 million for Call to Service initiatives, including the September 11th 

National Day of Service and Remembrance, Martin Luther King, Jr. Day of 

Service, and United We Serve. 

Training and Technical Assistance: The FY 2014 Budget Request 

for training and technical assistance is $.600 million. This funding 

level will support CNCS’s knowledge networks which provide grantees 

with a central store of effective practices that can help solve 

community challenges. 

Evaluation: The FY 2014 Budget Request of $5 million will support 

research and evaluation studies that will provide evidence about 

successful program models and interventions; increase the evidence — 

and knowledge — base regarding the value of national service, and help 

CNCS become more effective through assessment of business processes 

and practices. 

Salaries and Expenses: The FY 2014 Budget Request of $87.109 million 

will support operations and maintenance of CNCS’s core grant and 

information management systems. This includes a one-time request of $6 

million required for a move or space consolidation of CNCS’s headquarters. 

Office of Inspector General: The FY 2014 Budget Request of $6.466 

million will be focused on areas intended to enhance the management 

and overall performance of CNCS and its grantees. This also includes 

a one-time request of $450,000 required in the event of a potential 

headquarters move.

Delivering a 21st Century Government

The budget request supports the Administration’s continued commitment 

to provide opportunities for Americans to address local challenges 

through service by identifying and focusing resources in core programs. 

Increasing Accountability

In an effort to strengthen CNCS’s monitoring and internal control 

processes, CNCS created a new Office of Accountability and Oversight. 
CNCS FY 2014 Congressional Budget Justification 5

Budget Request | PART II

This new office is charged with fortifying internal controls, working with 

programs to plan grant monitoring, and coordinating accountability 

initiatives across CNCS.

CNCS will also continue to implement new monitoring and oversight 

protocols for all of its programs. This initiative was launched early in FY 

2012 to enhance data validity and monitoring of grantee data collection 

activities. These protocols will strengthen the reliability of grantee 

self-reported data and the integrity of CNCS’s performance management 

program. These activities are aligned with key priorities in Subtitle J 

(Training and Technical Assistance) aimed at providing financial and 

programmatic resources to grantees and sponsors to support them in 

meeting heightened data collection and validation requirements.

CNCS’s Strategic Plan underscores this commitment to accountability 

by defining a focused path to deliver enhanced programs and benefits 

to communities. In particular, the adoption of the Plan’s agency-wide, 

results-oriented performance measures will increase our ability to assess 

and account for the efforts of our grantees, sponsors, and partners, both 

individually and collectively.

Table 1. Request Summary (dollars in thousands)

Budget Account

FY12 

Enacted

FY13 

Annualized 

CR Level

FY14

President’s 

Budget Difference $ Difference %

Operating Expenses $750,251 $754,843 $760,264 $10,013 1.3%

AmeriCorps State and National 344,348 346,455 345,800 1,452 0.4%

AmeriCorps NCCC 31,882 32,077 29,882 (2,000) (6.3%)

AmeriCorps VISTA 94,820 95,401 94,820 0 0.0%

State Service Commission Support Grants 13,441 13,523 14,841 1,400 10.4%

Senior Corps 207,491 208,760 207,491 0 0.0%

Subtitle H 53,280 53,606 61,830 8,550 16.0%

Innovation, Demonstration & Other 4,481 4,508 3,015 (1,466) (32.7%)

Social Innovation Fund 44,815 45,089 48,815 4,000 8.9%

Volunteer Generation Fund 3,984 4,009 10,000 6,016 151.0%

Evaluation 2,994 3,013 5,000 2,006 67.0%

Subtitle J, Training and Technical Assistance 1,996 2,008 600 (1,396) (69.9%)

Disability Inclusion Grants * * * - -

National Service Trust 211,797 213,093 207,293 (4,504) (2.1%)

Salaries and Expenses 82,843 83,350 87,109** 4,266 5.1%

Office of the Inspector General 3,992 4,017 6,466*** 2,474 62.0%

Total $1,048,884 $1,055,303 $1,061,132 $12,249 1.2%

* Beginning in FY 2012, and pursuant to the Serve America Act, CNCS used up to 2% of program dollars to fund disability activities. CNCS is seeking to continue using 

this authority in FY 2014.

**This includes $6 million for a move or space consolidation of CNCS’s headquarters.

*** This includes $450,000 for a move or space consolidation of CNCS’s headquarters.
6 CNCS FY 2014 Congressional Budget Justification 

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CNCS FY 2014 Congressional Budget Justification 7

Bill Language & Analysis | PART III

Bill Language & Analysis | PART III

Operating Expenses

For necessary expenses for the Corporation for National and Community 

Service (referred to in this title as ``CNCS’’) to carry out the Domestic 

Volunteer Service Act of 1973, as amended (referred to in this title as 

``1973 Act’’) and the National and Community Service Act of 1990, 

as amended (referred to in this title as ``1990 Act’’), $760,264,000, 

notwithstanding sections 198B(b)(3), 198S(g), 501(a)(4)(C), and 501(a)(4)

(F) of the 1990 Act: Provided, That of the amounts provided under this 

heading: (1) up to 1 percent of program grant funds may be used to defray 

the costs of conducting grant application reviews, including the use of 

outside peer reviewers and electronic management of the grants cycle; 

(2) $48,815,000 shall be available for expenses authorized under section 

501(a)(4)(E) of the 1990 Act, of which $4,000,000 shall be available for 

the purposes of subsection 198K(m) in addition to amounts reserved under 

subsections 198K(m)(1) and (2); (3) $10,000,000 shall be available for 

expenses authorized under section 501(a)(4)(F) of the 1990 Act, which, 

notwithstanding the provisions of section 198P shall be awarded by CNCS 

on a competitive basis; (4) $600,000 shall be available for expenses to 

carry out sections 112(e), 179A, and 198O and subtitle J of title I of the 1990 

Act, notwithstanding section 501(a)(6) of the 1990 Act; (5) $14,841,000 

shall be available to provide assistance to State commissions on national 

and community service, under section 126(a) of the 1990 Act and 

notwithstanding section 501(a)(5)(B) of the 1990 Act; and (6) $29,882,000 

shall be available to carry out subtitle E of the 1990 Act: Provided further, 

That, with respect to amounts provided under this heading for State Service 

Commissions, section 126 of the 1990 Act shall be applied by substituting 

``$200,000’’ for ``$250,000’’ each place that it appears.

(Note. — A full-year 2013 appropriation for this account was not enacted 

at the time the budget was prepared; therefore, this account is operating 

under a continuing resolution (P.L. 112-175). The amounts included for 

2013 reflect the annualized level provided by the continuing resolution.)

Payment to National Service Trust Fund

(Including transfer of funds)

For payment to the National Service Trust established under subtitle 

D of title I of the 1990 Act, $207,293,000, to remain available until 

expended: Provided, That CNCS may transfer additional funds from the 

amount provided within ``Operating Expenses’’ allocated to grants under 

subtitle C of title I of the 1990 Act to the National Service Trust upon 

determination that such transfer is necessary to support the activities 

of national service participants and after notice is transmitted to the 

Committees on Appropriations of the House of Representatives and the 

Senate: Provided further, That amounts appropriated for or transferred to 

the National Service Trust may be invested under section 145(b) of the 

1990 Act without regard to the requirement to apportion funds under 31 

U.S.C. 1513(b). 

(Note. — A full-year 2013 appropriation for this account was not enacted 

at the time the budget was prepared; therefore, this account is operating 

under a continuing resolution (P.L. 112-175). The amounts included for 

2013 reflect the annualized level provided by the continuing resolution.)

Salaries and Expenses

For necessary expenses of administration as provided under section 501(a)

(5) of the 1990 Act and under section 504(a) of the 1973 Act, including 

payment of salaries, authorized travel, hire of passenger motor vehicles, 

the rental of conference rooms in the District of Columbia, the employment 

of experts and consultants authorized under 5 U.S.C. 3109, and not 

to exceed $2,500 for official reception and representation expenses, 

$87,109,000. 

(Note. — A full-year 2013 appropriation for this account was not enacted 

at the time the budget was prepared; therefore, this account is operating 

under a continuing resolution (P.L. 112-175). The amounts included for 

2013 reflect the annualized level provided by the continuing resolution.)

Office of Inspector General 

For necessary expenses of the Office of Inspector General in carrying out 

the Inspector General Act of 1978, $6,466,000. 

(Note. — A full-year 2013 appropriation for this account was not enacted 

at the time the budget was prepared; therefore, this account is operating 

under a continuing resolution (P.L. 112-175). The amounts included for 

2013 reflect the annualized level provided by the continuing resolution.)
8 CNCS FY 2014 Congressional Budget Justification 

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Administrative Provisions

Sec. 401. AmeriCorps programs receiving grants under the National 

Service Trust program shall meet an overall minimum share requirement 

of 24 percent for the first 3 years that they receive AmeriCorps funding, 

and thereafter shall meet the overall minimum share requirement as 

provided in section 2521.60 of title 45, Code of Federal Regulations, 

without regard to the operating costs match requirement in section 121(e) 

or the member support Federal share limitations in section 140 of the 

1990 Act, and subject to partial waiver consistent with section 2521.70 of 

title 45, Code of Federal Regulations. 

Sec. 402. In addition to the requirements in section 146(a) of the 1990 

Act, use of an educational award for the purpose described in section 

148(a)(4) shall be limited to individuals who are veterans as defined under 

section 101 of the Act. 

Sec. 403. (a) Section 201 of the Domestic Volunteer Service Act of 1973 

(42 U.S.C. 5001) is amended —

(1) in subsection (e)(1)(A), by striking, “, with an option” and all that 

follows through “(g)”, and inserting “not to exceed” following “for a 

period”; 

(2) in subsection (e)(2)(B), by striking clause (iv), inserting at the end 

of clause (iii) “and”, and by redesignating clause (v) as clause (iv); 

(3) by striking subsection (i) and redesignating subsection (j) as 

subsection (i); 

(b) Section 227(a) of the Domestic Volunteer Service Act of 1973 

(42 U.S.C. 5027(a)) is amended by striking paragraph (2) and, in 

paragraph (1), by striking “(1)” and “paragraph (2) and”; and 

(c) Section 412(a) of the Domestic Volunteer Service Act of 1973 

(42 U.S.C. 5052) is amended by striking paragraphs (2) and (3), by 

inserting at the end of paragraph (1) “and”, and by redesignating 

paragraph (4) as paragraph (2). 

Sec. 404. Section 189D of the 1990 Act is amended in subsection 

(d) — 

(a) in the heading, by striking “rule” and inserting” rules”; 

(b) in paragraph (1) —

(1 ) in the heading, by striking “In General” and inserting 

“Children”; 

(2) after “Notwithstanding subsection (b)”, by deleting “on and 

after the date that is 2 years after the date of enactment of the 

Serve America Act,”; 

(3) after “each individual”, by inserting “age 18 or older who 

serves in a position in which the individual receives a living 

allowance, stipend, national service educational award, or 

salary through a program receiving assistance under the 

national service laws; and as a result of such individuals 

service in such position, has or will have access, on a recurring 

basis, to children age 17 years or younger”; and 

(4) after “shall”, by inserting “, subject to regulations and 

requirements established by the Corporation”; 

(c) in paragraph (2) —

(1) in the heading, by striking “Individuals with access to” and 

inserting “Other”; 

(2) by striking “An individual described in this paragraph 

is” and inserting “Subject to regulations and requirements 

established by the Corporation requiring additional measures to 

protect the safety of vulnerable populations,”; 

(3) by striking “who” and inserting “shall meet the 

requirements of subsection (b) when the individual”; 

(4) in subparagraph (B), by deleting clause (i) and renumbering 

the following clauses accordingly; and (d) in subparagraph (3)(A), 

by striking “paragraph (2)(B)” and inserting “subsection (d”).
CNCS FY 2014 Congressional Budget Justification 9

Bill Language & Analysis | PART III

Table 2. Appropriations Language Analysis 

Language Provision/Change Explanation

Payment to National Service Trust Fund

1. FY 2012 Enacted Language Omitted in FY 2014 Proposed Budget:

National Service Trust 

(including transfer of funds)

For necessary expenses for the National Service Trust established under subtitle D of title I of the 1990 

Act, $212,198,000, to remain available until expended: Provided, That CNCS may transfer additional 

funds from the amount provided within ``Operating Expenses’’ allocated to grants under subtitle C of 

title I of the 1990 Act to the National Service Trust upon determination that such transfer is necessary to 

support the activities of national service participants and after notice is transmitted to the Committees 

on Appropriations of the House of Representatives and the Senate: Provided further, That amounts 

appropriated for or transferred to the National Service Trust may be invested under section 145(b) of the 

1990 Act without regard to the requirement to apportion funds under 31 U.S.C. 1513(b).

FY 2014 Proposed Language:

Payment to National Service Trust Fund 

For payment to the National Service Trust established under subtitle D of title I of the 1990 Act, 

$207,293,000, to remain available until expended: Provided, That CNCS may transfer additional funds 

from the amount provided within “Operating Expenses” allocated to grants under subtitle C of title 

I of the 1990 Act to the National Service Trust upon determination that such transfer is necessary to 

support the activities of national service participants and after notice is transmitted to the Committees 

on Appropriations of the House of Representatives and the Senate: Provided further, That amounts 

appropriated for or transferred to the National Service Trust may be invested under section 145(b) of the 

1990 Act without regard to the requirement to apportion funds under 31 U.S.C. 1513(b). 

The only change is that the appropriation 

is “payment to” the National Service Trust 

both in the title and in the first sentence 

of the appropriation language itself. 

These changes create a new appropriation 

payment account that will receive the funds 

appropriated by Congress and which will 

be transferred by the Corporation to the 

National Service Trust. As a trust account, 

the National Service Trust cannot receive 

direct appropriations. 

2. Administrative Authority

FY 2012 Enacted Language Omitted in FY 2014 Proposed Budget: 

CNCS shall make any significant changes to program requirements, service delivery or policy only 

through public notice and comment rulemaking. 

Notice and comment rulemaking is an 

administratively burdensome and lengthy 

process that precludes CNCS from making 

procedural changes necessary to improve 

the quality of the service it offers in a timely 

and impactful manner. This language is 

unnecessary because federal law requires 

notice and comment except for:

• Rules of “agency organization, procedure 

or practice,”

• “Interpretive rules” that add little 

substantive interpretation of the law; or

• “General statements of policy”
10 CNCS FY 2014 Congressional Budget Justification 

The Corporation for National and Community Service

Table 2. Appropriations Language Analysis (continued)

Language Provision/Change Explanation

Administrative Provisions

3. Administrative Authority

FY 2012 Enacted Language Omitted in FY 2014 Proposed Budget: 

For fiscal year 2012, during any grant selection process, an officer or employee CNCS shall not 

knowingly disclose any covered grant selection information regarding such selection, directly or 

indirectly, to any person other than an officer or employee of CNCS that is authorized by CNCS 

to receive such information.

This language is unnecessary because the existing 

government ethics laws protect the integrity of the 

grant-making process.

4. Gift Fund Authority

FY 2012 Enacted Language Omitted in FY 2014 Proposed Budget: 

Donations made to CNCS under section 196 of the National and Community Service Act of 1990 

(“1990 Act’’) for the purposes of financing programs and operations under titles I and II of the 

1973 Act or subtitles B, C, D, or E of title I of the 1990 Act shall be used to supplement and not 

supplant current programs and operations.

This language is duplicative of the statutory 

requirement that CNCS programs provide members 

that supplement and not supplant the existing 

workforce and infringes on the prerogatives of the 

Executive Branch in carrying out programs consistent 

with the authorizing statute.

5. Senior Corps Competition.

FY 2014 Proposed Language:

Sec. 403. (a) Section 201 of the Domestic Volunteer Service Act of 1973 (42 U.S.C. 5001) is 

amended —

(1) in subsection (e)(1)(A), by striking, “, with an option” and all that follows through “(g)”, 

and inserting “not to exceed” following “for a period”; 

(2) in subsection (e)(2)(B), by striking clause (iv), inserting at the end of clause (iii) “and”, 

and by redesignating clause (v) as clause (iv); 

(3) by striking subsection (i) and redesignating subsection (j) as subsection (i);

(b) Section 227(a) of the Domestic Volunteer Service Act of 1973 (42 U.S.C. 5027(a)) 

is amended by striking paragraph (2) and, in paragraph (1), by striking “(1)” and 

“paragraph (2) and”; and

(c) Section 412(a) of the Domestic Volunteer Service Act of 1973 (42 U.S.C. 5052) is 

amended by striking paragraphs (2) and (3), by inserting at the end of paragraph (1) 

“and”, and by redesignating paragraph (4) as paragraph (2).

This language will allow CNCS to conduct Senior 

Corps grant competitions. While Senior Corps 

grants were competitive when first awarded, 

certain provisions of the Domestic Volunteer Service 

Act of 1973 essentially allow those programs to 

continually renew their grants without competition. 

Full competitive grantmaking facilitates linking 

the grants awarded from federal appropriations to 

impact and quality by making awards to the best 

applicants, and yields grant funding decisions that 

are transparent and equitable. These proposed 

amendments are further discussed in the Budget 

Activity sections for the RSVP, Foster Grandparent 

and Senior Companions programs.
CNCS FY 2014 Congressional Budget Justification 11

Bill Language & Analysis | PART III

Table 2. Appropriations Language Analysis (continued)

Language Provision/Change Explanation

Administrative Provisions

6. Criminal History Check.

FY 2014 Proposed Language:

Sec. 404. Section 189D of the 1990 Act is amended in subsection (d) — 

(a) in the heading, by striking “rule” and inserting” rules”; (b) in paragraph (1) — 

(1) in the heading, by striking “In General” and inserting “Children”; 

(2) after “Notwithstanding subsection (b)”, by deleting “on and after the date that is 2 

years after the date of enactment of the Serve America Act,”; 

(3) after “each individual”, by inserting “age 18 or older who serves in a position in 

which the individual receives a living allowance, stipend, national service educational 

award, or salary through a program receiving assistance under the national service 

laws; and as a result of such individuals service in such position, has or will have 

access, on a recurring basis, to children age 17 years or younger”; and 

(4) after “shall”, by inserting “, subject to regulations and requirements established 

by the Corporation”; 

(c) in paragraph (2) —

(1) in the heading, by striking “Individuals with access to” and inserting “Other”; 

(2) by striking “An individual described in this paragraph is” and inserting “Subject 

to regulations and requirements established by the Corporation requiring additional 

measures to protect the safety of vulnerable populations,”; 

(3) by striking “who” and inserting “shall meet the requirements of subsection (b) when 

the individual”; 

(4) in subparagraph (B), by deleting clause (i) and renumbering the following clauses 

accordingly; and (d) in subparagraph (3)(A), by striking “paragraph (2)(B)” and 

inserting “subsection (d”).

Under the Serve America Act (SAA) a criminal 

history check is required for positions in our SIF, 

AmeriCorps State and National, Senior Companion, 

Foster Grandparent, RSVP, AmeriCorps VISTA, 

and Volunteer Generation Fund programs for all 

individuals who receive an Education Award or 

grant-funded living allowance, stipend, or salary. 

All individuals in these “covered positions” must be 

screened through the National Sex Offender Public 

Registry (NSOPR), and, submit to a check of either 

the state criminal history repositories for the state 

of residence and state of service (State Check), or 

an FBI check. For individuals serving vulnerable 

populations, all three components (NSOPR, State 

Check and FBI Check) are required, unless one of 

the statutory exceptions applies. 

To comply with the SAA, CNCS issued a regulation 

implementing the FBI check on October 5, 2012. 

During the inter-agency review of the regulation 

through OIRA, the FBI communicated that it 

would not concur in the publication of the rule 

unless the rule required grantees to obtain all 

FBI Checks through the state criminal record 

repositories — the state entities authorized to send 

fingerprints to the FBI and receive the raw criminal 

history information, however, many of them are 

unable or unwilling to perform the requisite checks 

for our grantees.

Our proposal is designed to alleviate the heavy 

administrative burden imposed by the current 

statutory language while still protecting the 

safety of those intended to be protected. The 

new language requires a check of the NSOPR 

and a state check or a Federal finger-print based 

check for all covered national service positions, 

and compliance with two-levels of additional safety 

measures regulated by CNCS for those working 

with vulnerable populations.
12 CNCS FY 2014 Congressional Budget Justification 

The Corporation for National and Community Service

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CNCS FY 2014 Congressional Budget Justification 13

Performance | PART IV

Performance | PART IV

FY 2012 Accomplishments

In fulfilling its mission in FY 2012, CNCS continued to provide 

targeted, critical support through its national network of State Service 

Commissions, grantees, and partners that delivered much-needed 

services to communities throughout the country. Fiscal Year 2012 

accomplishments are described more fully in the program chapters. 

A partial sample of FY 2012 accomplishments is listed below, grouped 

by goals set out in CNCS’s Strategic Plan:

Increase the impact of national service on local needs in 

communities served by CNCS-supported programs.

• Engaged more than 76,000 AmeriCorps members and more than 

360,000 Senior Corps volunteers in results-driven service to help 

students improve their education, support independent living, help 

communities recover from disasters, provide employment and other 

services to returning veterans, and more. 

• Provided tutoring and mentoring services to several million students.

• Delivered independent living services — including direct support and 

respite for informal caregivers — to nearly 800,000 clients.

• Provided critical support to communities in the wake of natural 

disasters, including Hurricane Isaac, Hurricane Irene, the March 2012 

Midwestern tornadoes, and ongoing recovery for the 2011 tornadoes 

that struck Joplin, Missouri and Alabama. 

• Launched FEMA Corps, an innovative cost-saving partnership with the 

Federal Emergency Management Agency to establish a new unit of the 

AmeriCorps National Civilian Community Corps (NCCC) solely devoted 

to disaster preparedness and response. FEMA Corps will enhance the 

federal government’s disaster capabilities, increase the reliability and 

diversity of the disaster workforce, promote an ethic of service, expand 

education and economic opportunity for young people, and achieve 

significant cost savings for the taxpayer.

• Provided historic levels of support to the military community, engaging 

more than 1,000 AmeriCorps members in support of veterans and 

military families, while more than 27,000 veterans in AmeriCorps 

and Senior Corps will continue their service to the nation in over 200 

communities across America. 

• Joined the Department of Education and the White House Office of 

Faith-based and Neighborhood Partnerships in launching Together for 

Tomorrow, a national initiative to spur new community engagement in 

turning around persistently low-performing schools; and implemented 

the third summer of Let’s Read. Let’s Move., a summer initiative 

designed to combat summer learning loss and childhood obesity 

through volunteer service.

Maximize the value we add to grantees, partners, and participants.

• Awarded the third year of funding for the Social Innovation Fund 

(SIF), selecting experienced grantmakers with strong track records of 

success in expanding the impact of high-performing organizations in 

improving the lives of people in low-income communities. In its first 

two years, the SIF has invested in nearly 200 nonprofit organizations 

in 34 states and Washington D.C. Approximately $360 million in 

additional private and non-federal funds are being leveraged through 

the program.

• Recruited and managed more than 4 million community volunteers 

through AmeriCorps to multiply the impact of national service 

participants and strengthen nonprofit and faith-based organizations.

• Strengthened volunteer recruitment and management practices in 19 

states through the Volunteer Generation Fund.

• Continued our national Call to Service initiatives which leveraged more 

than 600,000 individuals in projects on the Martin Luther King Jr. Day 

of Service and 180,000 volunteers in projects on the September 11th 

National Day of Service and Remembrance, with many focused on 

supporting veterans, soldiers, and military families.

• Launched the first-ever partnership with the National Guard Bureau 

to improve services to returning guardsmen and their families, and 

launched VetCorps, an initiative with the National Guard and the 

Community Anti-Drug Coalitions of America which was featured as 

a community best practice in the President’s National Drug Control 

Strategy for 2012. 

• Supported the engagement of more than 200 companies that have 

pledged an estimated $1.8 billion worth of skills-based services to 

help build nonprofit capacity through A Billion + Change, an initiative 

launched by CNCS in 2008.
14 CNCS FY 2014 Congressional Budget Justification 

The Corporation for National and Community Service

Fortify management operations and sustain a capable, responsive, These goals are the foundation for CNCS’s performance plan, and they 

and accountable organization. challenge staff and our field to lead and operate at a higher level of 

• Achieved an unqualified “clean” audit opinion for the 13th accountability, integrity, and transparency. The chart below highlights 

consecutive year. each goal and shows its relationship to others and CNCS’s mission. 

• Created a new Office of Accountability and Oversight to coordinate In accordance with CNCS’s strategic plan, CNCS’s programs will continue accountability initiatives.

to address communities’ critical needs in education; seek to increase the • Began implementation of competition in the RSVP program. number of economically disadvantaged people with improved housing • Hosted a Senior Corps Virtual Conference to share performance situations and access to food resources; and assist older adults and measure tools, tips and methods with Senior Corps grantees.

individuals with disabilities with increasing social ties, which will allow • Implemented a number of information technology enhancements to more of those individuals to live independently and have improved quality enable CNCS to meet Serve America Act requirements, achieve the of life. objectives outlined in its Strategic Plan, and efficiently administer 

programs and initiatives. CNCS’s work in disaster services will provide critical services throughout 

the entire continuum from preparedness and mitigation to response FY 2014 Performance Plan and recovery. More veterans and military family members will serve as 

In FY 2014, CNCS will be entering the fourth year of its current strategic national service participants and receive targeted support from CNCS 

plan (http://www.nationalservice.gov/about/focus_areas/index.asp), programs. Table 3 on the following page provides more detail on CNCS’s 

which focuses national service on a core set of four strategic goals. goals, focus areas, measures, programs, and how they align.

Mission Statement

Improve lives, strengthen communities, and foster civic engagement through service and volunteering.

Goal 1

Increase the impact of national service 

on community needs in communities served 

by CNCS-supported programs

Goal 2

Strengthen national service so that participants 

engaged in CNCS-supported programs consistently 

find satisfaction, meaning, and opportunity

Serve America Act Focus Areas

Disaster Services

Economic Opportunity

Education

Environmental Stewardship

Healthy Futures

Veterans and Military Families

F

CNCS Programs

Goal 3

Maximize the value we add to grantees, partners, and participants

Goal 4

ortify management operations and sustain a capable, responsive, and accountable organization
CNCS FY 2014 Congressional Budget Justification 15

Performance | PART IV

Table 3. CNCS Strategic Plan Goals, Measures, and Contributing Programs

Goal # Focus Area Measure ACSN VISTA NCCC RSVP FGP SCP SIF

1 Disaster 

Services* 

Number of individuals that received assistance 

from CNCS-supported programs in disaster 

preparedness, mitigation, response, and/or 

recovery. 

• • •

1 Economic 

Opportunity*

Percent of economically disadvantaged people 

that received housing-related assistance from 

CNCS-supported members, participants and 

volunteers who showed improvement in their 

housing situation.

• •

1 Education* Percent of children that demonstrated gains in 

school readiness. 

• • •

1 Education* Percent of students served by or serving in 

CNCS-supported programs that demonstrated 

improved academic performance (including 

the percent meeting state proficiency levels in 

literacy and/or math, or whose scores on state 

standardized tests improved).

• • •

1 Education* Percent of students served by CNCS-supported 

programs, or engaged in CNCS-supported 

service-learning, that demonstrated improved 

academic engagement.

• • •

1 Environmental 

Stewardship*

Number of at-risk acres (land and/or water) 

improved by CNCS-supported members, 

participants and volunteers.

• • •

1 Healthy 

Futures*

Percent of homebound OR older adults and 

individuals with disabilities that received 

CNCS-supported services who reported having 

increased social ties/perceived social support.

• • •

1 Healthy 

Futures*

Number of individuals that gained access to 

food resources provided with the assistance 

of CNCS-supported members, participants or 

volunteers.

• •

1 Veterans 

and Military 

Families*

Number of each of the four categories of service 

recipients (veterans, veterans’ family members, 

family members of active duty military, and 

military service members) that received CNCSsupported assistance.

• • • • •

2 Veterans 

and Military 

Families*

Number of veterans and military family members 

engaged in providing services through CNCSsupported programs.

• • • • • •

2 Member 

Experience

Percent of service participants engaged in 

CNCS-supported programs who report gaining 

skills they can apply to future educational, 

professional or civic endeavors.

• • • • • •
16 CNCS FY 2014 Congressional Budget Justification 

The Corporation for National and Community Service

Table 3. CNCS Strategic Plan Goals, Measures, and Contributing Programs

Goal # Focus Area Measure ACSN VISTA NCCC RSVP FGP SCP SIF

3 Social 

Innovation

Percent of organizations that implement 

evaluations that demonstrate stronger evidence 

of program effectiveness than prior to receiving 

CNCS national service participants or funding.

•

3 CapacityBuildingNumber of community volunteers recruited and/

or managed by CNCS-supported organizations or 

National Service Participants.

• • • •

4 Agency 

Operations

Complete modernization of IT infrastructure. CNCS Office of the COO

4 Agency 

Operations

Ensure that no material internal control or 

compliance issues are identified in annual 

financial statement audit.

CNCS Office of the COO

4 Agency 

Operations

Award and close grants and contracts within 

prescribed timeframes.

CNCS Office of the COO

(continued)

Notes: VISTA and SIF will contribute to Goal 1 measures where applicable based on respective project or grantee focus in FY 2014. 

* Denote SSA focus areas.

CNCS grantees have begun to collect data for the measures reflected 

in Table 3. By the end of FY 2014, CNCS will have collected data on six 

of the seven programs listed and will begin to analyze this information to 

help determine where resources are having the biggest impact. CNCS will 

also be able to make an initial assessment of the rate at which grantees 

are adopting performance measures, and what challenges exist. This will 

inform CNCS’s training and technical assistance efforts in the following 

years to ensure grantees are as effective and efficient as possible. 

In addition to the areas of focus highlighted on the previous page, CNCS 

programs have authorizing legislation to engage in activities beyond the 

16 agency-wide priority measures. For example, the Foster Grandparent 

Program has specific child welfare tasks. In such cases, programs adopted 

additional measures in FY 2012 to gather data and measure program 

success. Data for these will be available where applicable in FY 2014.
CNCS FY 2014 Congressional Budget Justification 17

Organizational Structure | PART V

Organizational Structure | PART V

Figure 1. CNCS Field Offices

Figure 2. CNCS Organization Chart

CNCS Offices

FFMC

NCCC Campus

State Office

Board of Directors*

AmeriCorps State 

& Nat’l

W. Basl

AmeriCorps NCCC

K. Raftery

AmeriCorps VISTA

M. Strasser

Senior Corps

E. Tan

Field Liasion

M. Berning

Social Innovation 

Fund

L. Nembhard (Acting)

Chief Executive Officer*

Wendy Spencer

Inspector General*

Deborah Jeffrey

Senior Advisor

J. Herrmann

Senior Advisor 

for Disaster Services

K. DeGraff

Senior Advisor 

for Veteran’s Affairs

K. Langley

Senior Advisor 

for Education

(Vacant)

General Counsel

V. Green

Chief Operating Officer

R. Velasco

Human Capital

A. Wasilisin

External Affairs

T. Miller (Acting)

Accountability & Oversight

D. Hilton

Government Relations

K. Allman (Acting)

Information Technology

P. Clark

Chief Financial Officer

D. Rebich

Chief of Staff

A. Mishra

Civil Rights & Inclusiveness**

L. Honnoll

Laysha Ward, 

Chair

Minneapolis, MN

Term: 6/6/2008– 

12/27/2012

Eric J. Tanenblatt, 

Vice Chair

Atlanta, GA

Term: 6/6/2008– 

10/6/2012***

Rick Christman

Lexington, KY

Term: 4/19/2012–

10/16/2012***

Jane Hartley

New York, NY

Term: 5/7/2012– 

10/6/2014

Hyepin Im

Los Angeles, CA

Term: 10/7/2008– 

10/6/2013

Marguerite 

Kondracke

Monteagle, TN

Term: 4/23/2012– 

6/10/2014

Matthew McCabe

Philadelphia, PA

Term: 5/30/2012–

10/6/2013

Lisa Garcia Quiroz

New York, NY

Term: 4/25/2012 – 

2/8/2014

Phyllis N. Segal

Boston, MA

Term: 4/20/2012–

10/6/2013

Strategic Advisor for 

Native American Affairs

R. Lessard

* Presidential Appointments with Senate Confirmation

** T he Director has independent authority to advise the CEO on pre-complaint and complaint issu

*** Under section 123 (e) of the NCSA, Board members may continue to serve until a successor takes 

office, up to one year.
18 CNCS FY 2014 Congressional Budget Justification 

The Corporation for National and Community Service

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CNCS FY 2014 Congressional Budget Justification 19

Budget Activities | PART VI

Budget Activities | PART VI

BUDGET ACTIVITY 1:

AmeriCorps State and National

(National and Community Service Act of 1990, Title I, Subtitle C)

Program Summary

For nearly two decades, AmeriCorps has engaged hundreds of thousands 

of Americans in results-driven community service in every state. 

AmeriCorps members have dedicated millions of hours of service in 

communities across the nation — tutoring children who are struggling in 

school, responding to natural disasters, building homes for low-income 

families, helping veterans and their families, preserving the environment, 

and addressing other local community needs. AmeriCorps members 

are a valuable resource for many of our country’s most respected and 

innovative nonprofit organizations, enhancing their ability to serve the 

country’s most vulnerable citizens. 

AmeriCorps’ programs are designed and managed by national and 

community organizations that have demonstrated knowledge, expertise, 

and capacity to effectively deploy AmeriCorps members. AmeriCorps 

members address critical challenges identified in the Serve America Act 

and the CNCS Strategic Plan: disaster services, economic opportunity, 

education, environmental stewardship, healthy futures, and veterans and 

military families.

Serving in many of the nation’s most impoverished communities, 

AmeriCorps provides vital support to America’s education and civic sectors, 

supporting tens of thousands of schools, afterschool centers, food banks, 

homeless shelters, community health clinics, youth centers, and veterans 

service facilities at a time of strong demand for services. Members help 

existing organizations expand their reach and impact though their direct 

service and by mobilizing additional community volunteers. 

AmeriCorps leverages substantial private investment each year from 

businesses, foundations, and other sources. AmeriCorps invests in 

Table 4. AmeriCorps State and National Budget Summary (dollars in thousands)

Budget Account FY12 Enacted

FY13 Annualized 

CR Level FY14 Request

Increase/ 

(Decrease)

(2012-2014)

Formula Grants to States $116,970 $117,529 $117,307  $337

Competitive Grants 207,764 208,756 208,361  597

Education Award Program Grants 4,821 4,850 4,841  20

Set-asides for U.S. Territories 3,314 3,329 3,323  9

Set-asides for Indian Tribes 3,314 3,329 3,323  9

Subtotal, Grants Budget Authority 336,183 337,793 337,155  972

Childcare 5,165 5,197 5,187  22

Grantmaking Support 3,000 3,465 3,458  458

Total Budget Authority $344,348 $346,455 $345,800 $1,452 

Total State and National Members (est.) 67,400 73,000 73,200  5,800

Strategic Goals: Increase impact on communities; enhance volunteer experience; maximize value to grantees, partners and participants.
20 CNCS FY 2014 Congressional Budget Justification 

The Corporation for National and Community Service

entrepreneurial organizations that have been recognized for their 

innovative approaches to citizen problem-solving.

AmeriCorps service expands economic opportunity by building the 

leadership and employment skills of AmeriCorps members. A rigorous 

longitudinal study of AmeriCorps released in 2008 found that AmeriCorps 

exposes members to new career opportunities and is beneficial to them in 

the job market. About 80 percent of members reported that their service 

exposed them to new career options, and more than two-thirds of the 

former members reported that their service was an advantage to them in 

the job market (Corporation for National and Community Service, Office of 

Research and Policy Development, Still Serving: Measuring the Eight-Year 

Impact of AmeriCorps on Alumni, Washington, D.C., 2008). The skills 

AmeriCorps members gain include both those specific to their service as 

well as general skills of leadership, project management, and problemsolving that all employers are seeking.

AmeriCorps also serves as a training ground for our nation’s future 

leaders and public servants. A longitudinal study of AmeriCorps alumni 

reported that serving in AmeriCorps has a significant positive impact on 

members’ attachment to community, their understanding of community 

problems, their sense of efficacy in working to address community needs, 

and their participation in community meetings and events (Corporation 

for National and Community Service, Office of Research and Policy 

Development, Still Serving: Measuring the Eight-Year Impact of AmeriCorps 

on Alumni, Washington, D.C., 2008). The longitudinal study also found 

that AmeriCorps alumni are more likely to enter into public service careers 

than a matched comparison group, with 60 percent of AmeriCorps alumni 

choosing to work with a nonprofit organization or public agency.

AmeriCorps State and National administers the following grant programs: 

• State Formula grants are awarded to governor-appointed State 

Service Commissions using a formula. The Commissions, in turn, fund 

programs on a competitive basis that address local needs in their 

states. By statute, thirty-five (35) percent of program funds available 

for grantmaking are allocated by statute for State formula grants.

• Single and Multi-State Competitive grants are awarded to 

organizations operating in one or more states that have successfully 

competed in a national grant competition conducted by CNCS. Some 

of these grants are awarded on a fixed-amount basis and others are 

cost-reimbursement grants.

• Single and Multi-State Education Award Program (EAP) grants are 

awarded to organizations operating in one or more states that have 

successfully competed in a national selection process administered by 

CNCS. These organizations receive fixed-amount administrative grants, and 

use their own and other non-CNCS resources to cover most program costs.

• Indian Tribe grants are awarded to Indian Tribes that have successfully 

competed in a national selection process. By statute, one percent of 

grant funds are available exclusively for Indian Tribes.

• U.S. Territories grants are awarded to governor-appointed Territory 

Service Commissions using a population-based formula. The 

Commissions, in turn, fund programs on a competitive basis that 

address local needs. By statute, one percent of grant funds are 

available exclusively for Territories.

• Territories without commission grants are awarded competitively to 

organizations operating within territories with no established Territory 

Service Commission.

• Planning grants are awarded competitively to organizations to support 

a year of planning and development for programs that may compete in 

a future AmeriCorps grant competition.

FY 2012 Accomplishments and Program Impact

In AmeriCorps State & National, grant decisions are made near the end 

of the fiscal year. As a result, programs funded with the FY 2011 grants 

operate into FY 2012. Accordingly, FY 2011 is the most recent year for 

which there is complete accomplishment information. This information is 

reported as an FY 2012 accomplishment.

Utilizing FY 2011 funds during FY 2012, AmeriCorps State and 

National grantee organizations have enrolled approximately 72,150 

AmeriCorps members who served in all 50 states, through more than 

15,000 nonprofit organizations in over 4,000 communities. AmeriCorps 

members recruited, trained, or supervised more than 2.9 million 

community volunteers in FY 2012 — providing a significant boost to the 

organizations they serve by expanding their reach and impact.

Data from the recent grantee progress reports show the following 

accomplishments:

• More than 92,500 students showed improved academic performance.

• More than 8,500 children demonstrated gains in school readiness.

• 22,000 students demonstrated improved academic engagement.

• 17,000 veterans received services and assistance.

• More than 850,000 at-risk acres or miles (land and/or water) 

were improved.

• More than 24,000 individuals received assistance from CNCSsupported programs in disaster preparedness, response, recovery, 

and/or mitigation.
CNCS FY 2014 Congressional Budget Justification 21

Budget Activities | PART VI

• More than 22,500 economically disadvantaged people received 

housing-related assistance.

• Almost 100,000 clients participated in health education programs.

• More than 33,000 children and youth received nutrition education with 

the intent of reducing childhood obesity.

• More than 100,000 individuals received support, services, education 

and/or referrals to alleviate long-term hunger.

FY 2012 Grant Competition: 

In FY 2012, the AmeriCorps grant competitions reflected a greater emphasis 

on programs that clearly demonstrate and maximize the impact of national 

service. Applicants that selected CNCS’s national priority performance 

measures received funding priority. Those priority areas include:

• Improve academic outcomes for economically disadvantaged children. 

• Engage and serve veterans and military families. 

• Help individuals and communities prepare, respond, recover, and 

mitigate disasters and increase community resiliency. 

In FY 2012, an estimated 67,400 AmeriCorps members were funded 

by AmeriCorps State and National grants for the 2012-13 grant year. 

This number is lower than projected for FY 2012. The projections of 

AmeriCorps member levels are driven by estimates of average cost per 

member and the percentages of member slot types (i.e., quarter-time, 

half-time, full-time, etc.). Successful programs selected for funding in 

FY 2012 had higher costs per member and higher percentages of halftime and full-time members than projected.

With the FY 2012 grant competitions, CNCS is on track to support 

AmeriCorps members addressing critical needs in urban and rural 

communities across the nation. Almost 90 percent of programs funded 

in FY 2012 are utilizing national performance measures. The high 

utilization rate of the national performance measures will enable CNCS 

to demonstrate the collective impact of AmeriCorps programs more 

efficiently and effectively. 

Programs funded in the FY 2012 grant competition will implement the 

majority of their activities in FY 2013. Targets in most instances are 

higher than the previous year. 

As a result of member service we anticipate the following impacts in FY 2013:

• More than 114,000 students will demonstrate improved academic 

performance.

• More than 15,000 children are expected to demonstrate gains in school 

readiness.

• Almost 70,000 students in grades K-12 who participate in mentoring, 

tutoring, or other educational programs will demonstrate improved 

academic engagement over the course of the school year. Academic 

engagement includes increased attendance, increased completion of 

assignments, decreased disciplinary referrals, increased interest in 

school, improved perspective on school climate, as well as other factors.

• More than 18,000 veterans will be engaged in service opportunities as 

members or volunteers.

• More than 75,000 veterans will receive assistance. 

• More than 400,000 acres or miles of national parks, state parks, city 

parks, county parks, or other public and tribal lands will be improved. 

• More than 400,000 individuals will receive CNCS-supported services in 

disaster preparedness, mitigation, response, and/or recovery.

FY 2014 Budget Request and Performance Plan

For FY 2014, CNCS requests $345.800 million for AmeriCorps State and 

National, an increase of $1.452 million above the FY 2012 enacted level, 

to support approximately 73,200 AmeriCorps members. With this funding, 

AmeriCorps State and National will continue to invest in evidence-based 

community solutions. Cost effectiveness will continue to be a competitive 

factor in our grantmaking decisions.

AmeriCorps will focus its funding priorities on evidence-based programs 

that produce results and form strong partnerships, as a means to scaling 

impact. Consistent with the Serve America Act and the CNCS Strategic 

Plan, AmeriCorps programs will continue to leverage the strength of 

members, programs, State Service Commissions and the American public 

to build a network of programs that offer effective solutions in the areas 

of greatest need with a focus on CNCS’s six focus areas. 

Service to nation is an ideal that is very much on the minds of many 

Americans and exemplified by the large numbers of people who are 

willing to step up and serve their communities and country. FY 2014 will 

mark the 20th anniversary of the first AmeriCorps class. Public interest 

around the anniversary may prompt additional interest in AmeriCorps. 

CNCS plans to harness this occasion to highlight the important role that 

national service can play in addressing local and national problems. 

Service is an effective strategy for engaging communities trying to 

rebuild after years of economic challenges. For example, Governors 

and their State Service Commissions have utilized AmeriCorps as an 

effective tool to help respond, recover, and rebuild from major disasters 

such as Superstorm Sandy and the 2011 tornados that struck Joplin and 

Tuscaloosa. Furthermore, AmeriCorps has sought to improve the lives 

and graduation rates of veterans utilizing the post-9/11 GI Bills in places 
22 CNCS FY 2014 Congressional Budget Justification 

The Corporation for National and Community Service

like Washington State, where AmeriCorps members serve thousands of 

veterans on more than 30 campuses. Going forward, CNCS will continue 

to focus resources on demonstrating how national service can be a costeffective strategy for addressing all types of priority community needs.

CNCS is placing greater emphasis on exploring the creation of 

partnerships with public and private organizations to leverage outside 

funds to support additional AmeriCorps members. In addition, by utilizing 

service as a collaborative strategy to partner with other federal agencies, 

CNCS is identifying ways service and volunteerism can be an effective 

solution for those agencies to fulfill their missions. Based on the initial 

success of FEMA Corps, CNCS is developing partnerships with other 

federal agencies where the AmeriCorps State and National’s principles of 

volunteerism and service can positively impact needy communities.

Efficiencies

CNCS is continuing to improve efficiencies in administering the 

AmeriCorps program. Pending the results of an internal evaluation of a 

pilot program, we are considering expansion of the fixed-amount grant 

program to allow programs that enroll less than full-time members 

to utilize this option. Currently the fixed amount grants are limited 

to programs that solely enroll full-time members. Expanding this 

opportunity allows more grantees to benefit from the reduced grantee 

burden. The fixed amount grant program provides fixed level of funding, 

eliminating the need for review of extensive cost-reimbursement 

paperwork. The fixed-amount grants significantly streamline information 

collection by grantees, which in turn reduces the staff time required for 

reviewing budgets and other financial documents. 

While AmeriCorps requires grantees to complete various types of 

evaluations, AmeriCorps State and National will develop a new effort to 

identify grantees and/or subgrantees willing to pool evaluation resources 

from program budgets to become part of a pilot national evaluation 

strategy. The evaluation efforts of individual grantees or subgrantees 

are often limited by the amount of funding available to support this 

work. By identifying those with common priority focus areas, AmeriCorps 

State and National will help develop a shared research design and select 

a research entity that will conduct a comprehensive assessment of 

participants in this pilot effort. This collaborative effort has the benefit 

of consolidating research funding, building a uniform research design, 

and developing an evidentiary basis across programs.

Accountability

AmeriCorps State and National will enhance its efforts to demonstrate 

the impact of national service by strengthening guidelines and support 

to grantees for rigorous program evaluation. Grantees are required to 

submit an evaluation plan with any application for competitive funds 

to better inform grantmaking decisions. Future enhancements will 

reinforce the purpose of this requirement and improve the rigor of 

program evaluations. This will include the development of guidance and 

technical assistance to grantees to improve the quality of the evaluations 

conducted. Evaluations will be used to foster continuous improvement 

and help identify best practices and models that merit replication, as 

well as programmatic weaknesses that need attention. 

CNCS expects State Service Commissions and multi-state grantees to 

consult and coordinate activities at the local level. This consultation is 

designed to ensure the most effective use of national service resources 

and lead to enhanced coordination among grantees. AmeriCorps State 

and National plans to identify and implement improvements that will 

enhance this collaboration. 

AmeriCorps State and National will continue to assess the following 

performance metrics in FY 2014 to improve mission results:

• Cost per Member

• Member enrollment 

• Member retention

Table 5. AmeriCorps State and National Vital Statistics

FY10 Actual FY11 Actual FY12 Actual FY13 Target FY14 Target

Appropriation (in thousands) $366,987 $345,960 $344,348 $346,455 $345,800 

Number of member slots approved (or estimated) 79,266 73,937 67,400 73,000 73,200

Cost per MSY $7,896 $7,873 $8,200 $7,772 $7,750 

Percent of total costs contributed from CNCS sources 57.10% 57.10% N/A N/A N/A
CNCS FY 2014 Congressional Budget Justification 23

Budget Activities | PART VI

BUDGET ACTIVITY 2:

AmeriCorps VISTA

(Domestic Volunteer Service Act of 1973, Title I, Part A)

Program Summary

AmeriCorps VISTA was created to help reduce poverty and build economic 

opportunity throughout the country. Authorized in 1964 as Volunteers in 

Service to America, the program became part of the AmeriCorps network 

of programs in 1993. AmeriCorps VISTA primarily supports efforts to 

alleviate poverty by engaging individuals aged 18 and older in a year of 

full-time service. These AmeriCorps members build the organizational, 

administrative, and financial capacity of programs that help low-income 

Americans gain the skills and resources they need to break the cycle of 

poverty. AmeriCorps VISTA members are assigned to nonprofit community 

organizations and public agencies through an application process 

managed locally by CNCS State Offices.

The AmeriCorps VISTA program embraces the core principles of 

sustainability, capacity building, and strengthening community. Through 

activities such as community outreach and partnership development, 

resource development, and establishment of volunteer recruitment and 

management systems, VISTA members strengthen the ability of local 

organizations to carry out their missions and programs. Sponsoring 

organizations must ensure their VISTA projects engage residents of the 

targeted low-income community in the project planning, development, 

and implementation.

The AmeriCorps VISTA program promotes service and community 

engagement at the local level. By creating and expanding the capacity 

of organizations that serve low-income populations, VISTA members 

help make a lasting impact on community needs. VISTA members, 

many recruited from the low-income communities being served, also 

find satisfaction, meaning, and educational and economic opportunity 

through their service.

The organizational capacity developed by VISTA members remains viable 

long after VISTAs complete their service. A recent study funded by CNCS 

found that 84 percent of AmeriCorps VISTA projects continued to operate 

effectively two to five years after the VISTA resources ended.

FY 2012 Accomplishments and Program Impact

In FY 2012, AmeriCorps VISTA placed 8,165 VISTAs (5,958 full time 

Table 6. AmeriCorps VISTA Budget Summary (dollars in thousands)

Budget Account FY12 Enacted

FY13 Annualized

CR Level FY14 Request

Increase/Decrease 

(2012-2014)

Subsistence Allowance $54,608 $57,373 $58,520 $3,912 

Post-Service Stipend 2,205 2,543 2,269 64 

Healthcare 12,841 14,291 11,118 (1,723)

Childcare 1,361 1,302 1,394 33 

Workers Compensation 800 864 873 73 

Travel, Relocation, and Settling In 4,312 3,426 3,513 (799)

Supervision and Transportation 6,003 3,968 4,319 (1,684)

Grantmaking Support 913 763 759 (154)

Training 10,165 9,248 10,452 287 

Evaluation, Administration, etc. 190 192 181 (9)

Recruitment and Outreach 1,422 1,431 1,422 0 

Total Budget Authority $94,820 $95,401 $94,820 $0 

Total AmeriCorps VISTA Members1 8,165 7,700 7,700 (465)

1

 In FY 2012, VISTA exceeded its new member target by expanding its summer associate program.

Strategic Goals: Increase impact on communities; enhance volunteer experience; maximize value to grantees, partners and participants.
24 CNCS FY 2014 Congressional Budget Justification 

The Corporation for National and Community Service

and 2,207 Summer Associates), in more than 1,200 communities and 

organizations across the country. The capacity-building activities 

performed by the VISTAs varied, depending on the local needs, but 

some activities were common among many sponsors. For example, 

66 percent of all sponsors used one or more of their VISTAs for resource 

development, and these VISTAs combined to raise more than $170 million 

in cash and in-kind resources in support of anti-poverty programs. 

Similarly, 82 percent of sponsoring organizations used one or more of 

their VISTAs to build their capacity to recruit and manage community 

volunteers. These VISTAs engaged more than 1.2 million community 

volunteers in serving their communities. 

Of the 2,207 Summer Associates, AmeriCorps VISTA placed 1,730 

Summer Associates aged 18 to 24 years as part of the White House 

“Summer Jobs” initiative to engage disconnected youth from low-income 

communities in summer employment. More than 80 percent of the 

Summer Associates participating in the “Summer Jobs” initiative came 

from low-income communities and served with local organizations in 

43 states. In addition to a living allowance, each Associate received 

a stipend or a Segal AmeriCorps Education Award to further their 

education goals.

VISTA members created or expanded the capacity of organizations 

providing services in education, employment, housing, and financial 

development programs. They also provided critical support to 

organizations assisting individuals and communities affected by longterm poverty, unemployment, and the recent economic recession.

FY 2012 was an important year for VISTA in terms of developing the 

tools needed to effectively measure the impact of VISTA projects. Staff 

developed technical requirements for new, streamlined performance 

measurement tools to assist potential sponsors in developing effective 

projects and tracking capacity to demonstrate measurable progress. 

Combined with comprehensive field staff training, these new tools, 

which are expected to be fully implemented for FY 2014, will improve the 

ability of staff to make resource allocation decisions using promising 

practices and evidence to ensure better outcomes. In order to costeffectively provide support to sponsors with these new tools, CNCS will 

take advantage of the VISTA Campus, AmeriCorps VISTA’s online learning 

and knowledge management site that offers around-the-clock support in 

professional development, peer support, and program guidance.

Leveraging Federal Resources

In FY 2012, CNCS created and expanded private and public collaborations 

aimed at increasing VISTA enrollment beyond CNCS’s own investment. 

During this period, 21 percent of all VISTA living allowances were 

supported through cost share agreements with local community 

organizations. The Cost Share program enables CNCS to support an 

additional 730 AmeriCorps VISTA members in FY 2014. Other examples 

of public-private partnerships include:

• Hands On Tech — a program developed through a partnership between 

Hands on Network, AmeriCorps VISTA, and Google — brings technology 

experts to organizations that need them most. With financial and 

training support from Google, the Hands On Network placed 27 VISTAs 

in 22 communities to improve the technological capacity of nonprofits 

to better serve low-income individuals in those communities. 

• Together for Tomorrow (TFT) — an initiative developed by CNCS, 

the U.S. Department of Education, and the White House Office of 

Faith-based and Neighborhood Partnerships that propels improvement 

of our lowest-performing schools. In FY 2012, 50 VISTAs in six pilot 

sites fostered local community partnerships to focus on student 

outcomes such as attendance, behavior, course performance, and 

college access. The six pilot sites include Denver, CO; Center, CO; 

Memphis, TN; New Haven, CT; New Orleans, LA; and Orlando, FL. 

A seventh pilot site, Detroit, MI, began building a foundation to place 

TFT VISTA(s) in the future. 

In FY 2012, all new VISTA programming was aligned with CNCS’s 

Strategic Plan. VISTA will assess its performance within the CNCS 

priority measures using the Goal Three capacity-building measures. 

VISTAs will build the capacity of organizations that are focused on 

achieving outcomes in education, housing, veterans and military families, 

and food security. VISTA will continue to support sponsors that adopt 

promising practices that lead to good results in these areas.

Expanding Training and Strengthening Member Support 

The quality of training and member support — whether that support is 

directly from CNCS or from the organizations at which members serve — 

is measured through quarterly surveys, an end-of-service survey, and, 

in 2012-2013, through an assessment conducted by an outside research 

team. The survey data reflects the perspectives of VISTA members, 

leaders, sponsors and, to a lesser degree, alumni and CNCS State 

Offices. The data indicate strong approval for:

• the capacity-building sessions at Pre-Service Orientation (PSO); 

• the accredited courses on VISTA’s online learning center, VISTACampus.gov;

• the monthly professional development webinars; and

• the facilitated dialogues on VISTA’s forums. 
CNCS FY 2014 Congressional Budget Justification 25

Budget Activities | PART VI

Moreover, there is strong appreciation for VISTA’s development of life 

skills, the guidance of the supervisors on site, and the bridging of 

member service to employment. This is of particular importance to 

veterans who serve in VISTA: 67 percent of the veterans surveyed at the 

end of their service term said that their AmeriCorps VISTA experience will 

help improve their chances of finding a job. Additionally, 71 percent of 

veterans who responded stated that participation in AmeriCorps VISTA 

helped them reconnect with community activities in civilian life.

VISTA training has incorporated the findings and preliminary data 

obtained through surveys and the assessment cited above to better 

market the development opportunities to members and Leaders and 

broaden the audience for the accredited courses on the VISTA Campus 

to include individuals who wish to attend sessions or audit the courses. 

The PSO sessions have been adjusted to focus better on members’ 

concerns and needs, such as creating a professional development plan; 

time management in relation to the VISTA Assignment Description; 

effective communication approaches; problem solving strategies; and 

the development of “hard skills” relevant to all assignments, such as 

resource development and volunteer management.

These enhancements ensure that VISTA training and member support 

remain cost-effective. In addition to the above, VISTA has recently made 

the following advancements: 

• VISTA Members: The VISTA Map has been further developed to reflect 

where VISTAs serve and where alumni served and currently reside, 

facilitating members and alumni in sharing resources and ideas. The 

Map serves as a visual organizer for national and community resources 

and a social media tool to keep the VISTA community connected. Also, 

vis-a-vis the VISTA Campus, a webinar series addressing VISTA life 

skills, workplace skills, and career development has been launched. 

Participation has been as great as 700 people per session. 

In support of the CNCS National Performance Measures initiative, VISTA 

has developed a mobile app to capture real-time data relevant to both 

CNCS measures and VISTA supervisors. The app was constructed after 

an extensive analysis conducted by VISTA Leaders as to whether VISTAs 

own smart phones; rely on apps, and whether they would use a VISTA app 

to support their service.

• Sponsors/Supervisors: The members’ experience hinges on the quality 

of supervision. The Sponsors’ understanding and mastery of member 

recruitment, project reporting, coaching, and training impact the 

members’ service and the success of the project as a whole. VISTA 101, 

launched in 2012, and VISTA 201, launched in 2013, offer self-directed 

training to supervisors and “grab and go” materials to 

support their VISTA project application, onboarding training, 

implementation of VISTA policy, and training of sub-site supervisors. 

VISTA 301, targeted for release in 2014, will complete the suite of 

interactive tutorials, addressing coaching, onsite and on-the-job 

training, and troubleshooting. 

• VISTA Leader: The VISTA Leader program, including its section on 

the VISTA Campus, continues to offer a high quality curriculum for 

member leadership development through the use of video conferencing, 

research and field study, and self-directed materials. 

Training costs: VISTA policies and practices, including those detailed 

above, have significantly reduced the cost of training in recent years. 

FY 2012 saw further reductions in travel and training. An external 

evaluation of VISTA training was recently completed. Meanwhile, VISTA 

has acted on several preliminary findings. For example, the Pre-Service 

Orientation for new members has been redesigned to include more skill 

building sessions and greater emphasis on work planning using the VISTA 

Assignment Description. In addition, the “poverty statistics” portion 

of orientation has been transferred to the online VISTA Campus. VISTA 

members may now develop a poverty-related profile of their communities, 

drawing on statistical data amassed from various agencies and institutes. 

Technology: VISTA continues to increase efficiency and improve the 

quality of the member experience. The Member portal (my.americorps.

gov) and the VISTA Campus (vistacampus.gov) have been instrumental. 

The VISTA Assignment Description is now an integral piece of recruitment 

and training. Through the portals, every VISTA member has ready access 

to this important service document. 

Enhancements to the eGrants system include an automated signature 

of the Memoranda of Agreement, which has reduced processing time 

and improved the quality of the review process for Memoranda and 

amendments. Further, a performance measures module is under 

development to help CNCS programs capture and aggregate data 

across projects. CNCS designed the National Performance Measures 

page, hosted by the National Service Knowledge Network, as a graphic 

organizer of the goals, focus areas, objectives, and measures for each 

of the CNCS programs.

Selected Program Examples

Economic Opportunity

Economic Opportunity remains AmeriCorps VISTA’s largest focus area, 

encompassing more than half of the new projects developed in FY 2012. 
26 CNCS FY 2014 Congressional Budget Justification 

The Corporation for National and Community Service

Faith-based and community organizations used VISTA resources to create 

or expand projects that help people find employment, move into safe and 

affordable housing, and become financially independent. 

An example of a project in this focus area is:

• In their first nine months of service, nine VISTAs serving with 

Emerge Community Development in Minneapolis helped 126 

ex-offenders find employment. Of those served, 96 percent have 

not been re-incarcerated. VISTA members also created relationships 

with 212 employers and provided them 150 hours of training. 

Ninety-eight percent of the clients placed into employment had an 

increase in their average annualized earnings at time of placement. 

Clients who had jobs prior to being placed through Emerge increased 

their annual wages by an average of $9,854. Clients who were not 

employed prior to placement earned an average of $15,119. The total 

economic impact of annualized wages for all clients that secured 

employment is $1,835,338.

Education

Education continues to be a significant focus area, totaling more than 

36 percent of all new projects developed in FY 2012. To break the cycle 

of poverty through education, VISTAs perform service in schools and 

community organizations that focus on improving educational outcomes 

for the economically disadvantaged, through locally determined 

interventions. Examples of projects in this focus area include:

• Twenty-nine VISTAs serving through Up2Us in New York are working 

to provide opportunities for low-income youth to participate in sportsbased youth development programming. Partner sites use sports as a 

solution to the critical issues facing youth today, teaching them values 

and skills to achieve goals on the field, in school, and in life. Due to 

the VISTAs’ efforts raising funds, recruiting volunteers, and creating 

partnerships, 6,700 new low-income youth participated in sports-based 

youth development programs. VISTAs recruited 586 new volunteers and 

helped to raise $2.9 million in cash and in-kind donations. Of the youth 

participating in programming supported by a VISTA, 77 percent report 

having a better attitude about healthy eating and exercise and feel 

more physically fit, and 75 percent of the youth participants report 

having a better attitude about education and learning. 

• Through the Office of the Baltimore Mayor, Stephanie Rawlings-Blake, 

43 Summer Associates helped prevent summer learning loss among 

first through third graders in 2012. Associates helped the school 

system operate a full-day, six-week Summer Reading Academy that 

provided strong academic instruction, quality enrichment activities, 

and nutritious meals for nearly 1,400 students most in need of reading 

support. Summer Associates facilitated more than 188,000 hours of 

reading instruction and time, served more than 4,000 meals through 

the USDA Summer Food Service Program, led daily physical activities, 

and coordinated twice-weekly cultural field trips. 

Healthy Futures

In FY 2012, nearly 12 percent of all new projects supported organizations 

that meet health needs, including access to food resources and health 

care, for economically disadvantaged individuals.

An example of a project in this focus area is:

• Across Ohio, 161 VISTA Summer Associates helped the Ohio Association 

of Food Banks provide food and resources to those in need. Summer 

Associates served 710,478 meals at 40 summer feeding programs 

during 2012, an increase of more than 24 percent in the number of 

meals served over program year 2011. AmeriCorps VISTA full-time 

members focused on capacity-building initiatives such as recruiting 

new Ohio Benefit Bank sites, developing resources, and coordinating 

community volunteers. In 2012, VISTAs recruited 4,365 volunteers who 

spent 26,655 hours volunteering in their communities. The VISTAs 

also secured more than $700,000 in cash and in-kind donations for 

organizations fighting poverty and hunger in Ohio.

Veterans and Military Families

VISTA continues to expand programming to support new projects that 

assist low-income veterans and military families, as well as enhancing 

existing projects to better serve low-income veterans. The VISTA program 

encourages all projects, particularly those that serve veterans and 

military families, to recruit veterans to serve as VISTA members. 

Examples of projects in this focus area include:

• Combating Veteran Homelessness. Habitat for Humanity’s Veteran 

Corps VISTA Program engaged military and veterans nationwide. 

This Veterans Corps provided more than 300 housing solutions in 

partnership with veteran partner families by placing VISTAs at Habitat 

affiliates across the country. The VISTAs have mobilized volunteers 

and raised more than $300,000 that will lay the groundwork for a 

sustainable program.

• Good Jobs for Veterans. This year, VISTAs working with the California 

Conservation Corps (CCC) are supporting recently discharged veterans 

as they transition from the CCC to permanent employment. The VISTAs, 

working with volunteers and partners they recruit, connect veterans 

serving in CCC Veterans Green Corps to support services and career 

development training. Of the first 25 veterans served by the program, 

18 were hired in civilian jobs or by the U.S. Forest Service. 
CNCS FY 2014 Congressional Budget Justification 27

Budget Activities | PART VI

• Joining Community Forces. VISTA’s commitment to serving veterans 

and military families in need includes a first-ever collaboration with 

the National Guard Bureau to expand its capacity to deliver communitybased solutions to returning guardsmen and reservists facing 

historically high unemployment and persistent economic challenges 

post-deployment. In the first six months of the initiative, ten states 

submitted applications for VISTA support to their returning guardsmen 

and their families. 

FY 2014 Budget Request and Performance Plan

For FY 2014, CNCS requests $94.820 million for the AmeriCorps VISTA 

program, the same as the FY 2012 enacted level. This funding will 

support roughly 5,759 member service years, placing a total of 7,700 

members (6,200 full-time and 1,500 Summer Associates) in FY 2014. 

In addition, at least 20 percent of the program’s portfolio will continue 

to be supported through cost-share agreements with sponsoring 

organizations and other private funding sources.

With 30 percent of projects turning over each year, AmeriCorps VISTA will 

continue to take advantage of new program development opportunities 

in FY 2014 to direct resources to projects that provide evidence-based 

interventions that demonstrate success in:

• Education — K-12 academic success and college readiness

• Economic Opportunity — Securing safe, healthy and affordable 

housing, developing financial literacy and other services aimed at 

increasing economic security, and enhancing employability

• Healthy Futures — Reducing obesity, improving nutrition and 

accessing health care

• Veterans and Military Families — Supporting and engaging veterans 

and their families in service.

Accountability, Efficiencies and Modernization Enhancements

Training Initiatives: In 2013 and continuing into 2014, CNCS is 

taking the next step forward in certifying that VISTAs receive highquality training and experiences which will help them advance in their 

education and careers. In partnership with the University of Virginia, 

VISTA validated the competencies that are developed through VISTA 

service. Building on this validation, CNCS is exploring certification 

and accreditation of the VISTA service in conjunction with its training 

programs. Upon completion, VISTAs would be eligible for a certificate 

or credential. The advantage to national service and VISTAs is great 

— service is valued professionally and intellectually; training is valued 

and rewarded; and career pathways are developed with easy access 

to alumni. The advantage to colleges and institutions is that they will 

attract greater numbers of high-caliber individuals. Foundations and 

other institutions in the social services sector will be able to employ 

individuals that they know have been well-trained, and are experienced 

in areas of pressing need. 

The VISTA Campus has greatly expanded since 2010 and an increasingly 

large audience relies on it to carry out more functions. As such, the 

Campus will migrate from a learning management system to a content 

management system as a way to respond to our stakeholders’ needs. 

While the current Campus has won the International Academy of Visual 

Arts W3 award for web design, and the International e-Learning award 

for course development, VISTA expects this next version of the Campus to 

improve on its success.

Member Health Care: The FY 2014 projected health care costs have 

been adjusted based on the FY 2012 actual costs for member health care 

claims, which came in significantly under projected amounts. This lower 

cost was due to the effective management of health providers’ permitted 

fees, negotiated reductions in fee-for-service billings, changes due to the 

Affordable Care Act (ACA) that resulted in more members remaining on 

their parents’ insurance plans, and changes in members’ actual needs. 

VISTA

Twelve VISTAs at Legal Assistance Foundation 

of Metropolitan Chicago helped low-income 

individuals get legal representation and navigate 

the legal system, important steps towards 

economic self-sufficiency. VISTA members 

recruited, coordinated, trained and supported 

volunteer attorneys and interpreters for a program 

that assisted immigrant victims of domestic 

violence who were applying for U.S. citizenship 

under the Violence Against Women Act. In a 

two-year period ending in FY 2012, VISTAs 

recruited almost 250 volunteer attorneys who 

contributed 10,000 hours of legal services 

annually and served more than 1,100 clients.
28 CNCS FY 2014 Congressional Budget Justification 

The Corporation for National and Community Service

Authorized in 1964, the VISTA program will begin preparations to mark 

50 years in service to America in FY 2014. While VISTA has evolved 

over the years in response to our ever-changing society, at its core, 

the program’s vision remains the same: that the most effective longterm solutions to fighting poverty originates in the community itself; 

that organizations and agencies rooted in the community can leverage 

federal, state, and local resources to empower the community; and that 

VISTA resources are best used when focused on building the capacity of 

these community-based organizations to strengthen the community. 

Table 7. AmeriCorps VISTA Vital Statistics

FY10 Actual FY11 Actual FY12 Actual FY13 Target FY14 Target

Appropriation (in thousands) $99,027 $98,662 $94,820 $95,401 $94,820 

Number of New Members Enrolled1 7,776 7,438 8,165 7,700 7,700

Number of Member Service Years (MSYs) 5,387 5,786 5,745 5,745 5,759

Cost per MSY $18,391 $17,089 $16,506 $16,606 $16,465 

Average Health Care Cost Per Member $2,766 $2,084 $2,235 $2,488 $1,931 

1 In FY 2012, VISTA exceeded its new member target by expanding its summer associate program.

BUDGET ACTIVITY 3:

AmeriCorps National Civilian 

Community Corps 

(National and Community Service Act of 1990, Title I, Subtitle E)

Program Summary

AmeriCorps National Civilian Community Corps (NCCC) is a residential, 

team-based program that provides opportunities for young Americans 

between the ages of 18 and 24 to address pressing national and 

community needs in all 50 states through 10 months of full-time, 

intensive national service. The service, training, and certification 

provided by AmeriCorps NCCC increase employment skills, leadership 

abilities, and economic opportunity for young adults — particularly those 

from disadvantaged circumstances.

AmeriCorps NCCC’s structure of five regional campuses1

 allows for rapid 

deployment of teams to meet both local and national needs, particularly 

disaster relief. Thus, AmeriCorps NCCC plays a critical role in achieving 

CNCS’s strategic goal of increasing the impact of national service 

on meeting community needs, including providing disaster services. 

AmeriCorps NCCC’s flexible structure enables the program to partner 

with resource-challenged communities that lack the financial, human 

NCCC

AmeriCorps NCCC provides rigorous training in 

skills such as first aid, CPR, firefighting, case 

management, asset mapping, and volunteer 

coordination, which prepare its members to 

serve as lead CNCS disaster responders and as 

force multipliers who can effectively coordinate 

and manage episodic volunteers. Since 2000, 

more than 14,000 AmeriCorps NCCC members 

from across the country have served more than 

4.9 million hours on 2,027 disaster service 

projects. In addition to disaster preparation, 

mitigation, response, and recovery, AmeriCorps 

NCCC members serve at the request of local, 

state, and regional organizations in the areas 

of infrastructure improvement, environmental 

stewardship and conservation, urban and rural 

development, and energy conservation.
CNCS FY 2014 Congressional Budget Justification 29

Budget Activities | PART VI

Table 8. AmeriCorps National Civilian Community Corps Budget Summary (dollars in thousands)

Budget Account

FY12

Enacted

FY13 Annualized

CR Level FY14 Request

Increase/Decrease

(2012-2014)

Program Support $13,062 $13,142 $13,027 ($35)

Program Operations 18,820 18,935 16,855 (1,965)

Total Budget Authority $31,882 $32,077 $29,882 ($2,000)

Total Annualized Members 1,011 1,011 998 (13)

Strategic Goals: Increase impact on communities; enhance volunteer experience; maximize value to grantees, partners and participants

capital, or organizational capacity to manage grant programs. The 

structure also enables NCCC to strategically partner with other national 

service programs to multiply community impact.

AmeriCorps NCCC’s commitment to providing leadership opportunities 

for its members also makes it a strong contributor to CNCS’s strategic 

goal of providing professional, educational and life benefits to service 

participants. Young people are empowered through NCCC service, 

training, and leadership development activities. They leave the 10-month 

program with the technical and life skills needed to become productive 

and engaged citizens and feel prepared and obligated to become leaders 

in their own community and workplace. The AmeriCorps longitudinal 

study found that AmeriCorps NCCC alums are more likely to continue 

serving their communities and go into public service careers than similar 

individuals that did not serve in the program.

FY 2012 Accomplishments and Program Impact

In FY 2012, 29 percent of AmeriCorps NCCC project hours were devoted 

to disaster services nationwide, providing support to displaced and needy 

individuals, families, and communities. 

AmeriCorps NCCC members participated in disaster response and 

recovery efforts in 45 states in FY 2012, including continued recovery 

efforts in Joplin, Missouri; Tuscaloosa, Alabama; and throughout the 

mid-Atlantic and South following Hurricanes Irene and Isaac. NCCC’s 

efforts were recognized by several state legislatures for the impact of 

their work. In addition, NCCC members provided support following the 

wild fires in Colorado. The program supported disaster response efforts 

in partnership with the Federal Emergency Management Agency 

(FEMA), the American Red Cross, State Service Commissions, and local 

municipalities throughout the U.S. and its territories. In 2012, NCCC 

members assisted more than 100,000 people affected by disasters.

The average AmeriCorps NCCC member completed 1,894 hours of service 

(including training) during their service term in FY 2012, significantly 

more than the required level of 1,700 hours. In addition, AmeriCorps 

NCCC members:

• Weatherized or outfitted 1,068 homes with energy-efficient modifications.

• Assisted 38,452 senior citizens.

• Returned $13,733,751 tax dollars to American communities through tax 

preparation services. 

• Suppressed or contained wildfires on 288,977 acres, and performed 

prescribed burns on more than 21,761 acres of land to prevent further 

wildfire spreading.

• Constructed or restored 678 miles of hiking trails.

• Recruited or coordinated 51,689 community volunteers. 

• Completed 484 additional projects in the areas of infrastructure 

improvement, environmental stewardship and conservation, energy 

conservation, and urban and rural development (which include 

education) for a total of 1.4 million hours of service. 

NCCC and FEMA

Building on a successful 19-year history of working together on disaster 

response and recovery efforts, CNCS and FEMA in 2012 launched FEMA 

Corps, an innovative partnership to support a new unit of 1,600 AmeriCorps 

NCCC members solely devoted to disaster response and recovery. 

This partnership builds on the historic collaboration between the two 

agencies and will:

• Enhance the federal government’s disaster capabilities. 

• Increase the reliability and diversity of the disaster workforce.

• Expand education and economic opportunity for young people. 

• Achieve significant cost savings for the American taxpayer. 

1 Perry Point, MD; Vinton, IA; Vicksburg; MS; Denver, CO; and Sacramento, CA
30 CNCS FY 2014 Congressional Budget Justification 

The Corporation for National and Community Service

FEMA Corps members will solely focus on disaster response and recovery 

activities. This includes providing support in areas ranging from working 

directly with disaster survivors to supporting Joint Field Offices and 

disaster recovery centers to sharing valuable disaster preparedness and 

mitigation information with the public. 

In FY 2012, the first 480 FEMA Corps members began their term of 

service. Shortly after their induction, all FEMA Corps teams were 

deployed to New York and New Jersey to respond to Hurricane Sandy, 

where they provided vital assistance to tens of thousands of disaster 

survivors. The FEMA Corps program will prepare thousands of young 

people for careers in emergency management and related fields. 

Members will receive significant training and experience in disaster 

services and will provide important support to disaster survivors.

AmeriCorps NCCC in Action: Program Examples

Supporting Veterans and Military Families

In FY 2012 NCCC partnered with the Minneapolis Veterans Home to 

improve living facilities for veterans. The Minneapolis Veterans Home 

provides skilled nursing, including dementia care and domiciliary care to 

over 300 veterans. An NCCC team from the North Central Campus spent 

1,249 member hours cleaning, repairing, and painting 62 resident rooms 

and common areas. This allowed 92 veterans in temporary housing to 

return home in time for the holidays. 

Helping Communities Respond to Disasters

In 2012, eleven NCCC teams in 2012 helped with Colorado fire prevention 

or response with eight partners including the El Paso County Sheriff’s 

Office Emergency Services Division and the USDA Forest Service. These 

teams helped suppress or contain fires across 100,000 acres; received, 

inventoried, or distributed over 100 tons of food; directly assisted over 

35,000 disaster survivors; and removed over 50 tons of underbrush to 

prevent future fires. NCCC members’ fire control and mitigation efforts 

helped create safer trails, public areas, and residential communities in 

Denver, Boulder, Colorado Springs, and Florissant, CO.

Strengthening Energy Efficiency 

With Veterans Green Jobs in Denver, CO, three NCCC teams insulated 

and weatherized homes, distributed energy kits, developed a recycling 

program, and assisted with public outreach. Two AmeriCorps NCCC 

teams also worked with partner organization Green Light New Orleans 

to replace almost 9,000 traditional light bulbs in area residents’ homes 

with compact fluorescent bulbs, resulting in almost $1,000,000 in 

energy savings and reducing New Orleans’ carbon footprint by almost 

10,000,000 pounds of CO2. 

Promoting Environmental Stewardship

NCCC members worked with the Appalachian Coal Country Team in seven 

communities and four states around Beckley, WV. Corps members led 

volunteers in planting 5,000 trees in reclaimed coal mine areas, restoring 

and building almost 10 miles of hiking trails, removing over 3,000 pounds 

of trash and exotic vegetation, and restoring over 700 feet of damaged 

streams and riverbeds. Surrounding communities benefited from safer, 

improved public spaces, and a low-income housing complex gained a 

new community garden. 

AmeriCorps NCCC partners with diverse project sponsors to build 

resilient communities. The dual impact of NCCC is that communities 

benefit from the service projects while NCCC members gain valuable 

training experience to enhance and inform their career paths.

In FY 2012, AmeriCorps NCCC is reporting on the issue areas identified 

in the Serve America Act and CNCS’s Strategic Plan: natural and other 

disasters, infrastructure improvement, environmental stewardship and 

conservation, urban and rural development, and energy conservation. 

NCCC previously tested approaches to performance measurement that 

led to the adoption of a set of valid and tested measures that clearly 

reflect the community and member outcomes of the program.

FY 2014 Budget Request and Performance Plan

In FY 2014, CNCS requests $29.882 million for AmeriCorps NCCC, a 

decrease of $2.000 million from the FY 2012 enacted level. Part of this 

reduction is due to one-time FY 2012 costs of $3.0 million to relocate its 

Atlantic Region campus located in Perryville, Maryland. 

NCCC

In 2012, four NCCC teams helped the St. Bernard 

Project with long-term recovery in Joplin, MO after 

the 2011 tornado. Corps members coordinated 

almost 2000 volunteers to remove over eleven tons 

of debris from area homes, refurbish and renovate 

21 homes, and assist more than 1600 survivors. 

NCCC members’ efforts galvanized and increased 

the effectiveness of visiting volunteer groups, 

allowing more displaced residents to return to 

their homes in Joplin.
CNCS FY 2014 Congressional Budget Justification 31

Budget Activities | PART VI

Table 9. AmeriCorps National Civilian Community Corps Service Hours

FY 2012 Accomplishments

Issue Area Team Service Hours Completed1 Percentage of Total Team Service Hours

Natural and Other Disasters 412,746 29%

Infrastructure Improvement 90,331 6%

Environmental Stewardship and Conservation 316,487 23%

Energy Conservation 50,335 4%

Urban and Rural Development 531,143 38%

Total 1,401,0422 100%

1

 These hours do not include those devoted to training or the 80 hours of individual service each NCCC member must complete with a community sponsor of their own choosing.

2

 The lower number of FY 2012 member service hours as compared to FY2011 is primarily due to a decrease in Natural and Other Disasters hours. FY 2011 Corps Members 

worked through two major disasters — the tornado in Joplin, MO and flooding in IA—and disaster work typically requires many more service hours than projects in other 

issue areas. This past year, FY 2012, did not include similar major disasters, until the Hurricane Sandy response in the beginning of FY 2013.

The FY 2014 request will support an annualized enrollment of 998 

members — slightly fewer than the number of NCCC corps members 

projected to serve in FY 2013. The FY 2014 cost per member of $27,830 

is an expected decrease compared to the estimated FY 2013 cost of 

$27,954 (using FY 2009 constant dollars).

This budget request supports a program that is making a strong 

and lasting impact on communities and the members who serve. 

Communities across the nation have benefited from NCCC’s swift and 

intense disaster response and recovery efforts, and in meeting other vital 

community needs. The funding request permits NCCC to provide a flexible 

program model that meets the needs of nonprofits, municipalities, 

educational institutions, and other partners when local resources are 

scarce and other national programs are unable to provide services. 

Youth From Disadvantaged Circumstances and Workforce 

Development

AmeriCorps NCCC has made significant progress toward the 50 percent 

target for participation by youth from disadvantaged circumstances 

articulated in the Serve America Act. More than 30 percent of all 

members serving across the program’s five campuses are youth from 

disadvantaged backgrounds, which represents a fourfold growth from 

the 8 percent of members from disadvantaged backgrounds in 2010. The 

program is further developing alliances for targeted constituencies like 

faith and community based nonprofits in order to meet the recruitment 

goal. NCCC is also engaging employers and educators in partnerships, so 

the benefits of service in NCCC translate readily to prospective employers 

or admissions personnel. 

According to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, 

Administration for Children and Families, 11 percent of children in Foster 

Care are emancipated each year, which yields between 20,000 and 

30,000 youth ages 17-20 transitioning to adulthood from foster care. 

NCCC plans to expand outreach efforts to this population because foster 

care adults in transition could benefit greatly from the structure and 

training provided by the program. 

NCCC plays a significant role in preparing and educating young adults for 

the jobs of the 21st century. According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, 

the unemployment rate for youth between the ages of 16-24 was more 

than 18 percent in 2011, and youth from under-served and economically 

challenged communities and families were unemployed at nearly twice 

the rate of their less challenged peers. 

NCCC has developed a number of partnerships to support recruitment 

of youth from disadvantaged circumstances including the National 

Guard Youth ChalleNGe, the National Job Corps Association, YouthBuild 

USA, Casey Family Programs, Covenant House, and the National Alliance 

of Faith and Justice. For the 2012 recruitment cycle, partnerships 

with nonprofits, national associations and other Federal agencies 

generated approximately 600 applications. Of those applicants, 205 

joined AmeriCorps NCCC. Both headquarters and campus-based staff 

and support have been enhanced to ensure that all members have the 

necessary support, encouragement, and training to successfully complete 

their term of service. In addition, the program has developed a structure 

to assist members who have left high school to receive their GED.
32 CNCS FY 2014 Congressional Budget Justification 

The Corporation for National and Community Service

To assist with employment prospects after NCCC graduation, the program 

has partnered with institutions of higher learning, such as the American 

Council on Education, to provide college credits for member training 

and service experience. In addition, a partnership with the Nonprofit 

Leadership Alliance offers a certification in nonprofit management to 

NCCC members. These partnerships, in conjunction with a new initiative 

to create opportunities for NCCC members to attend community colleges, 

reflect the program’s dedication to fulfilling CNCS’s strategic goal to 

expand educational, employment, and civic opportunities. 

Efficiencies

CNCS is committed to managing the AmeriCorps NCCC program in a 

cost-effective manner through sound financial planning and efficient 

operations. Over the past several years, a number of measures aimed 

at improving cost effectiveness have been implemented across the 

campuses, including:

• Creating a disaster services staging area at the Southern Region 

campus that can be used by both CNCS and non-CNCS organizations 

for deployments, volunteer shelter, and supply and equipment storage.

• Streamlining uniform purchases and eliminating costly pre-service 

physicals for members, saving $250,000 per year. 

• Acquiring the Maximo Inventory Control database, which provides 

real-time tracking of supplies and equipment across all five campuses, 

allowing for efficient purchasing of needed stock in the future.

• Utilizing the NCCC Optimization plan, which clearly articulates how 

NCCC can maximize cost-effectiveness in a residential program model, 

and was used as the basis for the FEMA partnership. 

• Campus utilization rates are projected to increase with the introduction 

of FEMA Corps. By the end of FY 2014, 100 percent campus utilization 

rates are expected.

The following management and operations performance metrics have 

been adopted to determine the efficiency of program operations and will 

continue to be measured in FY 2014:

• Cost per member;

• Budget forecasting, i.e., degree of synchronicity between budget 

formulation and execution; and

• Audit or IG findings — external, independent review showing no (or 

minor) deficiencies.

Annual internal monitoring and assessments called In-progress 

Reviews have resulted in all campuses meeting the overall standards of 

performance and management for program implementation.

Table 10. AmeriCorps National Civilian Community Corps Vital Statistics

FY10 Actual FY11 Actual FY12 Actual FY13 Target FY14 Target

Appropriations ($ in Thousands) $28,787 $28,788 $31,882 $32,077 $29,882 

Number of Member Service Years 1,200 1,149 1,200 1,200 1,200

Annualized Enrollment 964 1,036 1,011 1,011 998

Cost Per MSY $30,051 $27,936 $27,909 $29,572 $29,941 

Cost Per MSY in Constant 2009 Dollars $29,931 $27,606 $27,252 $27,954 $27,830 
CNCS FY 2014 Congressional Budget Justification 33

Budget Activities | PART VI

BUDGET ACTIVITY 4:

State Service Commission 

Support Grants

(National and Community Service Act of 1990, Title I, sections 

126(a) and 178)

Program Summary

When Congress created CNCS in 1993, it envisioned national service as 

a shared federal-state enterprise, providing a central role for governors 

in designing and implementing national service through State Service 

Commissions. More than a thousand private citizens serve as governorappointed commissioners and direct the states’ national service efforts. 

State Commissions serve as invaluable partners to CNCS, identifying 

local needs, directing federal and state resources, and leading citizen 

service efforts in their states.

For nearly 20 years, State Service Commissions have not only 

administered AmeriCorps grants, but have been a driving force on the 

state level for using service as a strategy to address local problems. 

In times of need, State Commissions lead efforts to tackle critical 

challenges through citizen engagement — managing volunteers and 

donations after natural disasters, addressing high school dropout rates, 

increasing mentoring efforts, supporting persons with disabilities, 

helping veterans make the transition to civilian life, and establishing 

volunteer centers, online matching platforms, and other systems to 

effectively engage citizens in service. 

Today, the nation’s 53 State and Territory Service Commissions operate 

at the state and local level administering approximately two-thirds of 

CNCS’s AmeriCorps grant funds. Commissions perform many essential 

tasks: outreach to prospective AmeriCorps grantees, conducting grant 

competitions, overseeing and monitoring grants and AmeriCorps 

programs through desk reviews and site visits, and providing the training 

and technical assistance necessary to build the capacity of faith-based 

and community organizations seeking to operate AmeriCorps programs. 

They are uniquely well-suited to this work because they know and 

understand the local needs. Commissions are often closely connected 

with governors’ offices. They are critical to implementing the goal 

of increasing performance impact and accountability. State Service 

Commissions are also essential to the effective oversight of federal 

funds, having frontline responsibility for ensuring grantees comply with 

all federal rules and regulations. 

State Service Commissions establish state-wide goals for national 

service and volunteer action and actively pursue them in collaboration 

with other CNCS programs, volunteer centers, Voluntary Organizations 

Active in Disaster (VOADs), and other partners. Commission activities 

include hosting statewide volunteer conferences, coordinating state 

volunteer training and matching systems, and coordinating volunteers 

in response to disasters. 

State Service Commission Support grants are an example of leveraging 

federal resources to meet locally identified needs. These grants have a 

1:1 match requirement. For every federal dollar provided, states must 

match a dollar of state or private funds. Given tight state budgets, 

continued state funding is an indication that governors value the critical 

role of State Service Commissions in assessing and addressing local needs. 

State Service Commission Highlights

Serve Alabama: The Governor’s Office of Faith-Based and Community 

Initiatives is the state entity responsible for national and community 

service and also serves as a hub for all the disaster readiness and 

volunteer-related disaster activities for the state. Serve Alabama handles 

responsibilities associated with AmeriCorps grant development and 

administration and has been assigned the additional role by the governor 

of handling disaster responsibilities, including volunteer coordination, 

donation management, and community preparedness efforts.

OneStar Foundation: The Texas Service Commission has launched the 

Texas Connector, an online interactive mapping tool that provides a visual 

“snapshot” of needs (demand) and services (supply), in Texas. The tool is 

designed to empower communities, state and local governments, funders, 

and nonprofit leaders to more effectively meet Texas’ growing needs by 

providing data and reports to analyze community needs and resources 

to more effectively address gaps in service. The Texas Connector bridges 

Table 11. State Commission Administration Grants, Budget Summary (dollars in thousands)

Budget Account FY12 Enacted

FY13 Annualized

CR Level FY14 Request

Increase/Decrease

(2012-2014)

State Service Commission Administration Grants $13,441 $13,523 $14,841 $1,400 

Total Budget Authority $13,441 $13,523 $14,841 $1,400 
34 CNCS FY 2014 Congressional Budget Justification 

The Corporation for National and Community Service

the information gap between nonprofits that offer services and the 

underserved communities of Texas that need those services by displaying 

statewide nonprofit information and demographic and socioeconomic data 

derived from a variety of governmental and other sources. This project 

has attracted foundation, private sector, and state government support. 

Through this work, the OneStar Foundation will help communities improve 

the coordination of resources across Texas.

The Washington Commission for National and Community Service: 

This Commission has been a leader in developing an innovative model to 

support student veterans. Through their efforts, the Commission helped 

develop a veteran’s navigator initiative that places veterans, who serve 

as AmeriCorps members, at community colleges and four year higher 

education institutions. These AmeriCorps members provide support to 

veterans who are enrolled in colleges under the post-9/11 GI Bill. Initial 

results indicate that this approach — veterans who are supported by 

fellow veterans serving as AmeriCorps members — generates a much 

higher college completion rate among veterans.

Serve Minnesota: In Minnesota, a statewide initiative is helping children 

become successful readers by the end of third grade — a pivot point 

for future success in school and in life. In the 2010-11 school year, nearly 

700 AmeriCorps members in the Minnesota Reading Corps delivered 

targeted, research-driven literacy tutoring to more than 19,000 of the 

state’s struggling readers. Eighty percent of students who completed 

their Minnesota Reading Corps tutoring passed the third-grade reading 

proficiency test, compared with 78 percent statewide pass rate. As a result 

of the help they received from AmeriCorps members, these previously 

struggling readers not only caught up to their peers; they surpassed them. 

This success is especially important because a study from the Annie E. 

Casey Foundation found that students who don’t read proficiently by third 

grade are four times less likely to graduate from high school.

FY 2014 Budget Request and Performance Plan

For FY 2014, CNCS requests $14.841 million for State Service 

Commissions, an increase of $1.4 million over the FY 2012 enacted 

level. This level will support Commissions in performing their critical 

administrative, oversight, monitoring, and strategic functions and to 

effectively implement CNCS grants and programs. With these funds, 

they will continue to build the capacity necessary to implement the 

performance-based culture and associated programmatic deliverables 

with grantees. Commissions will monitor programs and conduct site 

visits to ensure grantees are accounting for federal funds appropriately 

and meeting performance objectives. This budget level will support 

states in carrying out their oversight and monitoring duties and functions 

as they have responsibility for approximately two-thirds of CNCS’s 

AmeriCorps State and National portfolio. In addition, the requested 

amount will be used to expand and strengthen the delivery of state-wide 

training and technical assistance for national service programs and 

participants. This federal investment leverages substantial outside funds 

due to the requirement that State Commissions match each federal dollar 

with a dollar of state and/or private funds.

CNCS seeks to have the minimum State Commission Administration grant 

remain at $200,000, the level established in the FY 2012 Appropriation, 

rather than revert to the $250,000 level set in the 2009 Serve America 

Act Amendments to the National and Community Service Act. Maintaining 

the lower minimum affords CNCS the flexibility it needs to ensure that 

it can meet the needs of all Commissions, large and small. A lower 

minimum reserves a larger amount of funding for distribution by formula 

(i.e., above the minimum) allowing CNCS to ensure that states are 

funded at a level that corresponds with the size of their population. If 

the minimum were to revert to the authorized $250,000 level and the 

overall budget line were not increased by a corresponding amount, larger 

states (with larger service portfolios) would have their budgets reduced 

as funds are reallocated to small states to meet the higher minimum 

requirement. CNCS seeks this change to ensure that all Commissions 

have the funds they need to meet their oversight and monitoring duties.

Accountability

CNCS will provide support to Commissions including training, 

technical assistance, and best-practices. CNCS is enhancing the grant 

application instructions and progress report for the State Commission 

Support Grants. These changes will strengthen CNCS’s ability to track 

Commission accomplishments and provide better customer service to 

Commissions that drive toward outcomes.

CNCS will assess the following performance metrics in FY 2014:

• Statewide member enrollment rates;

• Statewide member retention rates; and

• Commission budget planning and execution.

State Commissions are critical to implementing AmeriCorps and engaging 

citizens in solving problems. The requested level will ensure effective use 

of resources, enhance performance and impact, strengthen accountability, 

and fortify the capacity of Commissions to provide opportunities for more 

Americans to serve. 
CNCS FY 2014 Congressional Budget Justification 35

Budget Activities | PART VI

BUDGET ACTIVITY 5:

National Service Trust 

(National and Community Service Act of 1990, Title 1, 

Subtitle D)

Program Summary

The National Service Trust (the Trust) was established by the National 

and Community Service Trust Act of 1993 to provide funds for Segal 

AmeriCorps Education Awards for eligible AmeriCorps members, 

including VISTA and NCCC, who successfully complete their terms 

of service. Funding for the Trust comes from appropriations, interest 

earned, and proceeds from the sale or redemption of Trust investments. 

The Awards can be used to: 

• Repay qualified student loans; 

• Pay education expenses at a qualified institution of higher education 

(or GI-Bill institution for eligible members); and/or 

• Repay eligible interest expenses. 

Between CNCS’s inception in FY 1993 and FY 2009, the maximum 

amount of an education award was set at $4,725, as determined by a 

statutory formula. Under the Edward M. Kennedy Serve America Act, the 

amount of education awards is linked to the maximum level of Pell Grants 

each year. Thus for FY 2014, a full-time member who completes his or her 

term of service will earn an award of $5,645. The Trust also will disburse 

education awards of $500 earned by middle school students during 

Program Year 2010 of Learn and Serve America’s Summer of Service 

program, the only year such awards were made.

FY 2012 Accomplishments and Program Impact

Segal AmeriCorps Education Award: Between CNCS’s inception in 

FY1993 through FY 2012, AmeriCorps members have earned more than 

$2.43 billion in education awards and used over $1.67 billion to fund 

their education and repay student loans. In addition, CNCS made $62.04 

million in interest forbearance payments, covering the interest costs of 

outstanding student loans for AmeriCorps members who complete their 

terms of service. Approximately $243.9 million in earned education awards 

have expired without being used as of September 30, 2012. The Trust 

obligation formula has been adjusted to reflect these expired awards. 

In FY 2009, CNCS received an additional $40 million to fund education 

awards for AmeriCorps members supported by the Recovery Act. As of 

September 30, 2010, CNCS obligated $34.6 million, which will be paid 

as members use their awards, with $3.5 million set aside in the National 

Service Trust Reserve.

FY 2014 Budget Request and Performance Plan

For FY 2014, CNCS requests $207.293 million for the National Service 

Trust. The budget request, along with anticipated carryover, will support 

approximately 80,389 new member enrollments in the Trust, in line with 

these provisions: 

• An estimated average Trust cost per member service year (MSY) of 

$4,154; 

• Full-time members comprise approximately 46 percent of the portfolio; 

and 

• No increase to the National Service Trust Reserve. (As established 

by the Strengthen AmeriCorps Program Act, a portion of the funds in 

the Trust are held in reserve and are for use only in the event that the 

estimates used to calculate obligations differ from actual results. 

The reserve currently totals $46.7 million for the General Fund and 

$3.5 million for the Recovery Act Fund. To date, no reserve funds have 

been used. CNCS will continue to monitor the factors used to estimate 

Trust funding and make adjustments in the future if necessary.)

Calculation of Trust Budgetary Needs 

CNCS used the following assumptions to calculate budgetary needs of 

the Trust for FY 2014: 

• Member Service Years. This request proposes a total of 49,901 

AmeriCorps MSYs (representing 80,389 Trust members) who will be 

eligible for a Segal AmeriCorps Education Award. An additional 1,711 

VISTA members are projected to choose a cash stipend in lieu of an 

education award, and therefore do not affect funding needs in the 

Trust. Total slots including those for non-Trust members available for 

program year 2014 are 82,100.

Table 12. National Service Trust Budget Summary (dollars in thousands)

Budget Account FY12 Enacted

 FY13 Annualized

CR Level FY14 Request

Increase/Decrease

(2012-2014)

National Service Trust $211,797 $213,093 $207,293 ($4,504)

Total Budget Authority $211,797 $213,093 $207,293 ($4,504)
36 CNCS FY 2014 Congressional Budget Justification 

The Corporation for National and Community Service

• Enrollment Rate. Consistent with the Strengthen AmeriCorps Program 

Act legislative history, our calculation of Trust funding assumes that all 

members will be enrolled in the Trust (allowing for refillable slots). Over 

the past five years, enrollment rates have averaged about 98 percent of 

available slots. 

• Earning Rate. Based on the Strengthen AmeriCorps Program Act 

legislation, our FY 2014 calculation assumes that about 84 percent of 

members enrolled in the Trust will complete their service (ranges from 

77 to 86 percent depending on term type) and earn an award, which is 

consistent with our Trust model. 

• Full Value of the Award. This calculation assumes that members 

earning an award will earn the full value based on their earning 

category (e.g., full-time, part-time, and reduced part-time). Historically, 

we have found that about four percent of members exit programs early 

and receive a slightly reduced award. 

• Usage Rate. Based on Trust model projections, for FY 2014, CNCS 

is projecting 87 percent of the awards earned will be used, which 

includes a factor of 100 percent for members over age 55. Under the 

Serve America Act, education awards earned by members over age 55 

can be transferred to an eligible beneficiary. CNCS is projecting that all 

transferable awards eventually will be used. 

• Net Present Value. Two years can elapse between the time that CNCS 

receives an appropriation for the Trust, a grant is awarded, and a 

member is enrolled and completes his or her service term. In addition, 

members have seven years from the completion of their service to use 

their award. Consequently, over nine years can elapse between the 

initial appropriation to the Trust and when an education award is used. 

Members who perform multiple terms of service, or are unavoidably 

prevented from using their education award can also receive an 

extension of the time the education award can be used. CNCS takes 

this time frame into account by discounting the education award to 

its net present value. The discount factors used in the calculation are 

based on historical usage patterns, Office of Management and Budget 

(OMB) projected interest rates, and the weighted average maturity of 

CNCS’s Trust portfolio. 

• Reserve Account. This request does not include additional funding for 

the National Service Trust Reserve, which currently stands at $50.2 

million and we believe is adequate to cover unanticipated costs.

BUDGET ACTIVITY 6:

RSVP

(Domestic Volunteer Service Act of 1973, Title II)

Program Summary

RSVP engages the skills, talents, and experience of approximately 320,600 

volunteers age 55 and older to meet a wide range of community needs. 

Volunteers serve in community organizations to help them deliver critical 

services and fulfill their missions. Using skills they have developed over 

a lifetime, RSVP volunteers are making an impact — helping seniors 

live independently in their homes, tutoring and mentoring at-risk youth, 

expanding economic opportunity for veterans and their families, and 

helping communities recover from disasters. While serving their community, 

RSVP volunteers also improve their own lives by staying active and civically 

engaged — experiencing physical and mental health benefits. 

RSVP is a flexible volunteer service model, with no set service schedules 

or compensation for the volunteers when on assignment, with the 

exception of insurance coverage and mileage reimbursement. RSVP 

grants are provided to eligible sponsoring organizations, including 

nonprofit and faith-based organizations and state, local, and tribal 

governments. RSVP has the largest rural footprint of any CNCS program, 

and often provides important disaster services in rural communities. The 

required non-federal share is a minimum 10 percent of the total grant 

in year one, 20 percent in year two, and 30 percent in year three and all 

subsequent years. Grants are awarded for a period of up to three years.

FY 2012 Accomplishments and Program Impact2 

In FY 2012, RSVP volunteers delivered more than 47 million hours of 

service in their communities. Across the network of 676 federally funded 

grantees, 320,600 volunteers served in more than 38,000 community 

organizations, called volunteer stations, nationwide to deliver essential 

services. Preparation for competition and the release of the CNCS 

national performance measures helped focus the RSVP grantees on 

increasing community impact in anticipation of full implementation of 

competition and performance measures in 2013-2015. This focus can be 

seen in increased outputs in FY 2012. Working through such networks as 

Area Agencies on Aging, Volunteer Centers, United Ways, social services 

agencies, and many others, RSVP volunteers: 

• Served 563,200 veterans in activities such as transportation and 

employment service referrals;

2 Data provided were reported as actual and final for the period July 1, 2011 through June 30, 2012
CNCS FY 2014 Congressional Budget Justification 37

Budget Activities | PART VI

Table 13. RSVP Budget Summary (dollars in thousands)

Budget Items FY12 Enacted

 FY13 Annualized

CR Level FY14 Request

Increase/ (Decrease)

(2012-2014)

Grants to projects

 Continuing grants $44,463 $34,044 $33,977 ($10,486)

 Grant Augmentations 309 (309)

 New grants 3,758 14,434 14,194 10,436 

Subtotal, grants 48,530 48,478 48,171 (359)

Grantmaking and Business Support 1,674 2,033 2,033 359 

Total Budget Authority $50,204 $50,511 $50,204 $0 

Strategic Goals: Increase impact on communities; enhance volunteer experience; maximize value to grantees, partners and participants

• Mentored more than 82,590 children;

• Provided independent living services to 742,800 adults, primarily 

frail seniors;

• Provided respite services to nearly 24,000 family or informal 

caregivers; and

• Engaged 24,450 veterans who served as RSVP volunteers.

In FY 2012, states and local communities contributed more than $37.5 

million in non-federal funds to support RSVP projects. This level is 42 

percent of the total cost, and well above the required 30 percent nonfederal share required by the program. This additional funding, including 

the $6 million in state appropriated dollars, demonstrates the value of 

the essential services that RSVP volunteers provide in their communities. 

RSVP in Action: Program Examples

Providing Veterans Employment Services — Washington

Working with RSVP, the Veterans Employment and Training Service 

at the U.S. Department of Labor (DOL VETS), the Olympic Community 

Action Council in Port Townsend, WA, and the Coastal Community Action 

Council in Aberdeen/Grays Harbor, WA created two new RSVP programs 

in 2011 that support economic opportunities for rural veterans. This was 

expanded to RSVP of Yakima County in 2012. Teams of RSVP volunteers 

visit with veterans, check on their career developments, and alert them 

to additional support available from DOL, Veterans Affairs (VA), and other 

government and non-government organizations. In 2012, Washington 

State RSVP volunteers made contact with approximately 6,000 veterans, 

and they connected more than 250 individuals to employment services, 

VA benefits, transportation, education, and other resources. In addition, 

RSVP volunteers served 500 veterans through “Stand Down” events 

where veterans access multiple social services in one-day events. Senior 

Corps is replicating this program in Washington and other states. 

Vets Helping Vets — RSVP of Dane County, Wisconsin

RSVP of Dane County operates a Vets Helping Vets driver escort program 

for veterans who are left without transportation. Through this initiative, 

veterans receive a ride to medical and other appointments from a 

fellow veteran who speaks the same language as the veterans they are 

transporting and understands the issues that they may be facing. 

From January through November of 2012, RSVP drivers provided 1,872 

rides for 292 veterans and their families. Their service includes helping 

homeless veterans who live in transitional housing and supporting the VA 

hospital by driving the hospital van. The program has recently seen an 

increase in the number of younger veterans (under age 60) that it serves. 

Food Security — RSVP of Butler County, Kansas 

RSVP of Butler County, Kansas operates two volunteer initiatives 

designed to help homebound seniors, particular those in rural areas, 

maintain a healthy diet and remain in their own homes. 

The Freezer Meal program delivers frozen meals to Butler County seniors 

who do not have access to a Meals on Wheels program or to a nearby 

senior center lunch program. In FY 2012, RSVP volunteers delivered 3,194 

Freezer Meals to 38 older adults in rural areas. 

The Shopping for Seniors initiative helps adults who cannot shop for 

themselves. RSVP volunteers take grocery orders over the phone and then 

purchase items on the list and deliver the groceries to seniors’ homes. 

Grocery orders are taken weekly and there is no cost to participants 

except for the cost of their groceries. 
38 CNCS FY 2014 Congressional Budget Justification 

The Corporation for National and Community Service

In 2011, RSVP volunteers provided 7,460 hours and served 650 clients 

in food security programs in Butler County. This service included 

distributing food and delivering Meals on Wheels, preparing and 

delivering freezer meals, and shopping for the elderly through the 

Shopping for Seniors program. The service provided by RSVP volunteers 

potentially yielded a savings of $113,303 in state Medicaid costs if the 

same services were provided through the Home and Community Based 

Services waiver in Kansas. If these clients had been in a semi-private 

room in a Kansas nursing home, the cost of care would have been 

$54,750 per person a year or a total sum of $35.5 million. 

Food Security and School Engagement — RSVP of Southwest Montana

Every week 60 RSVP volunteers worked with the public schools in 

Bozeman and Livingston, Montana along with the Gallatin Valley Food 

Bank and Livingston Food Bank to help meet the nutritional needs 

of 787 school age children who might otherwise go hungry over the 

weekends. The KidsPack Program aims to end hunger for area children 

by picking up where state-funded programs leave off, at no cost to 

the school districts or government programs. Through the KidsPack 

Program, nutritionally balanced, kid-friendly foods are packed by RSVP 

volunteers and distributed to local school children every Friday during the 

school year. A 2009-10 school-level evaluation of the KidsPack program 

noted multiple benefits for participating students well-being including 

better relationships with school staff and/or other students, feeling 

more secure, more interest in school, and fewer behavior problems. 

Additionally, schools report participating students demonstrate a better 

and more trusting relationship with school personnel and/or other 

students. Because the educational environment improves as behavioral 

problems decline, this program could lead to benefits for all the students 

in the classroom, not just the children participating in the program.

RSVP Program Grant Competitions

Fiscal Year 2012 Competition: 

In FY 2012, CNCS conducted a national RSVP competition to award 

approximately $4 million in program funds that were unexpended due to 

grantees relinquishing their RSVP grants. During FY 2011 and through the 

end of FY 2012, a total of 76 RSVP grantees, or approximately 10 percent 

of the FY 2011 RSVP grant portfolio, either voluntarily relinquished their 

grants or were denied refunding. This reduction in RSVP grants was 

a primary factor in the lower number of volunteer stations, from the 

previous 65,000 to the currently reported 38,000. 

In the RSVP competition, CNCS determined that organizations in all 

communities where RSVP services were lost would be eligible to apply 

for grants to return RSVP volunteers to the geographic service area. 

In addition, a second component of the national RSVP competition 

allowed existing RSVP grantees to apply for new funds to augment their 

current grants. The focus of augmentation grants was supporting RSVP 

volunteers to serve veterans or military families.

The RSVP 2012 competition resulted in 22 new grants in 24 geographic 

areas previously served by RSVP. An estimated 7,550 volunteers will be 

supported by these grants. A total of 16 existing grantees also received 

augmentation grants to support 725 new volunteers serving veterans 

and military families.

RSVP Fiscal Year 2013 Competition

In FY 2012, CNCS completed all of the planning and development for the 

FY 2013 RSVP competition, an important requirement of the bipartisan 

2009 Edward M. Kennedy Serve America Act. A total of 240 RSVP 

grants, or 36 percent of the RSVP portfolio, were included in the FY 2013 

competition. An additional 52 geographic service areas previously served 

by RSVP, which had no incumbent RSVP grant, were also included in the 

competition. This competition marks the first time some of these federal 

grants have been competed since 1971.

RSVP

Infrastructure is crucial to successful response 

efforts during natural disasters. In June 2012, RSVP 

volunteers, in collaboration with the American Red 

Cross and Colorado Voluntary Organizations Active in 

Disasters, worked to support emergency operations and 

disaster recovery efforts during the Colorado wildfires. 

RSVP volunteers were instrumental in establishing 

and supporting the disaster response infrastructure 

including shelters, disaster recovery centers, donation 

centers, and communications systems and in 

leveraging additional community resources for response 

and recovery. Their efforts helped 30,000 individuals 

receive community resources, supported 5,200 

individuals in American Red Cross shelters, and helped 

more than 2,000 people with disaster recovery efforts 

at donation centers.
CNCS FY 2014 Congressional Budget Justification 39

Budget Activities | PART VI

Table 14. RSVP Vital Statistics

FY10 Actual FY11 Actual FY12 Actual FY13 Target FY14 Target

Number of federally funded CNCS 

awards/grantees

737 704 676 654 654

Average federal award/grant $83,080 $69,991 $71,790 $73,899 $73,899

Number of Direct Volunteers 400,475 296,380 320,600 295,275 295,275

3 Section 201 of DVSA

4 Section 416 (a) of DVSA

Parameters of the RSVP 2013 competition included:

• All applicants must meet all statutory and regulatory requirements of 

RSVP, and must meet national performance measures requirements to 

be selected for funding. 

• RSVP grants scheduled for competition must propose services in the 

posted geographic service areas, support at least 80 percent of the 

number of volunteers enrolled by the incumbent grantee, and minimize, 

to the extent possible, disruptions to the current volunteers associated 

with any incumbent project. 

As a result of the competition, 205 new grants (totaling approximately 

$14.1 million) were announced in February of 2013. An estimated 79,575 

volunteers will serve through these new grants. An additional four 

grants were announced in March of 2013. An estimated 295,275 RSVP 

volunteers will serve in FY 2013 and FY 2014. The reduction in number 

of volunteers from the previous year reflects the fewer grants awarded 

in FY 2013, due to the phasing of the competition with additional 

relinquishments and other factors. 

In a time of growing social and economic challenges, national service 

is a critical and cost-effective method to engage millions of citizens 

in solving problems in their communities. In implementing the 2013 

competition in RSVP, CNCS is focused on achieving higher levels of 

impact by: 

• Demonstrating accountability, impact and good management of the 

public purse; 

• Driving existing projects toward continuous quality improvement; and

• Supporting the implementation of the national performance measures 

through competition.

FY 2014 Budget Request and Performance Plan

In FY 2014, CNCS requests $50.204 million for RSVP, the same as the FY 

2012 enacted level. The funding will support approximately 654 federallyfunded RSVP projects and an estimated 295,275 RSVP volunteers. With 

this level of funding, CNCS will fund both competitive and continuation 

grants. The FY 2014 funding portfolio consists of:

• 206 competitive grants, scheduled for competition in FY 20143 

• 239 continuation grants that will be competed in FY 2015

• 209 continuation grants, which are the second year of the grants 

competed in FY 2013.

RSVP is the only Senior Corps program that is competed. Maintaining 

the proposed funding level reflects a continued commitment to both 

RSVP and the competitive grantmaking process. Demonstrating CNCS’s 

commitment to RSVP is a critical part of the outreach strategy for 

potential applicants in future RSVP competitions. 

Non-grant activities include funding for operations, including business 

support and recruitment and outreach for the 2014 RSVP competition. 

In addition, CNCS is planning an evaluation of RSVP in FY 20144

. 

This evaluation would be based on the experience of the ongoing 

evaluations in the Senior Companion Program, and would: 1) evaluate the 

implementation of an independent living performance measure impact 

tool; and 2) evaluate either the potential health benefits of volunteering in 

the RSVP program, or the potential health benefits of receiving services. 

The final determination on implementing this evaluation will be made 

based on the ongoing Senior Companion Program evaluation to ensure 

that the final RSVP evaluation can meet the proposed research goals. 

The planned evaluation will use shared instruments from the Health and 

Retirement Study administered by the National Institute on Aging at the 

National Institute on Health. The use of shared instruments will allow for 

quasi-experimental analyses, including propensity scoring, multivariate 

analyses, and statistical accounting for the clustering of data by sponsor. 

Mandatory Performance Measures with a Focus 

on Outcomes 

Beginning in FY 2013, RSVP grantees that are competitively awarded 
40 CNCS FY 2014 Congressional Budget Justification 

The Corporation for National and Community Service

are required to implement standardized national performance measures. 

All competitive applicants in FY 2013, including incumbent grantees 

and new applicants, were required to include the new performance 

measures in their grant applications. Applicants utilized a new e-grants 

performance module that requires grantees to report on the performance 

measures in their application work plans, which will increase grantee 

accountability. Senior Corps has also provided recommended instruments 

to support grantee adoption of the performance measures such as the 

independent living and respite care performance measure. CNCS also 

provided technical assistance and training on performance measure 

implementation through the FY 2013 Senior Corps Virtual Conference. 

The remainder of RSVP projects will adopt the new performance 

measures when they are competitively awarded a grant, either in FY 2014 

or FY 2015. Based on this phased-in approach, the first comprehensive 

performance measures data for RSVP, as reflected in the new measures, 

will be in FY 2016. The schedule of implementation follows:

Fiscal 

Year Percent of Portfolio to Complete

2013 32 percent of all projects implement national measures

2014 31 percent of projects adopt national measures for the 1st

time

63 percent of all projects implement national measures

2015 37 percent of projects adopt national measures for the 1st

time

100 percent of projects implement national measures

The majority of the new RSVP standard performance measures reflect 

CNCS agency-wide priority and supporting measures, augmented by a 

number of program-specific measures. CNCS will require all grantees 

to adopt subsets of CNCS’s priority performance measures to track 

and report their effectiveness and impact. CNCS anticipates that the 

concentration of programming in strategic focus areas, using priority 

performance measures, will be as follows:

In RSVP, 70 percent of activities must occur within the Agency-Wide Priority 

and Complementary Program Performance Measures. RSVP grantees 

will also be required to identify a primary focus area. RSVP grantees 

must commit to reporting a combination of Agency-Wide outputs and 

outcomes related to the primary focus area. The primary focus area must 

account for at least 25 percent of the RSVP volunteers enrolled in the 

project. Thirty percent of volunteers can be placed in community priority 

assignments that are outside the scope of the CNCS Strategic Plan. In 

the FY 2013 competition, the Healthy Futures focus area (Independent 

Living, Access to Care, and Food Security) represented 80 percent and 

Education represented 13 percent of the focus areas of the new grants. 

For example, AARP-Experience in Action was announced as the new RSVP 

grantee in Chicago. They will be recruiting 500 new RSVP volunteers to 

serve 6,375 students using the Literacy Experience Corps model. 

BUDGET ACTIVITY 7: 

Foster Grandparent Program

(Domestic Volunteer Service Act of 1973, Title II)

Program Summary

The Foster Grandparent Program (FGP) is an intergenerational program 

first established in 1965. It connects volunteers aged 55 and over with 

opportunities to provide one-on-one mentoring, nurturing, and support 

to children with special or exceptional needs, or who are at an academic, 

social, or financial disadvantage. Foster Grandparents help young 

children with special or exceptional needs gain skills and confidence to 

succeed in school, tutor children in literacy, and assist children in the 

child welfare system. 

A Foster Grandparent can serve as a caring and consistent adult 

presence in a child’s life. This support, provided at critical stages in the 

development process, can help a child gain the confidence and skills to 

be successful in school and expand their economic opportunities later in 

life. In turn, Foster Grandparents derive significant emotional and health 

benefits from their service, which can improve their quality of life and 

provide them with a strong sense of purpose. 

Foster Grandparents serve between 15 and 40 hours per week. 

Volunteers, who are at or below 200 percent of the federal poverty level, 

receive a modest stipend of $2.65 per hour to help offset the cost of 

volunteering. Volunteers also receive service-related insurance, mileage 

reimbursement, and other non-monetary incentives. Grants are provided 

to eligible sponsoring organizations, including nonprofit organizations 

and state, local, and tribal governments. Grantees contribute at least 

10 percent of the total budget in non-federal funds and an amount equal 

to 80 percent of the federal budget must be expended on direct volunteer 

costs. Grants are awarded for a period of up to three years.

FY 2012 Accomplishments and Program Impact5

In FY 2012, 28,250 FGP volunteers, of whom 1,000 were veterans, 

delivered 23.7 million hours of service in their communities. Volunteers 

5 Data provided were reported as actual and final for the period July 1, 2011 through June 30, 2012.
CNCS FY 2014 Congressional Budget Justification 41

Budget Activities | PART VI

Table 15. Foster Grandparent Program Budget Summary (dollars in thousands)

Budget Account FY12 Enacted

 FY13 Annualized 

CR Level FY14 Request

Increase/Decrease 

(2012-2014)

Grants 

Continuing Grants $109,743 $110,038 $109,242 ($501)

Subtotal, Grants 109,743 110,038 109,242 (501)

Grantmaking and Business Support 822 1,203 1,323 501 

Total Budget Authority $110,565 $111,241 $110,565 $0 

Strategic Goals: Increase impact on communities; enhance volunteer experience

served a total of 215,700 children, including mentoring more than 

110,300 children, 3,038 of whom were children of military families.

In 2012, states and local communities contributed $26 million in nonfederal funds to support Foster Grandparents, well above the required 

10 percent non-federal share. The additional funds, including $6.8 million 

in state appropriated dollars, demonstrate the value of essential services 

that Foster Grandparents provide to children with special or exceptional 

needs in their communities.

Foster Grandparent Program in Action: Program Examples:

Serving Children of Military Families — Senior Volunteer Connection 

Foster Grandparent Program of South Central Georgia

Foster Grandparents serving at Moody Air Force Base (AFB) Child 

Development Center mentor and nurture children, many of whom 

experience separation anxiety as their parents prepare for and go out 

on deployment. The nine Foster Grandparents from the Senior Volunteer 

Connection FGP serving at the center ensure that the children remain 

on track developmentally and academically and that they continue to 

develop age-appropriate motor, language, and social skills. They continue 

to serve the children while the parents are deployed. 

One child came to the center from Germany. His mother was deployed 

and the father and three children were reassigned to Moody AFB. The 

sudden separation from his mother and familiar surroundings to a 

new environment was very traumatic and the child became withdrawn 

from his father and siblings. The consistent nurturing by the Foster 

Grandparent helped the child became a strong little boy who went from 

being led to leading others as his confidence and self-esteem grew. 

He began to speak English and worked harder on his other cognitive 

developmental skills. In 2011, the Foster Grandparent Program received 

the Moody Air Force Base “Angel” Award.

Academic Achievement — Iowa and Kentucky 

During the 2011-2012 school year, 74 Foster Grandparents in the Rock 

Valley, Iowa Foster Grandparent Program served 547 children in 21 

elementary schools. The Teacher Evaluations from these schools showed 

that 83 percent of the students increased their reading skills. 

The Foster Grandparent Program of Southern Kentucky in Bowling 

Green has 78 Foster Grandparents who serve in 40 sites throughout 

Southern Kentucky. Between July 1, 2011 and June 30, 2012, these 

Foster Grandparents have provided more than 81,000 hours of service to 

children with special or exceptional needs. Ninety-three percent of the 35 

children served in Special Education classes advanced to the next grade 

level while 92 percent of the 89 children served in elementary schools 

improved their math and reading comprehension. Foster Grandparents 

also serve youth in the juvenile justice system. Based on reports by 

facility staff, 85 percent showed improvements in education, citizenship, 

and self-esteem.

School Readiness: California, Georgia and Washington DC — 

Jumpstart Community Corps 

During the 2012-2013 school year, Jumpstart became a Foster 

Grandparent grantee in Los Angeles. Jumpstart trained 60 Foster 

Grandparents as “Community Corps” volunteers to serve 162 young 

children. Jumpstart also began partnerships with the FGP grantee in 

Atlanta and Washington DC to supplement their traditional “college 

corps.” Jumpstart’s incorporation of Foster Grandparents brings an 

evidence-based intervention that has utilized AmeriCorps members and 

resulted in gains in early literacy, school readiness, and socio-emotional 
42 CNCS FY 2014 Congressional Budget Justification 

The Corporation for National and Community Service

Table 16. Foster Grandparent Program Vital Statistics

FY10 Actual FY11 Actual FY12 Actual FY13 Target FY14 Target

Number of federally funded CNCS awards/grantees 325 318 315 315 315

Average federal award/grant $340,218 $345,723 $348,390 $349,327 $346,800

Number of Direct Volunteers 28,200 27,900 28,250 28,250 28,250

skills. Children in Jumpstart have also displayed substantially greater 

literacy and school-readiness gains than children in a comparison control 

group. The inclusion of Foster Grandparent volunteers in their “Community 

Corps” demonstrates the flexibility of the Foster Grandparent model and 

the ability for Senior Corps to work with AmeriCorps to strengthen early 

childhood education through high-quality programs. 

FY 2014 Budget Request and Performance Plan

In FY 2014, CNCS requests $110.565 million for the Foster Grandparent 

Program, the same as the FY 2012 enacted level. The funding will 

support approximately 28,250 Foster Grandparents, the same number 

of volunteers as FY 2012.

Non-grant activities include funding for operations such as business 

support, Senior Corps Week, and the Senior Corps evaluation6

. CNCS is 

conducting an evaluation of the potential health benefits of volunteering 

in the Foster Grandparent Program, as compared to a comparable 

subset of the 22,000 participants of the Health and Retirement Study 

(HRS), administered by the National Institute on Aging at the National 

Institutes of Health. This evaluation will, for the first time, survey all 

Foster Grandparents. The use of shared instruments from HRS will 

allow for quasi-experimental analyses, including propensity scoring, 

multivariate analyses, and statistical accounting for the clustering of 

data by sponsor. This current evaluation will allow CNCS to determine 

the feasibility of a future longitudinal Senior Corps evaluation that could 

determine the potential health benefits of volunteer participation for 

new Foster Grandparents. The current evaluation and the resulting power 

calculations will lay the ground work for this possible future study by 

confirming that it would be sufficiently powered to measure expected 

changes in the self-efficacy of FGP volunteers as compared to a similar 

population of Americans who are not Senior Corps volunteers. 

CNCS is planning an evaluation of the implementation of national 

performance measures in FGP using a recommended data collection 

instrument that will be used to measure gains in school readiness. 

This study will evaluate the fidelity of school readiness service activity 

and data collection in 100 percent of FGP grantees, who will be adopting 

the national performance measures as part of their grant renewals in 

FYs 2013, 2014, and 2015. This evaluation will provide an evidencebased approach for future technical assistance and training for FGP 

grantees in school readiness as part of a broader Administration effort to 

support early childhood education through high-quality programming. 

Proposal to Introduce Full Competition into FGP: Proposed 

Amendments to the Domestic Volunteer Service Act of 

1973 (DVSA)

CNCS proposes competition authority for FGP to enhance efficiency, 

accountability, and impact. Proposed amendments to the DVSA would 

authorize CNCS to conduct a competition for FGP grants. CNCS envisions 

implementing this competition for the first time in FY 2015, which is the 

50th anniversary of the FGP. As with the other Senior Corps programs, 

this proposal represents an important step forward in ensuring greater 

return on the long-term investment in FGP. It also reflects CNCS’s 

commitment to modernization, program impact, and accountability. CNCS 

believes that competition strengthens programs and community impact, 

and can be done in a way that minimizes disruptions to both the current 

volunteers and the communities they serve. 

CNCS’s experience with the RSVP competition demonstrates that 

CNCS can successfully conduct competition in FGP. Implementation 

of the FY 2013 RSVP competition also demonstrates CNCS’s ability to 

address stakeholder concerns about competition in FGP, while ensuring 

that that the resulting portfolio of grantees will be the best qualified 

to meet the needs of children with special or exceptional needs. CNCS 

proposes to emphasize quality and outcomes, while preserving rural 

investments. Competition is a powerful tool to ensure accountability 

and reflects how grantmaking is moving across the federal government. 

Competition will also help ensure FGP volunteers get the meaningful 

service experience they desire, and that communities can provide the 

services that all children deserve.

6 Section 416 (a) of DVSA
CNCS FY 2014 Congressional Budget Justification 43

Budget Activities | PART VI

Table 17. Percentage of the FGP Portfolio implementing National Performance Measures

Fiscal Year Percent of Portfolio to Complete

2013 36 percent of all projects implement national measures

2014 29 percent of projects adopt national measures for the 1st time

65 percent of all projects implement national measures

2015 35 percent of projects adopt national measures for the 1st time

100 percent of projects implement national measures

Mandatory Performance Measures with a Focus on 

Outcomes 

Beginning in FY 2013, FGP grantees entering the first year of a new grant 

period are required to incorporate national performance measures in their 

grant applications. Grantees will utilize a new online performance module 

that will require grantees to report on the performance measures in their 

application work plans that will increase grantee accountability. Senior 

Corps has also provided recommended instruments to support grantee 

adoption of the performance measures such as the school readiness 

performance measure. CNCS also provided technical assistance and 

training on performance measure implementation through the FY 2013 

Senior Corps Virtual Conference. Moving forward, FGP grantees that 

renew or enter the first year of a new grant in FY 2014 and in 2015 will be 

required to adopt the new measures at the time of renewal. Based on this 

phased-in approach, the first comprehensive performance measures data 

for FGP, as reflected in the new measures, will be in FY 2016.

The majority of the new FGP measures are part of the CNCS agencywide priority and supporting measures, augmented by a number of 

program-specific measures. CNCS will require all grantees to adopt 

subsets of CNCS’s priority performance measures to track and report 

on their effectiveness and impact. CNCS anticipates that 75 percent 

of FGP activities will focus on Education Priority outcomes related to 

school readiness, academic engagement, and academic performance. 

Grantees will be permitted to direct the remaining activities toward an 

additional Priority Measure and/or child safety/welfare and health issues 

that reflect the statutory requirements for Foster Grandparents to serve 

children with special or exceptional needs.

BUDGET ACTIVITY 8: 

Senior Companion Program

(Domestic Volunteer Service Act of 1973, Title II)

Program Summary

The Senior Companion Program (SCP) provides a cost-effective option in 

the continuum of care available to the nation’s aging population. Each 

year, Senior Companions, age 55 and older, serve tens of thousands of 

older and frail adults by providing companionship, transportation, help 

with light chores, and respite to assist seniors to remain in their own 

homes. Senior Companions help aging Americans and veterans maintain 

their dignity and quality of life, while enriching their own lives through 

their national service experience. Senior Companions’ traditional clients 

are frail seniors, particularly women over the age of 85 who live alone. 

Other clients include individuals with disabilities and their caregivers. 

Research conducted by the program suggests that Senior Companion 

clients received significant, long-term mental health benefits from SCP 

services, including reduced rates of depression. Companionship provides 

benefits to both the Senior Corps volunteer and companion, as social ties 

and perceived social support are linked with long-term health outcomes. 

Senior Companions also serve family and other informal caregivers, who 

provide daily support to frail seniors living at home. Caregiving can have 

a negative impact on the caregiving family’s economic opportunities, and 

caregiver burnout is an important contributor to nursing home use. 

Senior Companions serve between 15 and 40 hours per week. Volunteers, 

who are at or below 200 percent of the federal poverty level, receive a 

modest stipend of $2.65 per hour to help offset the cost of volunteering. 

Volunteers also receive service-related insurance, mileage reimbursement, 

and other non-monetary incentives. Grants are awarded to eligible 

sponsoring organizations, including nonprofit organizations and state, 

local, and tribal governments. Grantees are required to contribute at least 
44 CNCS FY 2014 Congressional Budget Justification 

The Corporation for National and Community Service

Table 18. Senior Companion Program Budget Summary (dollars in thousands)

Budget Account FY12 Enacted

FY13 Annualized 

CR Level FY14 Request

Increase/Decrease

(2012-2014)

Grants

Continuing grants $46,039 $46,205 $45,920 ($119)

Subtotal, grants 46,039 46,205 45,920 (119)

Grantmaking and business support 683 802 802 119 

Total Budget Authority $46,722 $47,007 $46,722 $0 

Strategic Goals: Increase impact on communities; enhance volunteer experience

10 percent of the total budget from non-federal sources, and an amount 

equal to 80 percent of the federal budget must be expended on direct 

volunteer costs. Grants are awarded for a period of up to three years.

FY 2012 Accomplishments and Program Impact7

In FY 2012, 13,770 Senior Companion volunteers delivered 11.7 million 

hours of service to approximately 50,380 frail, older adults and others 

with physical or other limitations, of whom 3,160 were veterans. Of the 

Senior Companions serving, 721 were veterans. They transport clients to 

medical appointments, help shop for food and basic necessities, provide 

companionship to offset isolation, and offer respite to 6,900 family 

members and informal caregivers. 

SCP grantees also work with states to expand services through 

Medicaid Home and Community-based Waivers. In 2011, 12 states 

elected to incorporate SCP services into their Medicaid-funded home 

and community-based services, providing nearly $1.3 million to support 

624 Senior Companions, who in turn provided in-home support to more 

than 1,640 Medicaid-eligible clients. 

In 2012, states and local communities contributed $16.7 million in 

non-federal funds to support Senior Companions, more than three 

times the required 10 percent non-federal share of $5.1 million. The 

additional funds, including $6 million in state appropriated dollars, 

demonstrate the value of essential services that Senior Companions 

provide in their communities.

Senior Companions in Action: Program Examples

Independent Living: Missoula Senior Companions, Montana 

In 2012, 35 Missoula Senior Companions served 32,054 hours with 216 

at-risk seniors. According to Missoula SCP partnering agency supervisors, 

these 216 at-risk adults with physical disabilities or chronic care 

conditions would be at risk of being institutionalized prematurely without 

Senior Companions. Of the at-risk seniors served, 214 — or 99 percent 

— retained their independence, preserving their assets and delaying use 

of Medicaid funds for nursing home placement. In 2012 the average cost 

of care in a nursing home facility in Montana was $70,263 annually for a 

semi-private room. For those 216 at-risk seniors the nursing home cost 

would have been $15.17 million. The total cost to operate the Missoula 

Senior Companion Program in 2012 was $210,141, consisting of $114,375 

in CNCS funds and $95,766 in local matching funds. 

Serving Individuals with Developmental Disabilities: New York State 

Office for People with Developmental Disabilities (OPWDD), New York

In New York, the Office for People with Developmental Disabilities 

(OPWDD) operates a statewide Senior Companion Program with 500 

Senior Companions serving more than 1,100 clients with developmental 

disabilities. Senior Companions serve with their assigned clients on 

activities that promote greater socialization for increased community 

inclusion and adjustment. Senior Companions also help their clients 

with developmental support of activities of daily living. By developing 

these skills, Senior Companions are helping disabled adults live as 

independently as possible. For example, in lower Manhattan, 23 Senior 

Companions serve at OPWDD’s partner site, Federation of Employment and 

Guidance System Health and Human Services (FEGS). Senior Companions 

work one-on-one with clients on appropriate and specific skills through art 

programming, trips into the community, and vocational opportunities. 

FY 2014 Budget Request and Performance Plan

In FY 2014, CNCS requests $46.722 million for the Senior Companion 

7 Data provided were reported as actual and final for the period July 1, 2011 through June 30, 2012
CNCS FY 2014 Congressional Budget Justification 45

Budget Activities | PART VI

Program, the same as the FY 2012 enacted level. The level will support 

approximately 13,770 Senior Companions, the same level as FY 2012.

Non-grant activities include funding for operations across all three 

Senior Corps programs, including business support, Senior Corps Week, 

and the Senior Corps evaluation8

. CNCS is conducting three evaluations 

in SCP. The first study evaluates the potential health benefits of 

volunteering in SCP volunteers as compared to a comparable subset of 

22,000 participants in the Health and Retirement Study (HRS), which 

is administered by the National Institute on Aging of the National 

Institutes of Health. This evaluation will, for the first time, survey all 

SCP volunteers. The use of shared instruments from HRS will allow for 

quasi-experimental analyses, including propensity scoring, multivariate 

analyses, and statistical accounting for the clustering of data by sponsor. 

This current evaluation will allow CNCS to determine the feasibility of 

a future longitudinal Senior Corps evaluation and could determine the 

potential health benefits of volunteer participation for new SCP volunteers. 

The current evaluation will lay the ground work for this possible future 

study by confirming that it would be sufficiently powered to measure 

expected changes in the self-efficacy of SCP volunteers as compared to a 

similar population of Americans who are not Senior Corps volunteers. The 

current evaluation complies with Section 416 (a) of the DVSA.

The second study evaluates the implementation of national performance 

measures in SCP using a mandatory data collection instrument survey 

to be filled out by clients and caregivers. This study will evaluate the 

fidelity of data collection in the 33 percent of SCP grantees adopting 

the national performance measures as part of their grant renewal in FY 

2013, and will provide the evidence basis for full implementation of the 

national performance measures by FY 2015. 

The third study will determine the feasibility of a future evaluation that 

could determine the potential health benefits of receiving SCP volunteer 

services. This pilot study will use some shared instruments from HRS, 

which will also allow for quasi-experimental analyses as described above. 

This current evaluation will allow CNCS to determine the feasibility of 

a future longitudinal Senior Corps evaluation that could determine the 

potential health benefits of receiving services from SCP volunteers. The 

current evaluation will lay the ground work for this possible future study 

by confirming that it would be sufficiently powered to measure expected 

changes in social ties and social support in SCP clients as compared to a 

similar population of Americans. 

Proposal to Introduce Full Competition into SCP: Proposed 

Amendments to the Domestic Volunteer Service Act of 

1973 (DVSA)

CNCS also proposes competition authority for SCP to enhance efficiency, 

accountability, and impact. Proposed amendments to the DVSA would 

authorize CNCS to conduct a competition for SCP grants. CNCS envisions 

implementing this competition for the first time in FY 2015, which 

coincides with the SCP program’s 41st anniversary. As with the other 

Senior Corps programs, this proposal represents an important step 

forward in ensuring greater return on the long-term investment in SCP. It 

also reflects CNCS’s commitment to modernization, program impact, and 

accountability. CNCS believes that competition strengthens programs and 

community impact, and can be done in a way that minimizes disruptions 

to both the current volunteers and the communities they serve. 

CNCS’s experience with the RSVP competition demonstrates that CNCS 

can also successfully conduct competition in SCP. Implementation of the 

FY 2013 RSVP competition also demonstrates CNCS’s ability to address 

stakeholder concerns about competition in SCP, while ensuring that 

that the resulting portfolio of SCP grantees will be the best qualified to 

support the desire of Americans to live independently. CNCS proposes 

to emphasize quality and outcomes, while preserving rural investments. 

Competition is a powerful tool to ensure accountability and reflects how 

grantmaking is moving across the federal government. Competition will 

also help ensure SCP volunteers get the meaningful service experience 

they desire, and that communities can provide the services that older 

Americans deserve.

Table 19. Senior Companion Program Vital Statistics

FY10 Actual FY11 Actual FY12 Target FY13 Target FY14 Target

Number of federally funded CNCS awards/grantees 187 185 185 185 185

Average federal award/grant $247,375 $249,108 $248,859 $249,297 $248,216

Number of Direct Volunteers 14,450 13,600 13,770 13,770 13,770

8 Section 416 (a) of DVSA
46 CNCS FY 2014 Congressional Budget Justification 

The Corporation for National and Community Service

Mandatory Performance Measures with a Focus on 

Outcomes 

Beginning in FY 2013, Senior Companion grantees entering the first year 

of a new grant period are required to incorporate new standard national 

performance measures in their grant applications. Grantees will utilize a 

new online performance module that will require grantees to report on the 

performance measures in their application work plans that will increase 

grantee accountability. SCP grantees that renew or enter the first year 

of a new grant in FY 2014 and FY 2015 will be required to adopt the 

new standard measures at the time of renewal. Based on this phased-in 

approach, the first comprehensive performance measures data for SCP, 

as reflected in the new measures, will be in FY 2016.

The majority of the new measures are part of the CNCS agency-wide 

priority and supporting measures. CNCS will require all grantees to 

adopt subsets of CNCS’s priority performance measures to track 

and report on their effectiveness and impact. CNCS anticipates that 

the concentration of programming in strategic focus areas, using 

priority performance measures is as follows: In the Senior Companion 

Program, 90 percent of activities must occur within the Healthy Futures 

Focus Area. Grantees must report Agency-Wide Priority Independent 

Living or Complementary Program Respite Care outcomes. CNCS also 

provided technical assistance and training on performance measure 

implementation through the FY 2013 Senior Corps Virtual Conference. 

BUDGET ACTIVITY 9: 

Subtitle H, Innovation, 

Demonstration, and Assistance

(National and Community Service Act of 1990, Title I, Subtitle H)

Program Summary

Subtitle H funding provides resources for CNCS to strengthen the nation’s 

volunteer sector, bring more Americans into service, encourage social 

innovation, strengthen existing national service programs, and support 

and encourage new forms of national service and civic participation. 

This budget activity includes the Social Innovation Fund, the George 

H. W. Bush Volunteer Generation Fund, and Call to Service initiatives to 

engage more Americans in service, including the Martin Luther King Jr. 

National Day of Service and the September 11th National Day of Service 

and Remembrance. The activities in Subtitle H promote national service 

and volunteering, identify and incubate innovative program models, 

disseminate effective practices, and strengthen the reach and impact of 

national service programs and voluntary organizations across the country. 

Social Innovation Fund

The Social Innovation Fund (SIF) is a core element of the President’s 

strategy on evidence-based policy. It is focused on improving the lives 

of people in low-income communities by mobilizing public and private 

resources to grow innovative, community-driven solutions that have 

evidence of compelling impact in three priority areas of need: economic 

opportunity, youth development, and healthy futures. At a time when 

public, private, and nonprofit organizations are struggling to meet the 

nation’s most pressing challenges, and when tough choices are being 

made at every level to maximize limited resources, the SIF represents a 

new way of doing business for the federal government. 

Through building the capacity of intermediaries and subgrantees to 

design and implement increasingly rigorous program evaluation, 

Table 20. Percentage of the SCP Portfolio implementing National Performance Measures

Fiscal Year Percent of Portfolio to Complete

2013 29 percent of all projects implement national measures

2014 23 percent of projects adopt national measures for the 1st time

52 percent of all projects implement national measures

2015 48 percent of projects adopt national measures for the 1st time

100 percent of projects implement national measures
CNCS FY 2014 Congressional Budget Justification 47

Budget Activities | PART VI

Table 21. Innovation, Demonstration, and Assistance Budget Summary (dollars in thousands)

Budget Account FY12 Enacted

FY13 Annualized 

CR Level FY14 Request

Increase/Decrease 

(2012-2014)

Social Innovation Fund 44,815 45,089 48,815 4,000

George H. W. Bush Volunteer Generation Fund 3,984 4,009 10,000 6,016

Innovation, Demonstration and Call to Service $4,481 $4,508 $3,015 ($1,466)

Total Budget Authority $53,280 $53,606 $61,830 $8,550 

Strategic Goals: Maximize value to grantees, partners, and participants

the SIF will contribute to the knowledge base of proven program models 

that can be replicated in communities across the country, including by 

other CNCS funded programs. 

The SIF model is itself innovative and combines several key elements 

that reinforce a clear role for the federal government as catalyst for 

transformational change and impact. These elements include:

• Partnership with selected grantees or “intermediaries” who select 

nonprofits or “subgrantees” that are positioned to deliver program 

impact which strengthens existing nonprofit infrastructure rather than 

creating additional government bureaucracy;

• Leveraging of non-federal resources through a 1:1 non-federal match 

requirement, both at the grantee and subgrantee levels, which builds 

stronger, more sustainable, and more diversified funding bases for 

each program;

• Reliance on evidence of effectiveness as a critical factor in funding 

decisions both at the CNCS level, and in the intermediaries’ selection 

of their sub-grantees;

• Emphasis on growing impact through intermediaries’ support of 

subgrantees in deepening or broadening their impact in communities;

• Requirements for rigorous program evaluation to increase 

accountability and create a robust pipeline of proven models for 

further investment; and 

• Explicit mandate to capture and share knowledge, practices, and tools 

that emerge from the grant program in order to enable increased social 

innovation in the broader nonprofit sector.

As outlined in CNCS’s Strategic Plan, the SIF maximizes the value it adds 

to grantees through its emphasis on improving their capacity to conduct 

rigorous evaluations. Additionally, beginning in FY 2013, the SIF is 

tracking its impact through five of CNCS’s high priority goals in the areas 

of school readiness and success, housing, and evaluation.

To bolster the level of rigorous evidence produced by SIF grantees and 

consistent with the Serve America Act, CNCS is authorized to set aside 

up to 5 percent of the SIF’s annual budget to fund supplementary 

activities that enhance the impact of the grant program, including 

evaluation and knowledge capture initiatives. 

FY 2012 Social Innovation Fund Accomplishments and 

Program Impact

Fiscal Year 2012 represented the second full year of operations for the 

Social Innovation Fund. The three priorities in this period were to: 

• Build a solid programmatic and operational foundation to support 

growth and development of promising, innovative program models and 

the generation of compelling outcomes;

• Strengthen the application of rigorous evidence and evaluation in 

critical program phases; and 

• Develop key knowledge initiatives, sharing what the SIF learns about 

what works in tackling our nation’s toughest challenges for the benefit 

of other federal agencies and the nonprofit sector. 

Accordingly, the major achievements of the SIF during FY 2012 are 

related to building an institutional foundation, including expanding and 

strengthening the portfolio of intermediaries and promising nonprofit 

organizations that are fundamental to accomplishing the program’s 

intended impact. These achievements include the following:

• Increased the geographical breadth of the program with the selection 

of four additional grantees for a total portfolio of 20 grantees. The 

portfolio now represents a $137.7 million investment that is expected 

to leverage over $360 million in non-federal resources. SIF programs 

have received funding commitments from at least 168 non-federal 

organizations to date.
48 CNCS FY 2014 Congressional Budget Justification 

The Corporation for National and Community Service

• Selected an additional 50 promising community-based, serviceproviding nonprofit organizations through open subgrant competitions 

run by SIF grantees. The first two cohorts of SIF intermediaries are 

funding a total of 200 subgrantees working in 34 states and the 

District of Columbia.

• Served more than 174,000 individuals in the SIF’s three priority areas 

of need: economic opportunity, youth development, and healthy futures. 

This number of people served will continue to grow as SIF subgrantees 

report evaluation data for work that is already underway. Examples of 

individuals served through the SIF include:

• The Local Initiatives Support Corporation is funded to spread its 

Financial Opportunity Center model into six new cities and 47 

subgrantee organizations. In the first year alone, the Financial 

Opportunity Centers reached an additional 15,000 individuals and 

families with their employment placement and career improvement, 

financial education and coaching, and public benefits access 

services. Of the individuals served, 6,069 obtained employment, 

4,212 increased their net income, and 2,638 achieved an increase 

in their credit score. Alaa, a refugee from Iraq, received support 

from a Financial Opportunity Center that helped him secure a job 

quickly and work through the process of transferring his engineering 

credentials to the U.S. 

• The Mayor’s Fund to Advance New York City is replicating five 

effective anti-poverty programs in eight urban areas through 18 

nonprofit subgrantees. In Tulsa, it is implementing the WorkAdvance 

program with their subgrantee Madison Strategies Group. Madison 

Strategies Group will train individuals in transportation-sector jobs, 

an area in which employers are facing a deficit of skilled workers. 

As a result of this program, participants will be enrolled in and 

complete job preparation services, be placed and retained in wellpaying jobs, and advance up the career ladder within the targeted 

sector. Travis, a previously underemployed single father of two, took 

advantage of the program and is now earning more than his target 

wage in a stable, full-time position.

• Awarded $33.9 million in continuation funding to existing grantees 

through a rigorous process in which they were assessed against strict 

performance criteria, with funding levels adjusted accordingly. 

• Continued approving the evaluation plans for the 2010 and 2011 

grantees; seventy subgrantee evaluation plans are underway or in 

the final stages of approval. CNCS will provide a summary of grantee 

evaluation progress in CNCS’s FY 2013 Annual Financial Report. 

Also during 2013, subgrantee evaluation plans will be submitted and 

approved for the 2012 cohort.

• Launched the SIF National Evaluation, a comprehensive, systematic 

effort to be conducted over the next four years to assess the impact of 

SIF. CNCS’s evaluation office is coordinating this initiative and progress 

on it will be summarized and reported annually.

FY 2014 Budget Request and Performance Plan for Social 

Innovation Fund

CNCS is requesting $48.815 million for the Social Innovation Fund for 

FY 2014, a $4 million increase over the FY 2012 enacted level. The 

requested increase of $4 million will support a pilot grant program to 

facilitate SIF subgrantee access to data for evaluation purposes. In 

addition, up to 5 percent will be set aside to support research, technical 

assistance, and knowledge-related activities stipulated in the SAA and 

essential to the ability of the SIF to deliver expected value. Another up to 

1 percent will fund CNCS’s grant review process.

Program Grants

In FY 2014, as in previous years, the top priority for SIF grant funding 

will be sustaining the programs of the continuation grantees that meet 

performance goals. Continuation grantees must demonstrate the ability 

to secure sufficient matching funds, advance the level of subgrantee 

evidence, and implement high-quality, rigorous evaluations. Though all 

current grants have been awarded for the full five-year grant period, 

funding is provided in one- or two-year increments. 

Central Administrative Data Access Facilitator Pilot

States and the Federal Government have multiple sources of high-quality 

administrative data that have the potential to reduce the cost and 

improve the quality of rigorous evaluations and performance reporting. 

In many cases it is legally permissible for researchers and evaluators 

to access this data, but there are numerous technical and logistical 

barriers. Many of these barriers are characterized by large one-time 

investments of time and energy, like learning about the requirements for 

accessing each source of data, negotiating the data access agreements, 

learning which data sources are most appropriate for different purposes, 

and formatting files in such a way that they can be matched against the 

administrative data sources. Many nonprofits do not have the capacity or 

technical ability to overcome these barriers.

CNCS proposes to provide $4 million to fully fund a five-year grant 

to facilitate SIF subgrantees’ access to high-quality administrative 

data. This data facilitation hub will serve as the conduit that aids all 

subgrantees in accessing data available across State and Federal 

sources. This initiative has the potential to reduce evaluation costs while 

simultaneously improving evaluation quality. It will also enhance CNCS’s 

ability to assist subgrantees in reaching a “moderate” or “strong” level 

of evidence. If the proof of concept is successful, it could be replicated 
CNCS FY 2014 Congressional Budget Justification 49

Budget Activities | PART VI

by other interested parties, and could serve as a model for reducing the 

cost of high-quality evaluations for nonprofit organizations.

George H. W. Bush Volunteer Generation Fund

Volunteers provide enormous social and economic benefit to our 

communities and the nation. According to the 2012 Volunteering and 

Civic Life in America report, in 2011, 64.3 million adults volunteered 

through an organization, an increase of 1.5 million over the previous 

year. The same report also found that the 7.9 billion hours these 

individuals volunteered is valued at $171 billion, using Independent 

Sector’s estimate of the dollar value of volunteer time. In addition to this 

formal volunteering, two out of three Americans (65.1 percent or 143.7 

million individuals) volunteered informally by helping out their neighbors. 

Whether tutoring at-risk students or providing job training to veterans 

or responding to natural disasters, volunteers have a powerful impact 

on critical challenges facing our nation. Volunteering can also provide 

important benefits to those who serve — helping them develop and 

maintain skills, expand professional networks, stay connected to their 

community, and experience physical and mental health benefits. 

CNCS believes volunteering and civic engagement are the cornerstone of 

a strong nation. Through our programs and initiatives, CNCS strengthens 

the nation’s voluntary sector and the impact of America’s volunteers 

by bringing more individuals into service and building the capacity of 

nonprofits and public agencies to effectively manage volunteers. 

The Volunteer Generation Fund, a program authorized by the Edward M. 

Kennedy Serve America Act, provided new authority for CNCS to support 

America’s voluntary sector and to increase the impact of volunteers in 

addressing important needs in communities across America. The program 

builds on a bipartisan history of supporting investments in volunteer 

connector organizations that began with President George H. W. Bush and 

has continued through successive Administrations of both parties. 

The Volunteer Generation Fund supports efforts that expand the 

capacity of volunteer connector organizations to recruit, manage, and 

retain individuals serving in high-quality volunteer assignments. The 

Act authorized two funding streams: competitive grants to nonprofit 

organizations and State Service Commissions, and formula-based 

allocations to State Service Commissions. Grants were used to identify 

effective approaches to expand volunteering, strengthen the capacity of 

volunteer connector organizations to recruit and retain volunteers, and 

develop strategies to effectively use volunteers to solve problems. 

The Volunteer Generation Fund has shown promising early results and 

additional investments will stimulate greater innovation in the voluntary 

sector, help nonprofits attract and retain skilled volunteers, create a 

sustainable infrastructure of volunteer connector organizations, and build 

the capacity of the voluntary sector to more effectively use volunteers to 

address critical community needs. 

FY 2012 Volunteer Generation Fund Accomplishments and 

Program Impact

In FY 2012, CNCS awarded third-year continuation grants to 19 State 

Service Commissions to mobilize more Americans to volunteer, including 

under-represented populations; to increase the organizational capability 

of nonprofits to effectively manage volunteers; to improve operations 

in the areas of sustainability, governance, leadership, and evaluation 

capacity; and to integrate technology to improve business processes. 

State Service Commissions provided direct support to numerous 

nonprofits and volunteer connector organizations in urban and rural 

communities in their states, and reported on priority measures related to 

volunteer recruitment and management. Nonprofits that received training 

and support through the Volunteer Generation Fund generated significant 

numbers of new volunteers in FY 2012. Performance highlights include:

• Development of a research-based volunteer management curriculum 

for nonprofit organizations;

• Creation and expansion of volunteer centers in underserved 

communities;

• Training and deployment of volunteer leaders to coordinate and manage 

community service projects;

• Launch and expansion of skill-based volunteer programs;

• Improved systems and training for coordinating disaster and emergency 

volunteers to meet immediate and long-term needs;

• Convening of networks to share and disseminate best practices; and

• Training and technical assistance to enhance nonprofit organizational 

capacity to manage and engage volunteers in meaningful service.

Following are several examples of State Service Commission 

accomplishments: 

Iowa Commission on Volunteer Service: With support from their 

Volunteer Generation Fund grant, the Iowa Commission on Volunteer 

Service reported leveraging more than 15,000 community volunteers 

contributing a total of 35,500 hours of service in FY 2012. The United 

Way of East Central Iowa Volunteer Center created an iPhone app that 

provides users with a map of volunteer opportunities and a way to 

connect those interested with the organizations hosting opportunities. 

The app has helped the United Way make volunteer opportunities more 

accessible. In September 2012, Iowa Governor Terry Branstad launched 
50 CNCS FY 2014 Congressional Budget Justification 

The Corporation for National and Community Service

the Volunteer Iowa: A Call to Service initiative that created a publicprivate partnership to increase volunteerism in Iowa. The initiative 

challenges Iowans to give back to their communities by volunteering 

at least 50 hours per year. The What’s Your 50? Campaign was created 

to generate interest around this initiative, and the Iowa Volunteer 

Generation Fund grant is helping to establish partnerships to increase 

volunteerism in the state.

New York State Commission on National and Community Service 

Using their Volunteer Generation Fund grant, the New York State 

Commission on National and Community Service strengthened the 

volunteer infrastructure throughout New York State by establishing new 

volunteer centers and building the capacity of existing volunteer centers 

to match volunteers with opportunities that fit their skills and interests. 

The grant has led to the leveraging of a substantial number of new 

volunteers, increased participation in the National Days of Service, the 

development of a statewide portal to collect service-impact data and 

connect volunteers with service opportunities, new strategic partnerships 

with public and private agencies, and the sharing of best practices and 

training resources among the network of regional volunteer centers. 

New York State’s regional volunteer center infrastructure was a leading 

entity coordinating volunteers and national service resources during the 

response to Hurricane Sandy, and it continues to connect New Yorkers 

with opportunities to support the state’s ongoing restoration efforts.

FY 2014 Budget Request and Performance Plan for the 

George H. W. Bush Volunteer Generation Fund

CNCS requests $10 million for the George H. W. Bush Volunteer 

Generation Fund, an increase of $6.0 million over the FY 2012 enacted 

level. This funding level will allow for a competition that includes 

nonprofit organizations in addition to State Service Commissions. 

Recognizing his exemplary life of public service and leadership in 

volunteerism, CNCS proposes to rename the program the George H. W. 

Bush Volunteer Generation Fund.

At a time of social need, when Americans of all ages are looking for ways 

to give back, many nonprofits could benefit from management practices 

that will allow them to more effectively use volunteers to address 

critical challenges. In recent years, the field of volunteer management 

has matured and a set of best practices has emerged that have been 

demonstrated to increase retention rates. These practices, if disseminated 

more widely, could address the challenge of volunteer attrition. More than 

one third of the individuals who volunteer each year do not volunteer the 

next, representing a huge loss of valuable human capital. 

In implementing the George H. W. Bush Volunteer Generation Fund in 

FY 2014, CNCS will focus investments on volunteer management 

practices that increase both volunteer recruitment and retention. 

Retention is key to ensuring that new volunteers are productively engaged 

and to bringing stability to nonprofit operations, allowing organizations to 

focus on driving greater impact. Effective strategies to retain volunteers 

include skill building and skill matching. Skill building uses practices 

that ensure volunteers can learn new skills that expand opportunities 

for employment, especially among populations such as the unemployed, 

veterans, and disadvantaged youth. This approach is in line with policy 

guidance issued last year by the Department of Labor which recognized 

that volunteering can help unemployed individuals develop and maintain 

skills, expand professional networks, and enhance their resumes; this 

guidance encouraged states to promote volunteering by individuals 

receiving unemployment benefits. 

Skill matching is the practice of matching volunteers with opportunities 

complementary to their skills in order to make the best use of their time 

and talents. One of the most promising strategies in the volunteer field 

is the growing trend towards skilled volunteering and pro bono service. 

These programs give nonprofits access to the professional skills they 

need to increase their capacity, operate more efficiently, and have a 

bigger impact on community problems. 

By focusing on recruitment and retention, and investing in organization 

using best practices for skill building and skill matching, CNCS will 

use the George H. W. Bush Volunteer Generation Fund to strengthen 

volunteer management practices in nonprofits across the country, 

helping them broaden their volunteer base and increase their impact 

on community challenges.

Innovation, Demonstration, and Call to Service

Recognizing the critical role volunteers play in our nation, the Serve 

America Act directs CNCS to conduct a nationwide campaign to 

encourage Americans to engage in national service and volunteering. 

This Call to Service provision encourages CNCS to collaborate with other 

federal agencies and entities, State Commissions, governors, nonprofit 

and faith-based organizations, businesses, institutions of higher 

education, elementary schools, and secondary schools. 

Throughout his time in office, President Obama has emphasized that 

service is a fundamental American value, and that our country’s success 

depends on Americans being actively engaged in their communities. As 

the federal agency for service and volunteerism, CNCS is committed to 
CNCS FY 2014 Congressional Budget Justification 51

Budget Activities | PART VI

advancing the President’s vision of engaging all citizens in a lifetime of 

service to community and country. 

CNCS carries out the Call to Service authority in multiple ways. CNCS’s 

initiatives include Martin Luther King Jr. National Day of Service, the 

September 11th National Day of Service and Remembrance, National 

Mentoring Month, the President’s Higher Education Community Service 

Honor Roll, and United We Serve, a nationwide effort launched with the 

White House in 2009 to engage Americans in service to meet community 

needs. As a result of Serve.gov, the online home of United We Serve, 

hundreds of thousands of Americans have joined with friends and 

neighbors to replenish food banks, provide health services, support 

veterans and military families, restore public lands, and more. CNCS has 

also partnered with other agencies and nonprofit organizations on the 

Let’s Read. Let’s Move. initiative to combat summer reading loss and 

childhood obesity, and Joining Forces, an effort led by First Lady Michelle 

Obama and Dr. Jill Biden to engage Americans in supporting veterans and 

military families. Serve.gov also allows Americans looking to volunteer 

to find local opportunities by entering their interest and zip codes. The 

site’s resources also include do-it-yourself toolkits with instructions for 

finding and filling local needs and a blog that features inspiring stories 

about how volunteering improves lives and transforms communities. In 

the coming year, CNCS will build on United We Serve’s progress. The 2013 

Presidential Inaugural coincided with the MLK Day of Service, prompting 

a National Day of Service that inspired more than 150,000 Americans 

to pledge to serve a total of 1.3 million hours. CNCS will engage these 

volunteers by working with other federal agencies and nonprofit partners 

to provide monthly opportunities to make good on their pledges. 

FY 2012 Accomplishments and Program Impact for 

Innovation, Demonstration, and Call to Service

In FY 2012, Call to Service activities including national days of service, 

partnerships, and convenings that engaged hundreds of thousands of 

Americans in service, expanding to new communities, demonstrating 

impact, and recognizing the efforts of those who serve. 

On the 2012 Martin Luther King, Jr. Day of Service, more than 600,000 

Americans of all ages and backgrounds joined in volunteer service 

projects across the country to honor Dr. King’s life and legacy. Through 

important projects focused on key issues facing our communities and 

nation, they answered Dr. King’s timeless challenge: “What are you 

doing for others?” A special focus of the 2012 MLK Day of Service was 

advancing Dr. King’s dream of economic opportunity, as volunteers 

offered free tax preparation, held workshops on college access, and 

offered help in job searching, resume writing, and interview preparation. 

CNCS MLK Day of Service grantees provided national leadership to 

the effort. Campus Compact’s 14,000 volunteers participated on 65 

campuses in 26 states. HOPE Worldwide, together with American Red 

Cross, mobilized 5,600 volunteers to serve more than 21,000 hours, 

educating about home safety and distributing fire extinguishers and 

smoke detectors. With more than 112,400 volunteers across the country, 

Points of Light projects included weatherizing homes, beautifying 

schools, and serving meals to veterans. More than 85,000 volunteers 

served in 1,300 projects in greater Philadelphia, including a jobs and 

opportunity fair at Girard College. 

In total, CNCS engaged more than 100 strategic partners to organize 

projects and promote service on MLK Day through their networks. 

CNCS collaborated with Scholastic to create and distribute an MLK 

Day Curriculum was focused on Dr. King’s legacy of service and was 

downloaded more than 5,100 times. CNCS recognized more than 2,000 

volunteers with Drum Majors for Service Awards. There was extensive 

corporate and elected official involvement in MLK Day. More than 261,000 

people visited the MLKDay.gov website and social media outlets.

On September 11th National Day of Service and Remembrance, 

Americans across the country came together in volunteer service to meet 

vital community needs, honoring the sacrifice of those who lost their 

lives and those who united in response to the 9/11 tragedy. Working with 

its network of grantees, State Commissions, and other partners, CNCS 

engaged more than 160,000 Americans in service and remembrance 

activities through more than 450 projects in 47 states, Puerto Rico and 

the District of Columbia. Projects ranged from food drives and disaster 

preparedness to fire safety education and neighborhood cleanups to 

recruiting and training tutors, with many focused on supporting or engaging 

veterans, soldiers, military families, and first responders in service.

In 2012, 9/11 National Day of Service and Remembrance grants were 

issued to seven organizations. Each grantee was required to set 

performance measures that align with CNCS’s overall performance 

measures. Projects had to support one of three priorities: disaster 

services, education (or capacity building that supported education) 

and/or veterans and military families.

The third annual summer Let’s Read. Let’s Move. initiative promoted 

children’s physical activity and summer reading loss prevention. Through 

National Mentoring Month, CNCS and its partners raised awareness 

about the positive impact high-quality mentoring relationships can have 

on young people’s academic achievement, self-esteem, social skills, and 
52 CNCS FY 2014 Congressional Budget Justification 

The Corporation for National and Community Service

career development. The National Mentoring Summit brought together 

500 nonprofit, business, and government leaders to enhance the quality 

and impact of the mentoring programs, chart the mentoring field’s future 

and focus the power of mentoring on measurable outcomes. 

The White House Council for Community Solutions developed and 

released the Community Collaborative Toolbox, the Employer Tool Kit: 

Connecting Youth to Employment, The Economic Value of Opportunity 

Youth, and WHCCS Final Report: Community Solutions for Opportunity. 

The Council also worked closely with the White House to support Summer 

Jobs + in January 2012 and the White House Summit on Community 

Solutions for Disconnected Youth in June 2012. Through these efforts, 

the Council raised awareness and provided recommendations on 

how Americans across all sectors can work together to address key 

community challenges and create positive change for youth who are out 

of school and work. The Council’s outreach efforts engaged more than 

250 nonprofit, business and government stakeholders and included 

extensive coordination with United Way Worldwide. 

CNCS, as a lead agency on the Let’s Move in Indian Country initiative, 

secured private sector resources to support placement of AmeriCorps 

VISTA members in Indian Country youth sports programs. 

Working with the Department of Education, CNCS recognized 642 schools 

for exemplary community service in the President’s Higher Education 

Community Service Honor Roll. Campuses named to the 2012 Honor 

Roll reported that nearly one million of their students engaged in 

service learning and more than 1.6 million participated in other forms of 

community service, serving a total of more than 105 million hours. CNCS 

outreach included meeting with more than 850 faith leaders for service 

recognition and information sharing. 

CNCS focused efforts on cost-efficient use of technology for conferences 

training, and resource dissemination. The groundbreaking Senior Corps 

Virtual Conference focused on impact and performance measures was 

a major success, with 1,900 unique registrants. This conference was 

designed, among other things, to support applicants for the upcoming 

Senior Corp’s RSVP competition and train Senior Corps programs 

on performance measures. Eighty-six percent of pre-and post-test 

respondents agreed or strongly agreed that they gained new knowledge 

and skills as a result of the conference. Ninety-three percent of attendees 

indicated that they would use the information gathered at the conference. 

In FY 2012, CNCS also produced guides, toolkits, and communities of 

practice on three Strategic Plan focus areas: education, disaster services, 

and support to veterans and military families. These efforts reached 

more than 2,000 individuals and organizations, and many of the support 

materials and training are available online. Taking advantage of the 

broad audience in attendance, CNCS also sponsored three preconference 

training sessions and workshops on focus areas and performance 

measures at the National Conference on Volunteering and Service.

FY 2014 Budget Request and Performance Plan for 

Innovation, Demonstration and Call to Service

CNCS requests a total of $3.015 million to support Innovation, 

Demonstration and Call to Service activities. CNCS offers unique value 

by applying resources to support and expand effective social solutions. 

These solutions increase support for veterans and military families, 

including wounded warriors, communities affected by disasters, and 

the most persistently failing schools in our country. To encourage new 

areas of programming, especially in areas where no effective models 

exist, CNCS uses these Subtitle H funds to assist non-profits in applying 

national service and volunteerism as a solution to our country’s most 

pressing community challenges. 

For example, seeking cost effective methods of delivery, CNCS successfully 

piloted the Veterans and Military Families Community of Practice. In 

the first five months, over 400 professionals engaged in discussions on 

49 topics through facilitated discussions, blog posts, and collaborative 

workspaces; and participated in seven online courses. Additional 

Communities of Practice will be developed for disaster response, people 

with disabilities engaged in service, and education efforts. 

These efforts will also support CNCS’s Next Wave of Service, by 

convening community partners in planning and dialogue and assessing 

needs and providing training materials to support service as a solution. 

Three such convenings provided the impetus for the School Turnaround 

AmeriCorps Initiative, an innovative collaboration with the Education 

Department launched in February 2013.

These funds support training and materials development for additional 

and new program and fiscal compliance requirements, including 

criminal background check requirements, distribution of member’s living 

allowance, and changes to the match requirement process. The funds 

also support performance measure, program, and fiscal compliance 

training for each new cohort of CNCS grantees, and refresher courses for 

returning grantees. For example, materials planned include “detecting 

prohibited activities, and remotely monitoring subgrantees.” Customer 

user surveys provide ongoing feedback which CNCS uses to enhance 

comprehension and user experience.
CNCS FY 2014 Congressional Budget Justification 53

Budget Activities | PART VI

BUDGET ACTIVITY 10:

Subtitle J, Training and 

Technical Assistance

(National and Community Service Act of 1990, Title I, sections 198O 

and Subtitle J)

Program Summary

Through Subtitle J, the National and Community Service Act authorizes 

CNCS to provide training and technical assistance (TTA) to improve the 

programmatic quality of current and potential national service programs 

and projects9

. CNCS’s current training and technical assistance strategy 

focuses on two outcomes: 1) implementation of CNCS’s performance 

measures; and 2) grantee compliance with statutory, regulatory, and 

financial requirements. The rationale for this focus is a unique set of 

knowledge and skills specific to CNCS programs and projects in these 

critical areas. For FY 2013 and beyond, CNCS is building an agency-wide 

core curriculum to ensure CNCS staff and partners have the knowledge 

to be successful in these areas. Subtitle J funds provide the technology 

platform for online delivery of the core curriculum, tools, and materials, 

and for tracking the attainment of participant knowledge. 

FY 2012 Accomplishments and Program Impact 

During FY 2012, CNCS developed a plan for measuring the impact of 

TTA based on the Kirkpatrick Four Levels model, the standard in the 

learning and performance field. Starting with identification of training 

outcomes and competencies in the core content areas of implementing 

performance measures and complying with program, fiscal, and grant 

requirements, CNCS piloted the assessment of knowledge gains at the 

annual Financial and Grants Management Institute (FGMI) and the 

Senior Corps Virtual Conference. Results include:

• 92 percent of participants in the 2012 FGMI increased their knowledge 

in core curriculum competencies. 

• Four online modules of the core curriculum for performance 

measurement were created in FY 2012 and piloted during the Senior 

Corps Virtual Conference, where 100 percent of participants improved 

knowledge on performance measures competencies by an average of 

16 percent. These results helped inform the final plan for an ongoing 

data collection on the effectiveness of CNCS training. In 2014, CNCS 

plans to have finalized the instrumentation and data collection 

protocols and launched a certification program.

In addition to the work on measuring TTA effectiveness, CNCS expanded its 

online infrastructure in FY 2012 and provided program support grants to 

State Service Commissions for delivery of TTA at the state and local level. 

Online Infrastructure

With thousands of CNCS-sponsored organizations across multiple 

programs supported by TTA funds, CNCS’s capacity to provide technical 

assistance and measure the effectiveness of training relies on its 

online infrastructure. With content focused on CNCS training goals of 

implementing performance measures and compliance with program, 

financial and grants requirements, CNCS delivered more training online 

in 2012 than in the previous year10, anchored by the implementation 

of the first CNCS virtual conference with 1,881 registrants. The TTA 

websites hosted almost one million unique visitors, delivered 246 

webinars experienced by 20,899 participants, provided 46 e-courses 

completed by 14,931 participants, and supported the downloading of 

101,884 resource documents. By 2014, CNCS will add functionality 

to the web platform that allows the assessment of knowledge gains 

through core curriculum courses. 

Program Support Grants 

CNCS invested approximately $1.4 million in states’ efforts to 

provide local TTA through program support grants. Specifically, State 

Table 22. Training and Technical Assistance Budget Summary (dollars in thousands)

Budget Account FY12 Enacted

FY13 Annualized 

CR Level FY14 Request

Increase/ 

Decrease 

(2012-2014)

Training and Technical Assistance $1,996 $2,008 $600 ($1,396)

Total Budget Authority $1,996 $2,008 $600 ($1,396)

Strategic Goals: Maximize value to grantee, partners, and participants

9 The NCSA (1990), as amended by the SAA (2009), authorizes CNCS to use up to 2.5 percent of its program appropriations to fund TTA activities.

10 CNCS offered 17 percent more on line courses than the previous year (46 vs. 38) and enrolled 22 percent more individuals in these courses (14,931 vs. 11,767).
54 CNCS FY 2014 Congressional Budget Justification 

The Corporation for National and Community Service

Commissions used these funds to ensure their grantees comply with 

federal rules, to establish state-wide indicators of service results, 

and fund efforts to coordinate service actions (e.g., respond to natural 

disasters). CNCS made 53 awards, the largest of which was $47,161 with 

an average award of $26,006. 

In addition, CNCS continued to refine TTA strategies in support of 

strategic goals and programmatic needs. As part of this process, 

CNCS sponsored a public comment period in summer 2012 during 

which comments were specifically sought from grantees and projects. 

Results showed strong support for a blended delivery system of online 

and face-to-face delivery mechanisms, support for national core 

competencies with associated curricula, and recognition of the value 

of high quality peer-based knowledge networks. 

FY 2014 Budget Request and Performance Plan

In FY 2014, CNCS requests $0.600 million, a decrease of $1.396 million 

from the FY 2012 enacted level. This requested amount is for activities 

authorized under Subtitle J, including support for AmeriCorps and Senior 

Corps-specific TTA in support of CNCS’s strategic plan and programspecific initiatives.

Training and Technical Assistance Online Learning Platform — The 

Knowledge Network

This funding level will support CNCS’s transition of all externally hosted 

TTA websites into the CNCS Office of Information Technology operations 

(OIT) aligned with the CNCS IT Plan. The TTA website will become the 

“National Service Knowledge Network.” Sub-networks will provide 

content on CNCS priority focus areas and include interactive peer-based 

communities of practice. The Network will also feature an Online Learning 

Center to track participant knowledge gains on the core curriculum. 

This funding will support hosting, maintenance, and development, 

and an online learning center to host, develop, and design technology 

for training courses. 

BUDGET ACTIVITY 11:

Evaluation

(National and Community Service Act of 1990, Title I, section 179)

Program Summary

With the Evaluation Budget, CNCS conducts impact and outcome 

evaluations designed to demonstrate “what works” through four types 

of activities. These include: 

1. Conducting national-level evaluations of core CNCS programs; 

2. Implementing evaluations at the intervention-level or grantee level; 

3. Providing evaluation monitoring and guidance to grantees; and 

4. Monitoring annual trends of volunteering and civic engagement. 

CNCS’s research is conducted via three sources: 

1. Carefully-selected and rigorously-designed research and evaluation 

projects; 

2. Partnerships with other federal agencies with common interests 

whereby research projects are co-sponsored; and 

3. Evaluation conducted by grantees and subgrantees, where CNCS 

provides monitoring and guidance to measure results and identify 

promising or best practices. 

CNCS believes in a “research-to-practice model” whereby research 

results are used to inform program and policy decisions, infusing best 

practices into everyday program operations to increase individual and 

community impact.

FY 2012 Accomplishments and Program Impact

In alignment with its strategic plan, CNCS has developed a plan to 

provide high-quality evaluations of some of its most critical initiatives, 

which are designed to answer broad ranging questions such as:

• Which national service interventions and program models 

offer evidence?

• How can we best emphasize evidence and evaluation in the grant 

review process, such that our investments are placed in organizations 

that maximize community impact?

• What is the return on investment of national service members/

volunteers delivering evidenced-based interventions?

• What is the impact of CNCS programs on communities? How can 

CNCS best use performance measures data, in combination with 

program evaluations, to document community impact and strengthen 

program outcomes?

• Is service a pathway to employment? Does service increase 

knowledge and skills in areas that are valuable or in short supply 

in the labor market?

• What are the trends in volunteering and civic participation?

Below is an overview of featured research and evaluation projects that 

are currently underway. 

AmeriCorps Grantee Evaluation Monitoring and Guidance. In this 

project, we are providing detailed guidance, tools, monitoring, and 

support for AmeriCorps State and National grantees to strengthen 
CNCS FY 2014 Congressional Budget Justification 55

Budget Activities | PART VI

Table 23. Evaluation Budget Summary (dollars in thousands)

Budget Account FY12 Enacted

FY13 Annualized

CR Level FY14 Request

Increase/Decrease 

(2012-2014)

Evaluation $2,994 $3,013 $5,000 $2,006

Total Budget Authority $2,994 $3,013 $5,000 $2,006

Strategic Goals: Maximize value to grantee, partners, and participants

program evaluations. Currently, grantees that receive $500,000 or 

more annually are required to contract for a third-party evaluation. The 

activities under the project are meant to: 1) strengthen the evaluation 

guidance and tools provided to AmeriCorps State and National applicants 

and grantees to assist in completing the evaluation requirements; 2) 

provide reviews and feedback on applicants’ evaluation plans and reports 

submitted during grant application reviews; and 3) provide support to 

those AmeriCorps grantees that are required to conduct independent 

evaluations. The project will be used to document evidence of impact for 

informed decision-making and allocation of resources. The project will 

also be used to make recommendations to maximize use of evaluation 

and evidence in the grantmaking award process and to potentially bundle 

evaluation results for a new annual impact report in 2013.

Minnesota Reading Corps (MRC) Phase III (Impact) Study. Building on 

earlier phases of this study, the primary goal of the impact evaluation 

is to understand if the Minnesota Reading Corps is having an impact by 

using a rigorous randomized control trial (RCT). The goal of the MRC is 

to ensure that students become successful readers and meet reading 

proficiency targets by the end of the third grade. The core activities of 

the program are training, placing, and monitoring AmeriCorps members 

in school-based settings to implement research-based early-literacy 

strategies. Members serve K-3 students in schools or pre-K youth 

in preschool centers. As a result of the feasibility study and process 

assessment, which demonstrated that the program is being implemented 

as designed and is ready for a rigorous evaluation, Phase III for K-3 sites 

began in September 2012. Students were randomly assigned to program 

and control groups and data collection was conducted during the first 

semester of the current school year. A quasi-experimental design will be 

used for pre-K sites in school year 2013-14. 

Volunteering in America Survey. Annually since 2002, CNCS has worked 

with the U.S. Census Bureau (Census) and the Bureau of Labor Statistics 

to conduct the Volunteering Supplement as part of the Current Population 

Survey. With the data gathered through the supplement, CNCS has 

produced an interactive website, Volunteering in America 

(www.volunteeringinamerica.gov), that has cemented CNCS’s position 

as the Federal authority on volunteering and civic engagement. The 

site provides a comprehensive analysis of volunteering trends and 

demographics at the national, regional, state, and major metro levels. 

The data are used by researchers, nonprofits, public agencies, and others 

to better understand the state of volunteering in their communities and 

develop strategies to expand service. 

In 2011 (the most recent year for which data are available), the survey 

results indicated that 64.3 million Americans volunteered in a formal 

organization, with a nationwide volunteering rate of 26.8 percent. To 

distribute these findings, CNCS combined the Volunteering in America 

report with its annual Civic Life in America report to produce an 

integrated website, which increased efficiency and reduced costs 

while creating a more user-friendly product. Volunteering in America is 

a high profile release for CNCS that on average generates more than 

150 million media impressions per year and is featured in national 

publications. In addition, the data are used by state and local elected 

officials, State Service Commissions, and national and local nonprofits 

to inform the development of volunteer recruitment and retention 

strategies and campaigns. 

Assessment of the Involvement of Veterans and Military Families in 

National Service. Research is nearly complete on a study designed to 

examine the involvement of veterans and military families in national 

service and to identify effective models and strategies for engaging 

and serving these important populations. The findings will provide a 

substantial contribution to the Congressional report on the involvement 

of veterans and military families in national service that was mandated 

in the Serve America Act [Sec 1709]. 

In FY 2012, CNCS also began a project for the evaluation review and 

monitoring for the Social Innovation Fund. The central purpose of this 

project is to review, monitor, and assess local evaluations conducted by 

SIF grantees and their subgrantees to ensure that sound and rigorous 
56 CNCS FY 2014 Congressional Budget Justification 

The Corporation for National and Community Service

evaluations are designed and conducted in a way that helps the 

organizations demonstrate a stronger level of evidence.

FY 2014 Budget Request and Performance Plan

For FY 2014, CNCS requests $5.000 million for Evaluation in order to 

support CNCS’s strategic plan and will fund research and evaluation 

studies that: 

• Provide evidence about what works in the six agency priority areas. 

• Assess the impact of national service interventions; 

• Increase the evidence — and knowledge — base regarding the value 

of national service;

• Improve the capacity of CNCS and its grantees and stakeholders to 

conduct rigorous evaluations; and 

• Make CNCS more effective. 

The increase in 2014 to $5 million for evaluation allows CNCS to 

continue existing studies and significantly ramp up CNCS’s commitment 

to evaluating programs with a strong evidence base and using data 

to make management decisions. The requested level also includes 

funds to support a new online study repository for all national service 

evaluations. This online repository will build off of existing structures at 

the Departments of Education, Health and Human Services, and Labor. 

Finally, this funding level will allow CNCS to provide additional technical 

support to grantees to improve the quality of evaluations. 

Major evaluation projects in FY 2014 are:

Social Innovation Fund National Evaluation. The National Evaluation 

of the SIF is a multiyear study that seeks to assess the extent to which 

the evidence base for social program models has been strengthened; 

nonprofit capacity to implement and expand programs has increased; 

and SIF support has influenced the use of evidence, the flow of capital, 

and the scaling of programs. A mix of quantitative and qualitative 

methods is being used to generate valid and reliable data from SIF 

intermediaries and subgrantees, funders, third party evaluators, 

beneficiaries, community partners, and non-SIF entities that may have 

been influenced by the program. 

Evaluation of Senior Corps Programs. CNCS will be undertaking a 

comprehensive evaluation of Senior Corps programs through 2015. The 

proposed study consists of cross-sectional data collection and pilot 

studies in the Foster Grandparent Program (FGP) and Senior Companion 

Program (SCP). These studies will inform both an RSVP evaluation in 

FY 2014, and/or possible longitudinal studies in FGP and SCP in 

FY 2014-15. The longitudinal studies incorporate a quasi-experimental 

design that can be used to establish causal association between Senior 

Corps activity and Goal 1 and Goal 2 outcomes. 

Continuation of Minnesota Reading Corps (MRC) Phase III (Impact) 

Study. As described in the FY 2012 section, the primary goal of this study 

is to assess MRC impact using a rigorous randomized control trial at the 

K-3 level and a quasi-experimental design at the pre-K level. The goal of 

the MRC is to ensure that students become successful readers and meet 

reading proficiency targets by the end of the third grade. 

Evaluation of YouthBuild Programs. CNCS is a partner with the 

U.S. Department of Labor in conducting a randomized controlled trial 

of the YouthBuild program. More than 7,000 youth aged 16-24 who 

have dropped out of high school participate in the program annually. 

Participants work toward their high school diploma or GED while learning 

construction skills by building homes for needy families. A subsample 

of sites selected for the study will be solely funded by CNCS, which will 

provide evidence on the impact of national service within the YouthBuild 

program. The evaluation will measure the effect that YouthBuild 

programs have on participants’ educational attainment, postsecondary 

planning, employment, earnings, involvement with the criminal justice 

system, and social and emotional development. 

Our work in FY 2014 is guided by the following strategies to enhance 

accountability and effectiveness: 

• Maximize limited resources by designing evaluations that include results 

and best practices that can be leveraged across CNCS programs and 

grantees. Information gained from these evaluations will inform periodic 

assessments of agency progress in meeting its mission goals.

• Enhance CNCS capacity and expertise through collaborations with 

other federal agencies and experts. 

• Build the capacity of grantees to conduct rigorous evaluations 

that will add to the evidence base of high-impact service models 

and interventions. 

• Use a research-to-practice model so that research findings are 

disseminated to inform program and policy decisions, as well as 

create awareness of the impact of CNCS programs.
CNCS FY 2014 Congressional Budget Justification 57

Budget Activities | PART VI

BUDGET ACTIVITY 12:

Salaries and Expenses 

(National and Community Service Act of 1990, Section 501(a)(5); 

Domestic Volunteer Service Act of 1973, Section 504(a))

Program Summary 

CNCS’s Salaries and Expenses (S&E) budget activity provides resources 

for the federal administration of all CNCS’s programs. Administrative 

activities include program development, grant award oversight and 

monitoring, grants and contract management, financial management, 

budget formulation and oversight, development of regulations and policy, 

and information technology system development and support.

FY 2012 Management Performance and Accomplishments

In FY 2012, CNCS undertook and accomplished a number of critical 

initiatives across CNCS to improve operations, performance, and 

accountability. Within the last year, CNCS completed the following 

management initiatives.

Workforce Development and Training 

In FY 2012, CNCS completed the second year of its Leadership Institute, 

which consists of two programs. Both seek individuals who have shown 

strong professional potential through the successful completion of high 

level duties or special assignments.

The first program, Leadership Crossroads, is based on the highly successful 

Department of Interior Pathways to Leadership program, adapted to meet 

the interests of CNCS. Participants are midcareer individuals with high 

potential who have, through a competitive national application process, 

demonstrated the potential to take on a significant leadership role in the 

management of CNCS resources, projects, and/or people. 

The second program, The Partnership for Public Service Annenberg 

Leadership Institute is an innovation and leadership laboratory where 

rising federal leaders learn the best management practices and apply 

them to pressing national issues. This program is targeted toward senior 

to mid-level CNCS employees.

Accountability

In FY 2012, CNCS created the Office of Accountability and Oversight 

(OAO) to strengthen its risk management approach in alignment with 

Table 24. Salaries and Expenses Budget Summary (dollars in thousands) 

Object Class FY12 Enacted

FY13 

Annualized CR

FY12 to FY14 

Adjustments FY14 Request

11.1 - Full-time permanent $38,839 $39,700 $1,516 $40,355 

11.3 - Other than full-time permanent 1,388 1,405 33 1,421 

11.5 - Other personnel compensation 667 650 (22) 645 

Total personnel compensation $40,895 $41,755 $1,526 $42,421 

12.1 - Civilian personnel benefits 12,473 12,800 377 12,850 

21.0 - Travel and transportation of persons 2,095 1,470 (695) 1,400 

23.1 - Rental payments to GSA 7,408 7,633 6,225 13,633 

23.3 - Communications, utilities, and misc. charges 1,722 1,700 (22) 1,700 

25.2 - Other Services** 17,582 17,417 (2,982) 14,600 

26.0 - Supplies and Materials 668.262 575 (163) 505 

*Total, Salary and Expenses $82,843 $83,350 $4,266 $87,109 

Full Time Equivalent 481 489 11 492

Strategic Goal: Fortify management operations and sustain a capable, responsive, and accountable organization

*Includes $6 million one-time cost for a move or space consolidation of CNCS’s headquarters.

**The IT investment for FY 2014 is $12.392 million. This funding represents the S&E portion of CNCS’s IT costs. It does not reflect the IT costs covered by program funds.
58 CNCS FY 2014 Congressional Budget Justification 

The Corporation for National and Community Service

CNCS’s priorities and strategic vision. Some current examples of priority 

activities include developing a new Performance Measures Data Quality 

Review process — a standard tool for reviewing data quality elements 

with award recipients — and updating CNCS’s monitoring protocols to 

ensure that they promote compliance and effectiveness, while keeping 

grantee burden to a minimum. The OAO is also developing an action plan 

for accountability, including internal controls. This will establish core 

principles and vision for CNCS’s accountability efforts moving forward.

Information Technology Accomplishments

CNCS has made a number of IT investments to enable CNCS to meet 

the requirements of the 2009 Serve America Act, achieve the objectives 

outlined in its Strategic Plan, and efficiently administer the programs 

and initiatives that help mobilize volunteers and build capacity of the 

organizations and communities to solve problems. In FY 2012, in addition 

to operating and maintaining core IT services, CNCS implemented a 

number of initiatives aimed at advancing the goals and objectives of 

CNCS’s IT Strategic Plan. Below are a few of the FY 2012 initiatives 

organized by the associated IT strategic goals:

Stabilized CNCS’s IT Infrastructure

• Improved IT security and protecting personally identifiable information 

(PII) entrusted to CNCS by its members, grantees and other 

stakeholders remained a high priority focus for CNCS. Examples of 

steps taken include: 

– Implemented procedures to identify and mitigate vulnerabilities 

identified across core Grants Management Systems;

– Completed implementation of security software to scan all new code 

for vulnerabilities before entering production; and 

– Implemented new tools to continuously monitor CNCS networks for 

vulnerabilities while simultaneously controlling access.

• CNCS optimized IT operations to reduce the cost of basic IT operations 

while at the same time adopting new technologies that promise 

to provide better IT support to CNCS programs through increased 

productivity, reduced burden on stakeholders, and greater public 

engagement. Examples include: 

– Completed an evaluation of alternatives and initial implementation 

of plans for reducing Commodity IT infrastructure costs, including 

the decommissioning of redundant/under-utilized services; and 

– Modified IT infrastructure to accommodate federal-wide 

implementation of HSPD-12, including the use of PIV cards to 

control physical access.

Created a More Agile IT Response to CNCS’s Changing Needs 

By enhancing the eGrants grants management system, CNCS continued 

to modify its core grants management applications, as well as IT 

management processes and tools, to better align and be more responsive 

to business needs. Examples include:

• Initiated implementation of Phase 2 of the Performance Measures 

module to identify performance measures and target values for VISTA, 

NCCC, and SIF, and enhance reporting of performance measures at 

the program level. This module supports CNCS’s performance based 

management strategy and will support evidence-based decision making.

• Expanded the set of automated test scripts to further reduce the risk of 

introducing errors as system changes are implemented, improving the 

quality and reliability of IT support to staff, grantees and members.

• Refined the IT Modernization business case and roadmap, ensuring 

continued alignment of CNCS’s IT modernization initiative with CNCS’s 

strategic plan and enabling CNCS to better operate as part of the 

Administration’s 21st Century Government initiatives. These initiatives 

include open government, greater public engagement, and IT reform.

Improved Productivity and Service Across CNCS Using Technology

By enhancing its data warehouse, CNCS has made it easier to access 

and analyze CNCS’s data and demonstrate the impact of CNCS programs. 

CNCS also introduced new IT services to improve staff productivity. 

Examples include: 

• Expanded data warehouse and reporting tool implementation by migrating 

all ad-hoc reporting functionality from core applications (eGrants) to 

the data warehouse and adding new data sets (e.g., Senior Corps and 

NCCC members) to Service Location and State Profile reports; and

• Subscribed to a Department of Commerce shared service that will 

enable staff to efficiently meet routine Standard Form 278 and 450 

reporting requirements.

Followed IT Best Practices and Strived for Continuous Improvement

In updating IT policies, practices, and procedures, CNCS continued to 

apply best and innovative IT management practices to improve IT service 

delivery across the organization. Examples include: 

• Improved internal OIT/CNCS governance, including revitalization of 

CNCS Executive Review Board (e.g., Investment Review Board) which 

conducted a complete review of the IT investment portfolio and set 

CNCS IT priorities as part of the FY 2014 budget cycle and Technology 

Council (i.e., the executive board responsible for conducting routine 

investment performance reviews); and

• Updated the CNCS Information Assurance policy, implemented new 

standard operating procedures, and upgraded CNCS’s collaboration 

tool to enhance communication.
CNCS FY 2014 Congressional Budget Justification 59

Budget Activities | PART VI

FY 2014 Budget Request and Performance Plan

For FY 2014, CNCS requests $87.109 million to support Salaries and 

Expenses, an increase of $4.266 million above the FY 2012 enacted 

level. This includes a one-time request of $6 million for a move or space 

consolidation of CNCS headquarters. The request also includes a one 

percent pay raise and supports continued IT operations and staffing 

levels needed to ensure efficient CNCS operations. 

Information Technology 

The FY 2014 IT budget request represents a $1.1M decrease from the 

FY 2012 enacted level and will fund core operations and services at 

reduced service levels compared with the FY 2012 enacted level. This 

budget request will allow CNCS to continue to make progress toward 

CNCS’s Strategic Plan by funding the implementation initiatives aimed 

at strengthening IT systems to enhance efficiencies, enable program 

effectiveness, and improve accountability. At this level CNCS will have 

limited capacity to invest in IT modernization and major technology 

enhancements, so the emphasis will be on reducing IT base costs through 

adoption of updated technology and pursuing incremental updates to core 

IT systems and infrastructure in alignment with our IT modernization plan.

FY 2014 IT funding will be used to improve data quality, consistency, 

and accuracy; and enhance CNCS’s data warehouse operations and 

eSpan/eGrants application. These IT projects will support ongoing 

CNCS initiatives focused on increasing oversight and accountability 

and demonstrating impact (e.g., analysis of agency-wide performance 

measures analysis and improvements to State Profile reports). The IT 

request will also be used to continue to protect IT systems and data, 

implement changes to our IT infrastructure designed to improve IT 

cost-effectiveness, and to expand remote access and mobile computing 

capability that will provide new operational flexibility and efficiencies. 

The budget request also supports continued investment in the operations 

and maintenance of core CNCS business applications (e.g., financial 

management system, My AmeriCorps Portal) and IT services, including 

the managed data center, telecommunications, consolidated program 

help desk/hotline and subscriptions to E-Gov initiatives, as well as other 

government-wide shared services (e.g., Grants.gov).

Headquarters Move or Space Consolidation in Fiscal Year 2014 

CNCS’s lease for its headquarters offices expires in October 2014. 

CNCS is working with GSA to determine a location that will help it to 

maximize efficiency. CNCS is requesting $6 million for the move or space 

consolidation. This includes one-time costs for construction, cabling, 

moving, and security. 

Disability Inclusion Strategy 

Program Summary 

Pursuant to the NCSA, CNCS seeks to expand opportunities that lead to 

the meaningful and successful inclusion of people with disabilities in 

national service. Our disability inclusion strategy supports the objectives 

of Goal 2 in the CNCS Strategic Plan, strengthening national service so 

that participants engaged in CNCS-supported programs consistently find 

satisfaction, meaning and opportunity.

Our strategy mitigates the real and perceived barriers to full inclusion 

of people with disabilities in national service programs. In addition, this 

strategy helps participants to:

• Engage in a high-quality service experience;

• Find meaning in their service experience that leads to continued 

service in their communities;

• Discover professional, educational, or civic opportunities through their 

service experience; and 

• Gain health benefits associated with service, particularly for veterans 

and participants over the age of 55.

For FY 2012 and FY 2013, as authorized by the Serve America Act, CNCS 

used program dollars to fund its disability activities. 

FY 2012 Accomplishments and Program Impact

In order to recruit and retain people with disabilities in national service 

programs, CNCS grantees and project staff need specific knowledge and 

skills to be able to identify potential applicants, articulate the benefits 

of service, design appropriate service experiences, provide reasonable 

accommodations, and create an environment of inclusion and support 

throughout their organizations. In FY 2012, to support the goal of 

inclusion of people with disabilities in service, CNCS: 

• Partnered with disability organizations and agencies at national, state 

and local levels to leverage expertise and networks around recruitment. 

For example, through a grant to the University of Massachusetts, CNCS 

worked with Vocational Rehabilitation counselors across the country to 

identify barriers to participation for people with disabilities and solicit 

participation in recruitment. Through disability grants to State Service 

Commissions, 35 states maintained State Inclusion Teams (formal 

partnerships with a variety of disability support organizations).
60 CNCS FY 2014 Congressional Budget Justification 

The Corporation for National and Community Service

• Provided training and technical assistance, resources, and materials 

on evidence-based practices to provide knowledge and skills for 

program and project managers to successfully engage people with 

disabilities. Outputs of activities include 130 trainings reaching 3,283 

participants, 217 requests for technical assistance; monthly webinars 

reaching 1,243 persons, and a National Symposium on Service and 

Disability Inclusion with 300 attendees. In addition, CNCS provided a 

fully accessible web tech center: www.serviceandinclusion.org.

• Awarded grants to State Service Commissions to provide reasonable 

accommodations. In 2012, 34 state commissions reported fulfilling 

324 requests for reasonable accommodation.

 • Assessed service activities that led to post-service employment 

for people with disabilities and the inclusion of veterans in service. 

For example, CNCS’s technical assistance provider conducted 78 

interviews with disabled service members to isolate practices that led 

to retention and successful post-service outcomes, with 25 member 

stories uploaded to the website as examples of effective practices. 

CNCS’s objectives are to increase awareness and help ensure that 

individuals with disabilities who want to serve are afforded opportunities. 

CNCS has faced some challenges in assessing service efforts undertaken 

by individuals with disabilities who may choose not to identify their 

disability status.

In FY 2013, CNCS is incorporating the U.S. Bureau of Census’s disability 

status questions in its routine data collections. In this way, CNCS will be 

able to establish a baseline of the number of persons with disabilities 

engaged in service and measure progress annually.

CNCS recently engaged the national service field and the wider public 

through a public comment process involving over 400 people on how best 

to approach disability inclusion programming. Activities proposed below 

reflect the priorities expressed from these stakeholders, as well as ideas 

derived from conversations with providers and other federal agencies 

who successfully serve disabled populations.

FY 2014 Disability Inclusion Strategy

In FY 2014, CNCS plans to use 2 percent of program dollars to support 

people with disabilities serving in CNCS programs. Pursuant to the 

Serve America Act the primary objective of CNCS’s disability inclusion 

strategy will be to enroll and support members with disabilities serving 

in CNCS programs. This objective will be achieved through the following 

strategies. The national strategies will focus on increasing member levels 

of those with disabilities, and supporting these members.

Increasing Member Levels

• Reserve funds to support the participation of people with 

disabilities in CNCS programs. We propose to reserve funds that 

grantees can access to expand and enhance opportunities to serve for 

people with disabilities. These funds will be used to fund member slots 

for new service participants with disabilities.

Supporting Members and Their Service Experience

• Procure service providers to assist programs with reasonable 

accommodation, as required by federal statute. Under CNCS’s 

authorizing statute, people with disabilities must be provided 

accommodations to enable them to serve. 

• Coach for Excellence. Coach for Excellence is a set of online and 

telephone-based strategies to support grantees that have enrolled 

or will be enrolling people with disabilities as participants in their 

programs. 

• Continue to develop training materials for programs that engage or 

would like to engage members with disabilities. 

• Research. With the assistance of the Office of Research and 

Evaluation, CNCS will identify the best ways to increase the number of 

people with disabilities engaged in national service. 
CNCS FY 2014 Congressional Budget Justification 61

Office of Inspector General | PART VII

Office of Inspector General | PART VII

Office of Inspector General

Program Summary/Mission

To prevent and detect fraud, waste and abuse, the Office of Inspector 

General (OIG), Corporation for National and Community Service, conducts 

audits, evaluations and investigations of CNCS grantees, programs 

and operations. The OIG further recommends revisions to CNCS policies 

and practices, with the goal of promoting economy and efficiency. The 

OIG keeps CNCS’s Chief Executive Officer, Board of Directors and the 

Congress fully and currently informed of its findings.

FY 2014 Budget Request Summary

Our request of $6,466,000 for FY 2014 consists of two components: an 

operating budget of $6,016,000, plus $450,000 for moving costs, in 

the event that CNCS relocates its headquarters. The operating budget 

represents a modest increase from the $5,400,000 sought for FY 2013. 

In the second quarter of FY 2012, the OIG sustained an unexpected 

budget reduction of 49 percent, requiring the Office to terminate 19 staff 

and curtail critical audits and other anti-fraud activities. At the reduced 

funding level, the Office can provide only minimal oversight of a grantmaking organization with a budget of $1 billion. The operating budget 

that we propose for FY 2014 would return the Office to its FY 2008 level 

of funding. That support would enable the Office to continue to rebuild its 

capabilities and undertake robust oversight efforts. 

Table 25. Office of Inspector General Budget Summary (dollars in thousands)

Budget Activities FY12 Enacted

 FY13 Annualized

CR Rate FY14 Request

Increase/Decrease

(2012-2014)

Audit $1,065 $1,393 $3,054 $1,989

Investigation 1,050 1,103 1,045 (5)

Support 1,510 900 1,393 (117)

Information Technology 367 570 438 71

Training 0 43 71 71

CIGIE 0 7 15 15

Total Operations $3,992 $4,016 $6,016 $2,024

Relocation* 0 0 450 450

Total Budget Authority $3,992 $4,016 $6,466

Reimbursable Authority** **120

Total Available for Obligations $3,992 $4,136 $6,466

* One-time cost; GSA exploring relocation when current CNCS HQS lease expires in 2014.

** Reimbursable authority authorized for FY 2011.
62 CNCS FY 2014 Congressional Budget Justification 

The Corporation for National and Community Service

Audits, evaluations, investigations, and analyses are the primary 

tools we use to protect Federal taxpayer dollars invested in national 

service. For maximum impact, the OIG attempts to target its audits and 

evaluations on processes that flow across multiple agency programs, 

activities and operational units, as well as on high-risk grant recipients. 

We continue to investigate conduct that threatens the integrity of 

Federal programs as needed, to support criminal prosecutions, and to 

secure substantial recoveries. 

All of this work is highly labor-intensive, and the OIG’s operating 

budget request of $5,995,000 will increase our investigative and audit 

coverage. This request contemplates a staff of 22, organized into five 

sections: Audits, Investigations, Information Technology, OIG Support 

and Analytical Operations Section (AOS). The additional resources 

will also enable the OIG to meet new requirements for a Whistleblower 

Ombudsman, expanded responsibility to investigate whistleblower 

complaints by grantees, and improper payments (IPERA) evaluations. 

This budget will also allow us to press for increased use of suspension 

and debarment and other remedies in appropriate cases. 

The Inspector General Reform Act of 2008 requires that Inspectors 

General specify the amounts necessary for staff training. Our proposed 

staff training budget for FY 2014, encompassing audit, investigative 

and support personnel, totals $71,000, with the majority devoted to 

training necessary for our investigators and auditors to maintain their 

professional credentials. 

The Inspector General Reform Act of 2008 also requires that Inspectors 

General provide funds to support the Council of the Inspectors General 

on Integrity and Efficiency (CIGIE). For FY2014 our contribution is 

$15,000 to fund CIGIE operations.

Audit Section

For a grant-making organization such as CNCS, audits and evaluations 

are the lifeblood of oversight. The budget cut in 2012 crippled this 

essential capability, requiring CNCS to supply the funding for OIG’s 

contracted audit of the annual financial statements. Although the OIG 

intended to begin 18 new audits, it was able to initiate only three. 

For FY 2014, the Audit Section requires $3,054,000. This amount will 

support the three statutorily required audits: (1) Financial Statement 

Audit (including the audit of the National Service Trust); (2) the Federal 

Information Security Management Act evaluation (FISMA); and (3) review 

of CNCS’s compliance with the Improper Payments and Elimination 

and Recovery Act (IPERA); the first and second of these are performed 

under OIG supervision by outside contractors, at an estimated cost of 

$700,000. The Audit budget will also enable us to perform audits and 

evaluations of several state commissions, which disburse approximately 

50 percent of CNCS’s AmeriCorps State and National grants, as well as 

audits of high-risk grantees. These reviews will encompass both financial 

accountability and regulatory compliance. Our audits typically uncover 

serious lapses in these areas. 

Five other circumstances make audit activity a particular priority 

for FY 2014. First, FY 2014 will mark the fourth year of CNCS’s 

Strategic Plan, of which performance measures were a cornerstone. 

Accordingly, the OIG will begin to evaluate the effectiveness of these 

new performance measures. 

Second, capitalizing on the success of the AmeriCorps National Civilian 

Community Corps program (NCCC), CNCS has entered into a novel 

partnership with the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) 

to establish a unit of 1,600 service corps members dedicated solely 

to disaster preparedness, response, and recovery. The NCCC program 

represents a substantial commitment of resources, with potentially great 

national benefits. We plan on evaluating the effectiveness of this new 

unit and its impact on the traditional NCCC model. CNCS has initiated 

similar partnerships with other agencies, and other such arrangements 

are under discussion. We will continue to monitor the progress to 

determine when and how we should evaluate these arrangements.

Third, CNCS’s internal control program and grant monitoring capability 

require sustained attention. Recognizing its shortcomings in these 

areas, CNCS’s created a new Oversight and Accountability Office. We 

intend to evaluate its progress. We also intend to evaluate whether grant 

monitoring protocols are sufficient to address the OIG’s most common 

audit findings. Pending changes to the grants management requirements 

envision a more rigorous process, and we will evaluate CNCS’s 

implementation of these requirements when they become final. Improving 

CNCS’s procedures for reducing and recapturing improper payments is 

another key initiative for FY 2014. 

Fourth, the financial accountability and regulatory compliance of Senior 

Corps grantees has emerged as a priority, with heightened significance 

as competition has begun in the Retired Senior Volunteer Program. This 

presents an opportunity to ensure that grantees’ financial management 

systems can adequately account for Federal funds. 

Fifth, CNCS’s Social Innovation Fund (SIF) remains a high-priority and 

high-visibility initiative within CNCS’s Innovation, Demonstration and 

Assistance programs. Its objective is improving the lives of people in 
CNCS FY 2014 Congressional Budget Justification 63

Office of Inspector General | PART VII

low-income communities by mobilizing public and private resources to 

develop innovative nonprofit organizations that demonstrate compelling 

impact in three areas of urgent need: economic opportunity, youth 

development, and healthy futures. Many SIF grantees have little or no 

prior experience with Federal funding. As a prevention measure, the 

Audit Section will continue to undertake pre-award account systems 

audits, which focus on a new SIF grantee’s ability to manage and 

account for Federal funds.

Finally, CNCS’s Information Technology infrastructure remains a priority. 

CNCS uses a customized portal and program to manage most of its 

AmeriCorps volunteers, grant awards and programmatic actions for 

agency programs. We plan on evaluating the effectiveness of this 

automated system, focusing on information management, security, and 

reporting that enables CNCS’s senior leadership to make key decisions 

about its programs.

Investigation Section

The Investigation Section requires funding of $1,045,000. That Section 

focuses on allegations of misconduct that involve potentially significant 

losses of agency funds. Our agents, all of whom are based in a single 

office in Washington, DC, travel as required throughout the country to 

pursue their investigations and coordinate with Federal, state, and local 

prosecutors. While in the field, investigators take the opportunity to 

conduct Fraud Awareness Briefings (FAB), outreach efforts that educate 

agency and grantee staff about proper grant administration, to avoid or 

minimize losses from fraud. The Section also operates the hotline through 

which OIG receives many reports that are worthy of investigation.

Beginning in FY 2012, the Investigative Section, in response to resource 

constraints, began referring selected matters to CNCS for follow-up 

review, either directly or through the appropriate State Commission. The 

Section continues to offer advice and recommendations in connection with 

these reviews. For FY 2014 this practice will continue, thereby allowing our 

investigators to focus on the most serious or high risk matters.

Our results have been measurable. During FY 2012, we opened 22 

actions, closed 42 actions, and identified more than $2,321,000 in 

savings to the Federal government based on changes in grantee behavior 

as a result of our investigative efforts. Our Investigations Section 

also recovered more than $2,846,000 in stolen or misused funds and 

identified more than $34.5 million in potential recoveries. 

The demand for investigations has increased. Mid-way through FY 2013, 

the OIG has already initiated 25 actions and closed 29 actions. With 

increased emphasis on whistleblower protections we expect this pace to 

continue or even accelerate.

Support Section

The OIG Support Section budget request is $1,393,000. This 

budget represents funding for the immediate office of the Inspector 

General, Administrative, and Analytical Operations sections and 

includes such basic administrative elements as commuter benefits, 

human resources, financial management, and acquisition and physical 

assets. Because Section 6(c) of the Inspector General Act makes CNCS 

responsible for certain administrative expenses, this request does not 

include those items. 

CNCS has informed us of the possibility of relocation in FY 2014. Based 

on an estimate from the General Services Administration, we have 

included $450,000 in our request for that purpose.

We are continuing to streamline our financial and administrative policies 

and procedures with a revised telework policy, implementation of a 

property management system, and a data information management 

system. We expect to achieve full implementation of these new initiatives 

by the end of FY 2014. The strategic goal for the Support Section is 

to promote office efficiency, increase productivity, and create a more 

environmentally conscious workplace.

The Analytical Operations Section functions as the OIG’s central data 

mining and analytical support. AOS undertakes analysis and research to 

identify risk factors or red flags for particular grantees or programs, as 

well as areas of possible weakness concerning Corporation performance, 

effectiveness and efficiency. The section analyzes data directly from the 

Corporation’s information systems and also employs various Federal, 

state, and local databases to perform its work. When fully implemented, 

these analytic tools will enable the OIG to adopt a predictive approach 

towards risk management and identify threats in real time, permitting 

early intervention and prevention of waste, fraud, and abuse. AOS also 

lends direct support to audit and investigation activities by providing 

detailed information and analysis on individuals or entities. 

Information Technology

For FY 2014, the Information Technology Section (ITS) funding needs are 

$438,000. We have separated ITS from general support costs for this 

budget request in the interest of transparency regarding our technology 

needs, capabilities, and practices.
64 CNCS FY 2014 Congressional Budget Justification 

The Corporation for National and Community Service

ITS serves the dual functions of supporting the OIG’s audit, evaluation, 

and investigation activities, many of which involve information technology, 

and maintaining the Office’s information technology infrastructure. 

In FY 2014, ITS will manage the FISMA contract evaluation of CNCS’s 

network systems. 

ITS also maintains information management systems tailored to the 

specific needs of our Audit and Investigation Sections: AutoAudit for 

audit and Micropact for investigations. These systems aggregate and 

organize information for specialized purposes, permitting active, realtime management by supervisors from outside the office environment, 

furthering the telework goals of the OIG. The statistical reports produced 

by these systems assist OIG senior leadership in making resource 

decisions. OIG peer review strongly supports the adoption of such systems 

as a best practice. In addition to these systems, ITS also provides 

invaluable hands-on assistance with audits or investigations which may 

require an IT expertise or opinion. 

Finally, ITS is responsible for the Office’s entire network enterprise 

architecture, which includes: telecommunications (Voice Over Internet 

Protocol), network services, physical security, major information system 

management, IT project management, website/intranet, copier, internet, 

laptop and desktop management, and help desk support. Data security 

against new and emerging threats remains a priority. 

For FY 2014, ITS plans to undertake several technology updates 

originally scheduled for FY 2012-13, but deferred as a result of budget 

constraints. These projects, including enhanced capacity for telework 

and the relocation of information storage from physical servers to the 

cloud will ultimately reduce the capital cost of IT infrastructure by use of 

commercially available technology or shared Federal space (and allow the 

OIG to become greener). They are one-time expenses. Only by maintaining 

appropriate information systems, including these projects, can the OIG 

increase efficiency and maintain the highest standards associated with 

enterprise infrastructure security and conformity to best Federal practices. 

Strategic Goals 

The OIG is charged with providing timely and independent information to 

CNCS’s Board of Directors, Chief Executive Officer, senior management, 

and Congress regarding the effectiveness and efficiency of CNCS 

programs and operations. The ultimate objective is to improve CNCS’s 

ability to meet its responsibilities, including as a fiduciary of public 

funds, and achieve its mission. Thus, the OIG’s FY 2014 audit and 

investigative plans are designed, to the best of the OIG’s ability, to assist 

CNCS in meeting its strategic goals, reducing program vulnerabilities, 

strengthening program integrity in the delivery of benefits to program 

participants, and increasing the efficiency and effectiveness with which 

CNCS manages and exercises its stewardship of grant funds. The OIG’s 

Strategic Plan and Performance Measures can be found at http://www.

cncsoig.gov/latest-strategic-plan.
CNCS FY 2014 Congressional Budget Justification 65

Appendices | PART VIII

Appendices | PART VIII

Appendix A. Corporation for National and Community Service Enacted Budget, 1994-2014 

Request (dollars in thousands)

Activity FY94 Enacted FY95 Enacted FY96 Enacted FY97 Enacted FY98 Enacted

Total, Operating Expenses 543,503 651,587 566,844 586,499 653,975

National Service Trust $98,751 $115,070 $56,000 $59,000 $70,000

AmeriCorps State and National Grants 155,500 219,000 215,000 215,000 227,000

Innovation, Demonstration, and Assistance1 31,900 30,000 29,850 30,000 30,000

Evaluation 4,600 5,500 5,000 5,000 5,000

AmeriCorps NCCC 10,000 18,000 18,000 18,000 18,000

Learn and Serve America 40,000 46,000 43,000 43,000 43,000

State Commissions Support Grants1 24,750 28,723 24,918 25,000 27,000

Partnership Grants 5,000 5,830 5,500 5,500 5,500

AmeriCorps VISTA 42,724 47,700 41,235 41,235 65,235

Special Volunteer Programs - - - - -

National Senior Service Corps 130,278 135,764 128,341 144,764 163,240

RSVP 34,388 35,708 34,949 35,708 40,279

Foster Grandparent Program 66,117 67,812 62,237 77,812 87,593

Senior Companion Program 29,773 31,244 31,155 31,244 35,368

Senior Demonstration Program 0 1,000 0 0 0

Disability Placement Funds3 0 0 0 0 0

Training & Technical Assistance 0 0 0 0 0

Salaries & Expense Account1,2 31,151 31,160 28,541 27,850 28,129

Office of the Inspector General 944 2,000 2,000 2,000 3,000

 Total, CNCS $575,598 $684,747 $597,385 $616,349 $685,104

Training and Technical Assistance dollars were provided in a separate appropriation beginning in FY10.

The chart above calculates Operating Expenses inclusive of the Trust Appropriation.

1

 Pursuant to P.L. 110-28 $1.360 million was transferred from Innovation, Demonstration, and Assistance to the Salaries and Expense Account in FY 2007. 

2

 NCSA administrative expenses are included in the State Commission Support Grants Program line item prior to FY 2004.

3 Beginning in FY 2012, and pursuant to the Serve America Act, CNCS used up to 2% of program dollars to fund disability activities. CNCS is seeking to continue using this 

authority in FY 2014.
66 CNCS FY 2014 Congressional Budget Justification 

The Corporation for National and Community Service

Appendix A. Corporation for National and Community Service Enacted Budget, 1994-2014 

Request (dollars in thousands) (continued)

Activity FY99 Enacted FY00 Enacted FY01 Enacted FY02 Enacted FY03 Enacted

Total, Operating Expenses 682,266 696,545 729,112 698,501 745,755

National Service Trust $70,000 $70,000 $69,846 $0 $99,350

AmeriCorps State and National Grants 237,000 233,395 230,492 240,492 173,863

Innovation, Demonstration, and Assistance1 28,500 28,500 28,437 28,488 35,269

Evaluation 5,000 5,000 4,989 5,000 2,981

AmeriCorps NCCC 18,000 17,892 20,954 24,896 24,838

Learn and Serve America 43,000 43,000 42,905 43,000 42,721

State Commissions Support Grants1 28,356 27,895 30,932 30,991 32,289

Partnership Grants 5,500 7,741 28,936 29,000 14,901

AmeriCorps VISTA 73,000 80,574 83,074 85,255 93,674

Special Volunteer Programs - - - 5,000 9,935

National Senior Service Corps 173,910 182,818 188,547 206,379 215,934

RSVP 43,001 46,117 48,884 54,884 58,501

Foster Grandparent Program 93,256 95,988 98,868 106,700 110,775

Senior Companion Program 36,573 39,219 40,395 44,395 46,260

Senior Demonstration Program 1,080 1,494 400 400 398

Disability Placement Funds3 0 0 0 0 0

Training & Technical Assistance 0 0 0 0 0

Salaries & Expense Account1,2 29,129 31,129 32,229 32,213 34,346

Office of the Inspector General 3,000 3,985 4,989 4,994 5,961

 Total, CNCS $714,395 $731,659 $766,330 $735,708 $786,062

Training and Technical Assistance dollars were provided in a separate appropriation beginning in FY10.

The chart above calculates Operating Expenses inclusive of the Trust Appropriation.

1

 Pursuant to P.L. 110-28 $1.360 million was transferred from Innovation, Demonstration, and Assistance to the Salaries and Expense Account in FY 2007. 

2

 NCSA administrative expenses are included in the State Commission Support Grants Program line item prior to FY 2004.

3 Beginning in FY 2012, and pursuant to the Serve America Act, CNCS used up to 2% of program dollars to fund disability activities. CNCS is seeking to continue using this 

authority in FY 2014.
CNCS FY 2014 Congressional Budget Justification 67

Appendices | PART VIII

Appendix A. Corporation for National and Community Service Enacted Budget, 1994-2014 

Request (dollars in thousands) (continued)

Activity FY04 Enacted FY05 Enacted FY06 Enacted FY07 Enacted FY08 Enacted

Total, Operating Expenses 867,833 856,574 837,936 805,760 782,744

National Service Trust $129,233 $142,848 $138,600 $117,720 $122,539

AmeriCorps State and National Grants 312,147 287,680 264,825 264,825 256,805

Innovation, Demonstration, and Assistance1 11,159 13,227 16,280 29,771 18,893

Evaluation 2,982 3,522 3,960 3,960 3,891

AmeriCorps NCCC 24,853 25,296 36,730 26,789 23,782

Learn and Serve America 42,746 42,656 37,125 37,125 37,459

State Commissions Support Grants1 11,929 11,904 12,516 12,516 11,790

Partnership Grants 14,913 14,384 14,850 0 0

AmeriCorps VISTA 93,731 94,240 95,464 95,468 93,800

Special Volunteer Programs 9,876 4,960 - - -

National Senior Service Corps 214,264 215,857 217,586 217,586 213,785

RSVP 58,156 58,528 59,685 59,685 58,642

Foster Grandparent Program 110,121 111,424 110,937 110,937 108,999

Senior Companion Program 45,987 45,905 46,964 46,964 46,144

Senior Demonstration Program 0 0 0 0 0

Disability Placement Funds3 0 0 0 0 0

Training & Technical Assistance 0 0 0 0 0

Salaries & Expense Account1,2 61,321 64,480 66,083 70,324 67,759

Office of the Inspector General 6,213 5,952 5,940 4,963 5,828

 Total, CNCS $935,367 $927,006 $909,959 $881,047 $856,331

Training and Technical Assistance dollars were provided in a separate appropriation beginning in FY10.

The chart above calculates Operating Expenses inclusive of the Trust Appropriation.

1

 Pursuant to P.L. 110-28 $1.360 million was transferred from Innovation, Demonstration, and Assistance to the Salaries and Expense Account in FY 2007. 

2

 NCSA administrative expenses are included in the State Commission Support Grants Program line item prior to FY 2004.

3 Beginning in FY 2012, and pursuant to the Serve America Act, CNCS used up to 2% of program dollars to fund disability activities. CNCS is seeking to continue using this 

authority in FY 2014.
68 CNCS FY 2014 Congressional Budget Justification 

The Corporation for National and Community Service

Appendix A. Corporation for National and Community Service Enacted Budget, 1994-2014 

Request (dollars in thousands) (continued)

Activity

FY09 

Enacted FY10 Enacted FY11 Enacted FY12 Enacted

FY13 

Annualized CR

FY14 

President’s 

Budget 

Request

Total, Operating Expenses 811,639 1,041,521 967,594 960,053 754,843 760,264

National Service Trust $131,075 $197,000 $199,260 $211,797 $213,093 $207,293

AmeriCorps State and National Grants 271,196 372,547 349,300 344,348 346,455 345,800

Innovation, Demonstration, and Assistance1 18,893 60,500 60,379 53,280 53,606 61,830

Evaluation 3,891 6,000 5,988 2,994 3,013 5,000

AmeriCorps NCCC 27,500 29,000 28,942 31,882 32,077 29,882

Learn and Serve America 37,459 39,500 0 0 0 0

State Commissions Support Grants1 11,790 17,000 16,966 13,441 13,523 14,841

Partnership Grants 0 0 0 0 0 0

AmeriCorps VISTA 96,050 99,074 98,876 94,820 95,401 94,820

Special Volunteer Programs - - - - - -

National Senior Service Corps 213,785 220,900 207,883 207,491 208,760 207,491

RSVP 58,642 63,000 50,299 50,204 50,511 50,204

Foster Grandparent Program 108,999 110,996 110,774 111,241 111,241 110,565

Senior Companion Program 46,144 46,904 46,810 46,722 47,007 46,722

Senior Demonstration Program 0 0 0 0 0 0

Disability Placement Funds3 0 5,000 4,990 0 0 0

Training & Technical Assistance 0 7,500 7,485 1,996 2,008 600

Salaries & Expense Account1,2 71,715 88,000 87,824 82,843 83,350 87,1094

Office of the Inspector General 6,512 7,700 7,684 3,992 4,017 6,4665

 Total, CNCS $889,866 $1,149,721 $1,075,577 $1,048,884 $1,055,303 $1,061,132

Training and Technical Assistance dollars were provided in a separate appropriation beginning in FY10.

The chart above calculates Operating Expenses inclusive of the Trust Appropriation.

1

 Pursuant to P.L. 110-28 $1.360 million was transferred from Innovation, Demonstration, and Assistance to the Salaries and Expense Account in FY 2007. 

2

 NCSA administrative expenses are included in the State Commission Support Grants Program line item prior to FY 2004.

3 Beginning in FY 2012, and pursuant to the Serve America Act, CNCS used up to 2% of program dollars to fund disability activities. CNCS is seeking to continue using this 

authority in FY 2014. 

4

 This includes $6 million for a move or space consolidation of CNCS’s headquarters.

5

 This includes $450,000 for a move or space consolidation of CNCS’s headquarters.
CNCS FY 2014 Congressional Budget Justification 69

Appendices | PART VIII

Appendix B: Summary of CNCS Programs

The following exhibit provides information about CNCS programs and other activities.

Program/Activity Description

FY14 President’s 

Budget Request 

(in Thousands)

Major Programs

AmeriCorps State 

and National

Grant programs designed and managed by community organizations that build and 

strengthen the infrastructure of the nonprofit sector, increasing the scope and quality 

of services available to those most in need. Federal funds are heavily leveraged via 

partnerships with states, local communities, and private organizations.

$345,800.00

AmeriCorps VISTA Anti-poverty program that provides opportunities for individuals 18 years or older for a 

full year of service in low-income communities. VISTA members support the efforts of 

nonprofits and communities to build and enhance sustainable anti-poverty programs.

 $94,820.00 

AmeriCorps NCCC Team-based service performed by youth, 18-24 years of age, serving in campus-based 

residential programs, supporting community and national-based organizations, tribes, 

educational institutions, local municipalities, and state and national parks.

 $29,882.00 

National Service Trust Provides funds for the Segal AmeriCorps Education Award for eligible national service 

participants. A full-time education awards is $5,645 for AmeriCorps members who start 

service in FY 2014.

 $207,293.00 

State Commission Support 

Grants

Formula grants to State Service Commissions, matched dollar for dollar with state funds, 

which support Commissions in conducting grant competitions and monitoring subgrantee performance.

 $14,841.00 

Senior Corps $207,491.00

Senior Corps-RSVP Grants awarded to eligible sponsors to develop and manage flexible non-stipend 

opportunities for volunteers age 55 and over to help improve their lives while delivering a 

wide range of community services to nonprofits and public agencies.

$50,204.00 

Senior Corps-FGP Grants awarded to community organizations for stipended service for volunteers age 

55 and over to support children and youth with special or exceptional needs. Volunteers 

meeting income eligibility requirements receive an hourly cash stipend.

$110,565.00

Senior Corps-SCP Grants awarded to community organizations for stipended service for volunteers age 55 

and over to help individuals, primarily frail seniors, to remain independent in their homes. 

Volunteers meeting income eligibility requirements receive an hourly cash stipend.

$46,722.00

Innovation and 

Demonstration Activities

Supports and encourages new forms of service and civic participation. Includes funding 

for the Social Innovation Fund, George H. W. Bush Volunteer Generation Fund, a national 

Call to Service Campaign, and 9/11 Day of Service.

 $61,830.00 

Disability Grants Disability grants provide Americans with disabilities the opportunity to participate in 

strengthening their communities through volunteering and service. 

 $0 

Training and 

Technical Assistance

The Serve America Act authorizes a new subtitle J for training and technical assistance 

for programs under the national service laws. 

$600

Evaluation Evaluation at CNCS is dedicated to developing and cultivating knowledge that will 

enhance the mission and support the strategic goals of CNCS and of national and 

community service programs.

$5,000.00

Salaries and Expenses Funds for administering and managing National and Community Service programs. $87,109.00 
70 CNCS FY 2014 Congressional Budget Justification 

The Corporation for National and Community Service

Appendix C: Summary of Program Benefits for Participants

Program Eligibility Stipend

AmeriCorps State and National In general, an AmeriCorps State and National member must (1) be as least 

17 years old at the commencement of services, or have been an out-ofschool youth 16 years of age at the commencement of service, participating 

in a youth corps program; (2) s/he must have a high-school diploma (or its 

equivalent) or agree to obtain a high-school diploma or its equivalent prior 

or using the ed awards, and (3) s/he must be a citizen, national, or lawful 

permanent resident alien of the United States.

Minimum Living allowance of 

$12,100 for full-time members 

in program Year 2013. A Living 

allowance is not required for 

less than full-time members or 

EAP members. 

AmeriCorps NCCC An AmeriCorps NCCC member must (1) be between the ages of 18 and 24 

years old, and (2) s/he must be a citizen, national, or lawful permanent 

resident alien of the United States. 

Yes. The Living Allowance 

($400/month for 10 months), 

lodging and meals. Team 

Leaders earn $1,136 per month 

during 11 months of service.

AmeriCorps VISTA An AmeriCorps VISTA member must (1) be 18 years of age or older, and (2) 

s/he must be a citizen, national, or legal resident of the United States.

Yes. Living Allowance: In FY13 

range is projected to be $928/

month to $1,606/month (based 

on regional cost of living and 

tied to the poverty rate.)

Senior Corps 1. RSVP 

2. Foster Grandparent Program 

3. Senior Companion Program 

Senior Corps programs use the term “volunteer” to describe a participant 

enrolled in a Senior Corps programs and supported by the grant award.

RSVP To be an RSVP volunteer, an individual must (1) be 55 years of age or older; 

(2) s/he must agree to serve without compensation, and (3) s/he must reside 

in or nearby the community served by RSVP.

No. 

Foster Grandparent Program To be a Foster Grandparent volunteer, an individual must (1) be 60 years of 

age or older. (2) S/he must be determined by a physical examination to be 

capable, with or without reasonable accommodation, of serving children 

with exceptional or special needs without detriment to either himself or 

herself or children served. (3) In order to receive a stipend, the individual 

must have an income that is within the income eligibility guidelines (within 

200% of poverty).

Yes, if income guidelines are 

met (200% of poverty), then 

receive $2.65/hour tax free.

Senior Companion Program To be a Senior Companion, an individual must (1) be 60 years of age or older. 

(2) S/he must be determined by a physical examination to be capable, with or 

without reasonable accommodation, of serving children with exceptional or 

special needs without detriment to either himself or herself or children served. 

(3) In order to receive a stipend, the individual must have an income that is 

within the income eligibility guidelines (within 200 percent of poverty).

Yes, if income guidelines are 

met (200% of poverty), then 

receive $2.65/hour tax free.

SIF — see Appendix I
CNCS FY 2014 Congressional Budget Justification 71

Appendices | PART VIII

Appendix C: Summary of Program Benefits for Participants

Program Term of Service Health care Childcare

Segal AmeriCorps 

Education Award

AmeriCorps State and National An AmeriCorps member 

serves full-time (1,700 

hours up to 12 months) 

or part-time (up to 900 

hours in up to 2 years).

Full-time members 

must receive health 

care benefits except for 

EAP. Less than full-time 

members may not receive 

health care with CNCS 

funds.

Only members are eligible 

to receive childcare. Rate 

established by state 

Child Care Development 

Grant (CCDG).

Yes.

AmeriCorps NCCC An AmeriCorps NCCC 

member serves fulltime in a team-based 

residential program for 

10 months.

Yes. CNCS administered 

health plan. 

Yes. Maximum $400 

month per child.

Yes.

AmeriCorps VISTA Full-time for one year. Yes. CNCS administered 

health plan.

Yes. Maximum $400/ 

month per child.

Yes or may select an 

end of service stipend 

accrued at the rate of 

$125/month.

Senior Corps

RSVP Open enrollment-no set 

schedule. Can serve 

as few or as many as 

the volunteer chooses 

(volunteer hours vary).

No. No. No.

Foster Grandparent Program Open enrollment service 

schedule between 15 and 

40 hours per week. 

No. (Note: Each Foster 

Grandparent receives 

a physical examination 

annually with the cost 

covered by the project/

grantee).

No. No.

Senior Companion Program Open enrollment service 

schedule between 15 and 

40 hours per week. 

No. (Note: Each Senior 

Companion receives a 

physical examination 

annually with the cost 

covered by the project/

grantee).

No. No.

SIF — see Appendix I

(continued)
72 CNCS FY 2014 Congressional Budget Justification 

The Corporation for National and Community Service

Appendix D: Grantee Match Requirements

At a Glance

AmeriCorps State and National 

For grants made from FY 2014 Appropriations, AmeriCorps State and National grantees must meet the following minimum requirements based on the 

number of years they have been operating their AmeriCorps program.

Minimum grantee requirement

Y1 Y2 Y3 Y4 Y5 Y6 Y7 Y8 Y9 Y10

24% 24% 24% 26% 30% 34% 38% 42% 46% 50%

Programs in severely economically distressed communities or rural areas may be allowed to follow alternative match requirements, as per the 

following schedule:

Alternative match requirements

Y1 Y2 Y3 Y4 Y5 Y6 Y7 Y8 Y9 Y10

24% 24% 24% 24% 24% 24% 29% 31% 33% 35%

Programs that can demonstrate an inability to raise either the minimum grantee requirements or the alternative grant requirements, shown above, 

may apply to CNCS for a full or partial waiver.

AmeriCorps VISTA

Certain project sponsors (not grantees) share in the project costs with AmeriCorps VISTA by providing VISTA members’ subsistence allowance. 

Cost-sharing among projects is encouraged but not required by AmeriCorps VISTA. Additionally, AmeriCorps VISTA has a limited number of projects 

receiving operating grants; VISTA does not require a non-federal match from these projects.

Social Innovation Funds

Grantees match federal funds received, dollar for dollar, in cash. Subgrantees provide the same match for every dollar received.
CNCS FY 2014 Congressional Budget Justification 73

Appendices | PART VIII

Appendix E: AmeriCorps Members by Program Type: FY 1996–2014

Program

Actual 

1996 

Awarded Pct

Actual 

1997 

Awarded Pct

Actual 

1998 

Awarded Pct

Actual 

1999 

Awarded Pct

Actual 

2000 

Awarded Pct

Education Award Program N/A 15,280 31.3% 10,508 20.8% 12,464 22.4% 16,436 25.1%

National Direct 8,239 28.8% 6,601 13.5% 7,446 14.7% 7,020 12.6% 6,958 10.6%

State Formula and Competitive 14,625 51.1% 19,701 40.4% 21,181 41.9% 22,123 39.7% 28,088 42.9%

Territories 93 0.3% 246 0.5% 59 0.1% 215 0.4% 252 0.4%

Tribes 97 0.3% 202 0.4% 135 0.3% 242 0.4% 425 0.6%

Other State and National 586 2.0% 1,212 2.5% 4,286 8.5% 5,796 10.4% 5,387 8.2%

VISTA Ed Awards 2,506 8.8% 3,150 6.5% 4,256 8.4% 4,653 8.4% 4,960 7.6%

VISTA Stipends 1,548 5.4% 1,442 3.0% 1,895 3.7% 1,959 3.5% 1,902 2.9%

NCCC 926 3.2% 964 2.0% 820 1.6% 1,195 2.1% 994 1.5%

Total 28,620 48,798 50,586 55,667 65,402

Program

Actual 

2001 

Awarded Pct

Actual 

2002 

Awarded Pct

Actual 

2003 

Awarded Pct

Actual 

2004 

Awarded Pct

Actual 

2005 

Awarded Pct

Education Award Program 20,651 28.4% 23,859 34.4% 6,899 21.6% 28,975 38.9% 25,024 34.2%

National Direct 7,287 10.0% 7,225 10.4% 3,517 11.0% 9,751 13.1% 10,221 14.0%

Professional Corps N/A N/A N/A - 1,545 2.1%

State Formula and Competitive 33,278 45.7% 29,548 42.7% 13,740 42.9% 28,436 38.2% 28,658 39.1%

Territories 128 0.2% 142 0.2% - 149 0.2% 26 0.0%

Tribes 212 0.3% 314 0.5% 86 0.3% 185 0.2% 162 0.2%

Other State and National 2,200 3.0% 752 1.1% 652 2.0% - -

VISTA Ed Awards 5,801 8.0% 4,270 6.2% 3,086 9.6% 4,061 5.4% 4,475 6.1%

VISTA Stipends 2,128 2.9% 1,920 2.8% 2,711 8.5% 1,782 2.4% 1,962 2.7%

NCCC 1,156 1.6% 1,250 1.8% 1,300 4.1% 1,184 1.6% 1,147 1.6%

Total 72,841 69,280 31,991 74,523 73,220
74 CNCS FY 2014 Congressional Budget Justification 

The Corporation for National and Community Service

Appendix E: AmeriCorps Members by Program Type: FY 1996–2014

Program

Actual 

2006 

Awarded Pct

Actual 

2007 

Awarded Pct

Actual 

2008 

Awarded Pct

Actual 

2009* 

Awarded Pct

Actual 

2010** 

Awarded Pct

Education Award Program 23,112 29.8% 23,303 31.7% 22,111 29.6% 20,856 23.5% 20,521 (22.9%)

National Direct 11,332 14.6% 12,568 17.1% 13,810 18.5% 16,942 19.1% N/A

Professional Corps 1,331 1.7% 2,426 3.3% 1,645 2.2% 1,637 1.8% N/A

State Formula and Competitive 33,605 45.0% 27,047 36.8% 28,431 38.1% 36,183 40.8% N/A

Competitive Grants (new for 2010) N/A N/A N/A N/A 36,858 41.1%

State Formula Only (new for 2010) N/A N/A N/A N/A 22,198 24.5%

Territories 116 0.1% 123 0.2% 60 0.1% 60 0.1% 236 0.3%

Tribes 158 0.2% 80 0.1% 72 0.1% 91 0.1% 191 0.2%

Other State and National - - - - -

VISTA Ed Awards 4,797 6.2% 5,162 7.0% 4,871 6.5% 7,901 8.9% 6,537 7.3%

VISTA Stipends 2,057 2.6% 1,690 2.3% 2,533 3.4% 3,882 4.4% 2,100 2.3%

NCCC 1,126 1.5% 1,184 1.6% 1,102 1.5% 1,068 1.2% 1,200 1.3%

Total 77,634 73,583 74,635 88,620 89,631

(continued)

Program

Actual 

2011 

Awarded Pct

Actual

2012 

Awarded Pct

Projected 

2013 

Awarded Pct

Projected 

2014 

Awarded Pct

Education Award Program 16,906 20.5% 13,073 15.9% 16,511 20.0% 16,817 20.4%

National Direct N/A

Professional Corps N/A

State Formula and Competitive N/A

Competitive Grants (new for 2010) 35,459 43.0% 32,571 39.5% 34,996 42.4% 34,930 42.4%

State Formula Only (new for 2010) 21,082 25.6% 21,350 25.9% 20,844 25.3% 20,805 25.2%

Territories 286 0.3% 224 0.3% 349 0.4% 348 0.4%

Tribes 204 0.2% 164 0.2% 273 0.3% 272 0.3%

Other State and National -

VISTA Ed Awards 5,507 6.7% 6,751 8.2% 6,118 7.4% 5,989 7.3%

VISTA Stipends 1,797 2.2% 1,414 1.7% 1,282 1.6% 1,711 2.1%

NCCC 1,200 1.5% 1,200 1.5% 1,200 1.5% 1,200 1.5%

Total 82,441 76,747 81,573 82,072

* FY 2009 data includes additional AmeriCorps State and National and VISTA members funded under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (ARRA).

** FY 2010 includes additional VISTA members funded under ARRA. 
CNCS FY 2014 Congressional Budget Justification 75

Appendices | PART VIII

Appendix F: AmeriCorps Members by Service Term: FY 1996–2014

Program

Actual 

1996 

Awarded Pct

Actual 

1997 

Awarded Pct

Actual 

1998 

Awarded Pct

Actual 

1999 

Awarded Pct

Actual 

2000 

Awarded Pct

Full-time 19,607 68.5% 25,809 52.9% 27,401 54.2% 27,671 49.7% 29,944 46.0%

Full-time S/N 14,627 51.1% 20,253 41.5% 20,430 40.4% 19,864 35.7% 22,088 34.0%

Part-time 8,131 28.4% 16,858 34.5% 14,588 28.8% 15,545 27.9% 16,049 24.7%

Reduced Part-time 882 3.1% 6,131 12.6% 8,597 17.0% 12,451 22.4% 19,049 29.3%

Total 28,620 48,798 50,586 55,667 65,042

Program

Actual 

2001 

Awarded Pct

Actual 

2002 

Awarded Pct

Actual 

2003 

Awarded Pct

Actual 

2004 

Awarded Pct

Actual 

2005 

Awarded Pct

Full-time 34,450 47.3% 33,860 48.9% 18,470 57.7% 33,359 44.8% 32,459 44.3%

Full-time S/N 25,365 34.8% 26,420 38.1% 11,373 35.6% 26,332 35.3% 24,875 34.0%

Part-time 16,413 22.5% 14,366 20.7% 6,890 21.5% 15,262 20.5% 11,896 16.2%

Reduced Part-time 21,978 30.2% 21,054 30.4% 6,631 20.7% 25,902 34.8% 28,865 39.4%

Total 72,841 69,280 31,991 74,523 73,220

Program

Actual 

2006 

Awarded Pct

Actual 

2007 

Awarded Pct

Actual 

2008 

Awarded Pct

Actual 

2009* 

Awarded Pct

Actual 

2010** 

Awarded Pct

Full-time 35,203 45.3% 33,937 46.1% 36,561 49.0% 44,599 50.3% 39,715 44.3%

Full-time S/N 27,223 35.1% 27,059 36.8% 28,822 38.6% 32,941 37.2% 32,151 35.9%

Part-time 12,839 16.5% 10,126 13.8% 9,971 13.4% 11,113 12.5% 11,581 12.9%

Reduced Part-time 29,592 38.1% 29,520 40.1% 28,103 37.7% 32,908 37.1% 38,335 42.8%

Total 77,634 73,583 74,635 88,620 89,631

Program

Actual 

2011 

Awarded Pct

Actual 

2012 

Awarded Pct

Projected 

2013 

Awarded Pct

Projected 

2014 

Awarded Pct

Full-time 38,043 46.1% 38,294 46.5% 36,639 44.4% 38,022 46.1%

Full-time S/N 31,357 38.0% 31,136 37.8% 30,639 37.2% 30,622 37.1%

Part-time 9,785 11.9% 10,563 12.8% 12,616 15.3% 11,959 14.3%

Reduced Part-time 34,613 42.0% 27,890 33.8% 32,318 39.2% 32,502 39.4%

Total 82,441 76,747 81,573 82,072

* FY 2009 data includes additional AmeriCorps State and National and VISTA members funded under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (ARRA).

** FY 2010 includes additional VISTA members funded under ARRA.
76 CNCS FY 2014 Congressional Budget Justification 

The Corporation for National and Community Service

Appendix G: AmeriCorps Programs over $500,000

The list below shows all AmeriCorps programs that received a grant of more than $500,000 in 2012 under the AmeriCorps State, National, and Fixed

Amount grant programs. The match levels shown are based on grantee budgets. Organizations that appear more than once are local affiliates of 

national organizations that are funded through state commissions instead of the national organization. For example, City Year, Inc. is a National 

Direct grantee. There are also other City Year affiliates that receive funding through state commissions. In the case of state programs, the 

commissions are the grantees, but do not operate any programs directly. Therefore, for state programs, we list the subgrantees — the organizations 

that actually operate the programs. For National Direct programs, the grantee organization is listed.

Under Fixed Amount grants, organizations receive specific amounts per full-time member and members who complete their service hours receive an

education award. The amount provided by CNCS is substantially less than the cost of operating the AmeriCorps program and the organization bears 

all other operational and member support costs, including the living allowance. Therefore, no match is required and the Grantee Share is zero. In all 

other cases, the Grantee Share is the sum of all non-CNCS funds.

Program Type State Grantee Name

CNCS 

Share

Grantee 

Share

Total 

Budget

% Grantee 

Match

Fixed Amount NY Teach For America $9,648,366 $0 $9,648,366 0%

National Direct MA YouthBuild USA, Inc. $8,959,462 $8,959,462 $17,918,924 50%

National Direct MA City Year, Inc. $8,281,000 $8,281,000 $16,562,000 50%

Fixed Amount WA WA State Employment Security Department $7,345,000 $0 $7,345,000 0%

State Competitive MN ServeMinnesota Action Network $6,825,000 $5,813,168 $12,638,168 46%

Fixed Amount WI Public Allies, Inc. $6,331,000 $0 $6,331,000 0%

Fixed Amount MD National Association of Community Health 

Centers, Inc.

$6,097,000 $0 $6,097,000 0%

State Competitive MS Mississippi Institutions of Higher Learning $4,448,484 $2,406,024 $6,854,508 35%

Fixed Amount MD Notre Dame Mission Volunteers Program, Inc. $3,971,625 $0 $3,971,625 0%

Fixed Amount GA Habitat for Humanity International, Inc. $3,900,000 $0 $3,900,000 0%

Fixed Amount MS Digital Opportunity Trust USA $3,640,000 $0 $3,640,000 0%

State Competitive MN ServeMinnesota Action Network $3,575,000 $3,898,949 $7,473,949 52%

State Competitive WA WA State Employment Security Department $3,255,650 $2,772,897 $6,028,547 46%

National Direct MA Jumpstart for Young Children, Inc. $3,114,794 $3,123,778 $6,238,572 50%

State Competitive PA City Year, Inc. $2,932,500 $2,932,500 $5,865,000 50%

State Competitive NY City Year, Inc. $2,921,000 $2,921,000 $5,842,000 50%

State Competitive MA City Year, Inc. $2,860,200 $2,860,200 $5,720,400 50%

Fixed Amount MA Citizen Schools, Inc. $2,782,000 $0 $2,782,000 0%

State Competitive CA City Year, Inc. $2,500,000 $2,500,000 $5,000,000 50%

State Competitive IL City Year, Inc. $2,331,200 $2,331,200 $4,662,400 50%

State Competitive CA Napa County Office of Education $1,959,999 $2,029,365 $3,989,364 51%

State Competitive WA WA State Department of Ecology $1,920,000 $6,268,081 $8,188,081 77%

State Competitive MT Montana Conservation Corps, Inc. $1,872,000 $3,118,000 $4,990,000 63%

National Direct MD University of Maryland Center on Aging $1,871,466 $1,594,696 $3,466,162 46%
CNCS FY 2014 Congressional Budget Justification 77

Appendices | PART VIII

Appendix G: AmeriCorps Programs over $500,000

Program Type State Grantee Name

CNCS 

Share

Grantee 

Share

Total 

Budget

% Grantee 

Match

National Direct DC Experience in Action/dba Experience Corps $1,751,845 $1,928,065 $3,679,910 52%

National Direct LA St. Bernard Project $1,722,864 $879,433 $2,602,297 34%

State Formula PA Keystone SMILES Community Learning Center $1,710,764 $1,711,727 $3,422,491 50%

State Formula TX UT Austin Charles A. Dana Center $1,662,500 $1,784,196 $3,446,696 52%

State Competitive NY Harlem Children's Zone $1,651,000 $2,527,111 $4,178,111 61%

State Formula NY The Service Collaborative of WNY, Inc. $1,603,579 $694,825 $2,298,404 30%

Fixed Amount DC American National Red Cross $1,586,000 $0 $1,586,000 0%

National Direct OR Jesuit Volunteer Corps Northwest $1,569,013 $1,090,175 $2,659,188 41%

State Competitive DC City Year, Inc. $1,495,000 $1,495,000 $2,990,000 50%

National Direct DC Equal Justice Works $1,488,598 $1,234,818 $2,723,416 45%

State Competitive TX City Year, Inc. $1,476,300 $1,476,300 $2,952,600 50%

State Competitive ID Lewis-Clark State College $1,366,316 $1,932,881 $3,299,197 59%

Fixed Amount NY New York City Office of the Mayor $1,365,000 $0 $1,365,000 0%

State Competitive LA City Year, Inc. $1,362,500 $1,362,500 $2,725,000 50%

State Competitive WV West Virginia University Research Corp. $1,261,913 $1,087,650 $2,349,563 46%

State Competitive HI Kupu $1,256,020 $638,615 $1,894,635 34%

State Formula PA Allegheny County Department of Human 

Services

$1,231,791 $1,231,792 $2,463,583 50%

National Direct DC The Corps Network $1,222,523 $1,513,412 $2,735,935 55%

National Direct PA Health Federation of Philadelphia $1,198,486 $952,737 $2,151,223 44%

State Formula PA Appalachia Intermediate Unit 8: Pennsylvania 

Mountain Service Corps

$1,174,871 $1,174,871 $2,349,742 50%

State Competitive CA Bay Area Community Resources / BAYAC 

AmeriCorps

$1,170,000 $2,215,167 $3,385,167 65%

State Formula FL City Year, Inc. $1,159,000 $1,159,000 $2,318,000 50%

State Formula TX CitySquare $1,153,269 $938,340 $2,091,609 45%

Fixed Amount DC The Corps Network $1,088,000 $0 $1,088,000 0%

State Competitive CA California Children and Families Foundation $1,077,522 $1,547,656 $2,625,178 59%

State Formula CA Jumpstart for Young Children, Inc. $1,060,876 $1,542,874 $2,603,750 59%

State Formula NY After-School Corporation (The) $1,056,259 $1,691,602 $2,747,861 62%

National Direct CA Playworks Education Energized $1,040,000 $2,743,529 $3,783,529 73%

Fixed Amount MN Duluth Public Schools $1,033,200 $0 $1,033,200 0%

State Competitive CA Administrative Office of the Courts $1,016,372 $885,394 $1,901,766 47%

(continued)
78 CNCS FY 2014 Congressional Budget Justification 

The Corporation for National and Community Service

Appendix G: AmeriCorps Programs over $500,000

Program Type State Grantee Name

CNCS 

Share

Grantee 

Share

Total 

Budget

% Grantee 

Match

National Direct NY Up2Us, Inc. $1,005,419 $1,406,298 $2,411,717 58%

State Formula MN ServeMinnesota Action Network $1,000,021 $1,338,776 $2,338,797 57%

State Competitive CA Child Abuse Prevention Council, Inc. $996,561 $1,504,267 $2,500,828 60%

National Direct GA Points of Light Foundation $992,019 $994,425 $1,986,444 50%

State Formula CA Playworks Education Energized $989,339 $891,625 $1,880,964 47%

State Competitive TX College Forward $972,885 $621,870 $1,594,755 39%

Fixed Amount TX Teach For America $950,000 $0 $950,000 0%

Fixed Amount CO Regis University-Colorado Campus Compact $946,352 $0 $946,352 0%

State Formula KY Barren County School Board $934,527 $628,888 $1,563,415 40%

State Competitive WV United Way of Central West Virginia $931,000 $931,000 $1,862,000 50%

State Formula TX AVANCE, Inc. - El Paso Chapter $930,960 $600,761 $1,531,721 39%

National Direct DC National Council of La Raza $917,483 $918,287 $1,835,770 50%

State Competitive MI City Year, Inc. $888,068 $888,068 $1,776,136 50%

State Formula CA Playworks Education Energized $877,800 $2,307,074 $3,184,874 72%

State Formula CA Napa County Office of Education $849,998 $855,144 $1,705,142 50%

State Competitive CA Reading Partners $837,900 $2,813,427 $3,651,327 77%

State Competitive NY Jumpstart for Young Children, Inc. $830,511 $785,707 $1,616,218 49%

State Competitive FL City Year, Inc. $817,400 $817,400 $1,634,800 50%

State Formula UT Ogden CIty School District $795,466 $2,147,773 $2,943,239 73%

State Formula MN Duluth Area Family YMCA $780,000 $689,596 $1,469,596 47%

State Competitive OH Ohio College Access Network $779,826 $329,625 $1,109,451 30%

Fixed Amount DC Rebuilding Together, Inc $769,730 $0 $769,730 0%

State Formula OK Oklahoma Community Service Commission $750,000 $639,009 $1,389,009 46%

State Competitive CO Mile High Youth Corps (Year One, Inc.) $736,280 $812,798 $1,549,078 53%

State Formula CA Santa Barbara County Education Office $735,999 $756,043 $1,492,042 51%

Fixed Amount MN College Possible $728,000 $0 $728,000 0%

State Formula CT Teach For America $719,820 $231,473 $951,293 24%

State Competitive WA Educational Service District 101 $719,775 $616,676 $1,336,451 46%

State Competitive TX CIS of Central Texas $712,352 $714,227 $1,426,579 50%

Fixed Amount DC AIDS United $702,000 $0 $702,000 0%

State Competitive CA California Conservation Corps $699,998 $928,758 $1,628,756 57%

State Competitive FL City Year, Inc. $665,000 $665,000 $1,330,000 50%

(continued)
CNCS FY 2014 Congressional Budget Justification 79

Appendices | PART VIII

Appendix G: AmeriCorps Programs over $500,000

Program Type State Grantee Name

CNCS 

Share

Grantee 

Share

Total 

Budget

% Grantee 

Match

State Formula IL Lessie Bates Davis Neighborhood House $665,000 $1,064,476 $1,729,476 62%

Fixed Amount WA Washington State Department of Veterans 

Affairs

$650,000 $0 $650,000 0%

National Direct MA TechMission, Inc. $650,000 $555,490 $1,205,490 46%

Fixed Amount WI Public Allies, Inc. $637,000 $0 $637,000 0%

State Competitive OH City Year, Inc. $625,000 $625,000 $1,250,000 50%

Fixed Amount NY FoodCorps, Inc. $625,000 $0 $625,000 0%

State Competitive NV Great Basin Institute $613,695 $1,863,910 $2,477,605 75%

Fixed Amount MD Catholic Volunteer Network $608,000 $0 $608,000 0%

State Competitive CA Shasta County Child Abuse Prevention Council $603,889 $772,929 $1,376,818 56%

State Competitive CA Kern County Superintendent of Schools $600,000 $998,482 $1,598,482 63%

State Competitive KY Homeless And Housing Coalition of Kentucky $598,482 $639,017 $1,237,499 52%

State Competitive MN Conservation Corps Minnesota and Iowa $598,000 $290,560 $888,560 33%

State Formula LA Louisiana Delta Service Corps $597,919 $613,603 $1,211,522 51%

Fixed Amount MI B - H - K - Child Development Board $586,500 $0 $586,500 0%

Fixed Amount WA Washington Campus Compact $585,000 $0 $585,000 0%

Fixed Amount AZ Coconino County Community Services $585,000 $0 $585,000 0%

Tribal CA Hoopa Valley Tribe and Hoopa Forestry Division $585,000 $335,449 $920,449 36%

State Competitive WA Kitsap Community Resources $582,918 $503,670 $1,086,588 46%

State Competitive NY Monroe Community College $580,214 $580,220 $1,160,434 50%

State Competitive NH City Year, Inc. $579,601 $579,600 $1,159,201 50%

National Direct CO Southwest Conservation Corps $576,914 $2,593,975 $3,170,889 82%

State Formula CA American Conservation Experience $576,006 $197,923 $773,929 26%

Fixed Amount KY Operation UNITE $572,000 $0 $572,000 0%

State Competitive PA Teach For America $566,656 $217,233 $783,889 28%

State Formula TN Clinch-Powell RC&D Council $566,599 $560,676 $1,127,275 50%

State Competitive WI Operation Fresh Start, Inc. $562,312 $565,123 $1,127,435 50%

State Formula NV United Way of Southern Nevada $561,636 $480,193 $1,041,829 46%

State Competitive IN Boys & Girls Clubs of Wayne County Indiana, Inc $559,284 $406,744 $966,028 42%

State Formula TX Pharr-San Juan-Alamo ISD $556,843 $274,507 $831,350 33%

State Competitive CA California Conservation Corps Watershed 

Stewards

$541,435 $1,005,297 $1,546,732 65%

State Formula FL Palm Beach County Literacy Coalition $531,984 $337,471 $869,455 39%

(continued)
80 CNCS FY 2014 Congressional Budget Justification 

The Corporation for National and Community Service

Appendix G: AmeriCorps Programs over $500,000

State Formula IA Iowa State University $531,874 $445,689 $977,563 46%

State Competitive MA Northeastern University $530,529 $701,215 $1,231,744 57%

National Direct MA New Sector Alliance, Inc. $530,134 $1,152,450 $1,682,584 69%

National Direct ME Goodwill Industries of Northern New England $530,000 $608,642 $1,138,642 54%

State Competitive NY Fund for the City of New York $529,888 $185,088 $714,976 26%

State Formula OK Oklahoma Community Service Commission $528,551 $291,029 $819,580 36%

State Competitive MO Partnership For Youth, Inc. $527,286 $533,023 $1,060,309 50%

Fixed Amount TN Knoxville Knox County Community Action 

Committee

$519,975 $0 $519,975 0%

State Competitive NY Student Conservation Association, Inc. $518,922 $677,431 $1,196,353 57%

State Formula MN Duluth Public Schools $518,700 $501,812 $1,020,512 49%

Fixed Amount NV WestCare Foundation, Inc. $512,080 $0 $512,080 0%

State Formula FL Florida Department of Environmental Protection $511,827 $402,194 $914,021 44%

State Competitive IA Iowa Dept. of Natural Resources $506,727 $483,997 $990,724 49%

(continued)
CNCS FY 2014 Congressional Budget Justification 81

Appendices | PART VIII

Appendix H: FY 2012 AmeriCorps Formula Grant Allocation

State FY07 FY08 FY09 FY10 FY11 FY12 FY13 FY14

Alabama 1,267,542 1,208,480 1,223,964 2,096,427 1,975,058 1,960,901 1,965,431 1,961,914 

Alaska 500,000 500,000 500,000 628,908 600,000 600,000 600,000 600,000 

Arizona 1,699,504 1,655,251 1,706,598 2,684,552 2,541,103 2,436,878 2,455,656 2,450,877 

Arkansas 774,707 740,256 749,672 1,529,436 1,446,096 1,432,504 1,435,092 1,432,942 

California 10,048,095 9,545,212 9,650,323 12,148,399 11,434,561 11,280,355 11,372,022 11,344,281 

Colorado 1,310,082 1,269,497 1,296,835 2,194,924 2,081,365 2,049,892 2,068,944 2,065,161 

Connecticut 965,963 914,565 919,240 1,725,420 1,625,390 1,614,627 1,616,663 1,614,044 

Delaware 500,000 500,000 500,000 628,908 600,000 600,000 600,000 600,000 

District of Columbia 500,000 500,000 500,000 628,908 600,000 600,000 600,000 600,000 

Florida 4,985,769 4,765,982 4,812,036 6,406,461 6,030,290 6,000,132 6,070,069 6,055,982 

Georgia 2,580,803 2,492,439 2,542,955 3,692,285 3,480,668 3,381,231 3,408,986 3,401,753 

Hawaii 500,000 500,000 500,000 628,908 600,000 600,000 600,000 600,000 

Idaho 500,000 500,000 500,000 628,908 600,000 600,000 600,000 600,000 

Illinois 3,536,630 3,356,211 3,387,256 4,652,573 4,363,343 4,246,624 4,245,828 4,236,439 

Indiana 1,740,074 1,656,958 1,674,203 2,630,739 2,473,848 2,446,631 2,451,148 2,446,380 

Iowa 821,895 780,274 788,309 1,566,338 1,478,904 1,467,734 1,470,504 1,468,262 

Kansas 761,809 724,901 735,690 1,507,400 1,426,002 1,413,592 1,417,189 1,415,084 

Kentucky 1,159,240 1,107,584 1,120,874 1,973,447 1,861,609 1,838,098 1,840,383 1,837,188 

Louisiana 1,181,755 1,121,093 1,158,038 2,028,911 1,916,845 1,896,322 1,903,097 1,899,742 

Maine 500,000 500,000 500,000 628,908 600,000 600,000 600,000 600,000 

Maryland 1,547,755 1,467,129 1,479,080 2,405,211 2,268,004 2,251,500 2,266,305 2,262,014 

Massachusetts 1,774,160 1,684,237 1,706,017 2,683,869 2,527,919 2,466,640 2,481,959 2,477,112 

Michigan 2,782,468 2,630,074 2,626,360 3,736,079 3,487,319 3,398,510 3,398,627 3,391,420 

Minnesota 1,424,109 1,357,265 1,370,594 2,270,179 2,138,098 2,114,516 2,123,187 2,119,264 

Mississippi 802,176 762,188 771,523 1,548,929 1,460,700 1,443,989 1,445,228 1,443,051 

Missouri 1,610,315 1,535,042 1,552,069 2,495,001 2,347,800 2,303,184 2,305,219 2,300,828 

Montana 500,000 500,000 500,000 628,908 600,000 600,000 600,000 600,000 

Nebraska 500,000 500,000 500,000 1,188,844 1,126,535 1,122,130 1,125,421 1,124,068 

Nevada 687,795 669,903 682,664 1,452,654 1,371,819 1,371,679 1,381,234 1,379,222 

New Hampshire 500,000 500,000 500,000 628,908 600,000 600,000 600,000 600,000 

New Jersey 2,404,583 2,268,171 2,279,600 3,342,767 3,138,900 3,099,557 3,110,146 3,103,682 

New Mexico 538,709 514,408 520,985 1,255,243 1,191,311 1,190,018 1,190,552 1,189,032 

New York 5,320,993 5,039,253 5,117,103 6,719,208 6,291,855 6,115,645 6,141,623 6,127,352 
82 CNCS FY 2014 Congressional Budget Justification 

The Corporation for National and Community Service

Appendix H: FY 2012 AmeriCorps Formula Grant Allocation

State FY07 FY08 FY09 FY10 FY11 FY12 FY13 FY14

North Carolina 2,440,949 2,366,125 2,421,310 3,552,559 3,349,993 3,336,231 3,361,451 3,354,339 

North Dakota 500,000 500,000 500,000 628,908 600,000 600,000 600,000 600,000 

Ohio 3,163,463 2,994,378 3,015,582 4,226,295 3,952,744 3,871,370 3,868,927 3,860,508 

Oklahoma 986,470 944,597 956,288 1,778,016 1,682,813 1,674,359 1,680,226 1,677,444 

Oregon 1,019,969 978,580 995,066 1,821,215 1,720,924 1,697,127 1,704,162 1,701,319 

Pennsylvania 3,428,770 3,246,599 3,268,248 4,557,316 4,272,742 4,210,816 4,214,193 4,204,886 

Puerto Rico 1,082,538 1,359,316 1,038,117 1,865,355 1,702,427 1,650,325 1,638,392 1,635,718 

Rhode Island 500,000 500,000 500,000 628,908 600,000 600,000 600,000 600,000 

South Carolina 1,190,983 1,150,994 1,176,154 2,050,467 1,936,479 1,925,903 1,937,596 1,934,151 

South Dakota 215,505 225,995 219,882 628,908 600,000 600,000 600,000 600,000 

Tennessee 1,664,359 1,607,716 1,631,695 2,591,202 2,442,686 2,414,450 2,428,185 2,423,477 

Texas 6,478,999 6,242,197 6,386,955 8,352,573 7,930,333 7,875,160 7,979,068 7,960,065 

Utah 702,825 690,780 718,438 1,496,749 1,422,988 1,398,286 1,408,519 1,406,437 

Vermont 500,000 500,000 500,000 628,908 600,000 600,000 600,000 600,000 

Virginia 2,106,462 2,013,873 2,039,745 3,085,600 2,911,928 2,894,248 2,917,955 2,911,986 

Washington 1,762,751 1,689,112 1,719,474 2,705,875 2,561,330 2,535,355 2,552,996 2,547,967 

West Virginia 501,190 500,000 500,000 1,196,061 1,130,733 1,125,735 1,125,389 1,124,036 

Wisconsin 1,531,433 1,462,767 1,477,601 2,391,278 2,248,015 2,218,482 2,221,519 2,217,343 

Wyoming 500,000 500,000 500,000 628,908 600,000 600,000 600,000 600,000 

TOTAL 86,503,598 83,239,403 83,936,545 125,781,666 118,551,479 116,970,736 117,529,091 117,306,771

(continued)
CNCS FY 2014 Congressional Budget Justification 83

Appendices | PART VIII

Appendix I: Social Innovation Fund

Impact 

Area Grantees

Average Awarded 

Grant Description

Initial 

Award FY

Economic Development

Jobs for the 

Future, Inc.

$7.7 million Jobs for the Future, Inc. and the National Fund for Workforce Solutions 

(NFWS) will expand their targeted training and technical assistance to at 

least 23,000 low-income individuals over three years while also addressing 

the critical skill needs of more than 1,000 employers. The funds will 

dramatically increase economic opportunities for disadvantaged workers 

and job seekers through investments in regional workforce collaboratives 

that partner with employers to identify jobs and career pathways in highgrowth industries.

FY10

Local Initiatives 

Support 

Corporation 

$4.2 million The Local Initiatives Support Corporation will grow Financial Opportunity 

Centers — a workforce development and asset-building model that 

boosts earnings, reduces expenses, and coaches low-income families on 

how to make better financial decisions — to five new cities and 7,500 

total participants. The Centers are a core component of the organization’s 

strategy to build sustainable communities.

FY10

Mayor’s Fund to 

Advance New York 

City 

$5.7 million The Mayor’s Fund to Advance New York City and the NYC Center for 

Economic Opportunity (CEO) will replicate five effective anti-poverty 

programs originally piloted by CEO in eight urban areas. By advancing the 

education, employment, and financial savings of low-income adults and 

families, the programs will combat poverty across a diverse cross-section 

of America.

FY10

REDF $3 million REDF will create job opportunities for thousands of Californians with multiple 

barriers to employment — including dislocated youth, individuals who 

have been homeless or incarcerated, and those with severe mental illness 

— in sustainable nonprofit social enterprises in low-income communities 

throughout the state. The project includes testing to determine the potential 

of these enterprises as scalable employment 

FY10

Healthy Futures

Foundation for a 

Healthy Kentucky

$2 million The Foundation for a Healthy Kentucky will improve access to needed health 

services, reduce health risks and disparities, and promote health equity in 

6-10 low-income communities in Kentucky. Subgrantees will focus on testing 

innovative strategies to increase physical activity, improve nutrition, curb 

smoking and other unhealthy habits, and increase access to health services 

in underserved communities. Competitively pre-selected subgrantee: Barren 

River District Health Department ($250,000). 

FY10

Missouri 

Foundation for 

Health 

$2 million The Missouri Foundation for Health is investing in seven subgrantees 

working in low-income communities across the state to reduce risk 

factors and the prevalence of two preventable causes of chronic disease 

and death: tobacco use and obesity. The project draws on an integrated 

community change model blending two transformative models of 

prevention on obesity and tobacco control.

FY10
84 CNCS FY 2014 Congressional Budget Justification 

The Corporation for National and Community Service

Appendix I: Social Innovation Fund

Impact 

Area Grantees

Average Awarded 

Grant Description

Initial 

Award FY

Healthy Futures (Continued)

National AIDS 

Fund 

$3.6 million The National AIDS Fund will support innovative strategies that increase 

access to care and improve health outcomes for at least 3,500 low-income 

individuals living with HIV/AIDS. The project will employ rigorous evaluation, 

informing the implementation of the White House National HIV/AIDS Strategy 

and offering lessons that reduce barriers to care for a broad range of people 

living with HIV/AIDS and other chronic diseases. 

FY10

US Soccer 

Federation 

Foundation

$2 million The US Soccer Federation Foundation (USSFF) will support the expansion 

and replication of Soccer for Success (SfS), a no-cost, after-school, 

sports-based youth development program whose goal is to improve health 

by arresting and reducing obesity through physical activity and nutrition 

education.

FY10

YOUTH DEVELOPMENT

New Profit, Inc. $5 million New Profit, Inc. will collaborate with five to six innovative youth-focused 

nonprofit organizations with existing evidence to yield significant 

improvements in helping young people navigate the increasingly complex 

path from high school to college and productive employment. The project 

will expand the reach of these nonprofits to improve the lives of nearly 

8,000 young people in low-income communities throughout the country. 

Competitively pre-selected subgrantees: College Summit ($2 million); iMentor 

($750,000); Year Up ($2 million). 

FY10

The Edna 

McConnell Clark 

Foundation 

$10 million The Edna McConnell Clark Foundation is combining large grants, strategic 

business planning, rigorous evaluation and capital aggregation to 

increase the scale and impact of nine youth development organizations 

in communities of need across the United States. Their subgrantees are 

focusing on improving the educational skills and workforce readiness 

of economically disadvantaged young people as well as helping them to 

avoid high-risk behavior. Competitively pre-selected subgrantees: Bell 

($2 million); CAS-Carrera ($1.5 million); CEO ($2.25 million); CHSNC ($2 

million); CII ($2 million); Communities In Schools ($2.5 million); Gateway 

to College Network ($2 million); Reading Partners ($2 million); SEED 

Foundation ($2 million)

FY10

Venture 

Philanthropy 

Partners 

$4 million Venture Philanthropy Partners will create a powerful network of effective 

nonprofit organizations in the Washington D.C. National Capital Region 

supporting an integrated approach to addressing the education and 

employment needs of low-income and vulnerable youth ages 14-24. 

Competitively pre-selected subgrantees: College Summit National Capital 

Region ($372,000); KIPP DC ($656,000); Latin American Youth Center 

($500,000); Year Up National Capital Region ($207,000). 

FY10

(continued)
CNCS FY 2014 Congressional Budget Justification 85

Appendices | PART VIII

Appendix I: Social Innovation Fund (continued)

Impact 

Area Grantees

Average Awarded 

Grant Description

Initial 

Award FY

MULTI-ISSUE: ECONOMIC OPPORTUNITY AND YOUTH DEVELOPMENT AND SCHOOL SUPPORT

United Way of 

Greater Cincinnati

$2 million United Way of Greater Cincinnati, the Strive Partnership, and other 

funders will address the needs of low-income children and youth from 

“cradle to career” in the Greater Cincinnati-area though investments in 

early education, mentoring and literacy programs, college access, career 

pathways, and other innovations. 

FY10

EARLY EDUCATION

United Way for 

Southeastern 

Michigan

$4 million United Way for Southeastern Michigan will build on the expertise of its 

partnering organizations and facilitate the development of a portfolio of 

replicable early childhood learning communities in 10 needy communities 

in greater Detroit and surrounding areas.

FY11

Mile High United 

Way

$3.6 million Mile High United Way (MHUW) will fund subgrantee programs that 

leverage community volunteers to collectively address 3rd grade literacy 

rates in rural and urban areas across the state of Colorado. Building upon 

a strong state movement for reform and with strong bipartisan support 

from Colorado’s Governor, Lieutenant Governor, and state legislature, Mile 

High United Way is poised to introduce key transformations in Colorado’s 

education system.

FY1

CHRONIC HOMELESSNESS

Corporation 

for Supportive 

Housing

$2.3 million Corporation for Supportive Housing will expand and replicate supportive 

housing models that combine health, housing, and social services to 

improve the health and housing outcomes from homeless individuals with 

complex health needs who frequent multiple public crisis systems.

FY11

AFFORDABLE HOUSING

NCB Capital 

Impact

$2.0 million NCBCI’s Stewardship Capacity Fund (SCF) will scale and replicate “shared 

equity homeownership” (SEH) programs to build the capacity of local 

organizations to more effectively manage public investment in affordable 

homeownership for low-income families.

FY11