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Amending a Volunteer Generation 

Fund or Days of Service Award

Volunteer Initiatives

November 2023
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Table of Contents

Overview of Amendments .................................................................................................................. 2

Background...................................................................................................................................... 2

AmeriCorps Staff Consultation....................................................................................................... 2

Defining Significant Changes ......................................................................................................... 2

Amendment Types .............................................................................................................................. 2

Add or Remove Special Conditions .............................................................................................. 2

Adjust Match .................................................................................................................................... 3

Change Authorized Representative .............................................................................................. 3

Deobligate Funds ............................................................................................................................ 3

Modify Budget Period..................................................................................................................... 3

Modify Performance Measures or Workplans.............................................................................. 4

Modify Project Period...................................................................................................................... 4

Request No Cost Extension ............................................................................................................ 4

Revise Budget .................................................................................................................................. 4

Revise Narrative ............................................................................................................................... 4

Terminate Grant............................................................................................................................... 5

Agency Approval or Follow-Up.......................................................................................................... 5

Timing Considerations ........................................................................................................................ 5

Grantee Initiated Amendments.......................................................................................................... 6

AmeriCorps Initiated Amendments................................................................................................... 9
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Overview of Amendments

Background

After a Volunteer Generation Fund (VGF) or Days of Service grant application is awarded, 

AmeriCorps staff or the grantee may create an amendment to modify a grant award between 

annual (new or continuation) application submissions. An amendment is the modification of 

an approved grant application to reflect a significant change in program activities, budget, or 

other aspects of the project. Amendment requests are submitted via eGrants and must be 

approved by AmeriCorps staff.

This guide provides information on determining if an amendment is necessary, selecting the 

appropriate amendment type(s), determining if the amendment requires prior approval from 

AmeriCorps, and initiating the amendment in eGrants, if applicable. 

AmeriCorps Staff Consultation

Grantees are strongly encouraged to consult with their Portfolio Manager before beginning 

the amendment process to determine if an amendment is necessary. Portfolio Managers can 

additionally provide recommendations on amendment type and initiate amendments that 

grantees are unable to start themselves. 

Defining Significant Changes

Amendments should only be used for significant or major grant changes, such as 

adjustments to existing budget line items that exceed 10% of the overall budget, impactful 

changes to the program design, or adjustments to award time periods.

Minor grant changes, such as adjustments to budget line items that do not exceed 10% of the 

overall budget, changes to the data collection method for an existing performance measure, 

or staffing changes other than the Authorized Representative, do not require an amendment. 

Instead, minor grant changes should be made during the next annual (continuation or 

recompete) application submission.

Amendment Types

The following list is a collection of the amendment types available for VGF and Days of 

Service post-award modifications. Amendments vary by function, who can initiate 

(AmeriCorps staff and/or the grantee), available editable text fields, and approval process. 

Add or Remove Special Conditions

This amendment type is used when adding a requirement unique to the grantee or removing 

a special condition when the requirement has been met. 

• Initiated by: AmeriCorps staff

• Editable fields for grantees: None
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• Approvals needed: Portfolio Manager

Adjust Match

This amendment type is used when adjusting the approved budget for an increase or 

decrease in total matching resources, so long as the total does not fall below the minimum 

required match amount. This amendment type is not available for September 11th grantees

as there is no match requirement. 

• Initiated by: AmeriCorps staff or grantee

• Editable fields for grantees: Applicant Info, Application Info, Budget

• Approvals needed: Grantee, Portfolio Manager, Senior Portfolio Manager, Grants 

Specialist 

Change Authorized Representative

This amendment type is used to change the Authorized Representative for your grant.

• Initiated by: AmeriCorps staff or grantee

• Editable fields for grantees: Applicant Info, Application Info, Narratives, Performance 

Measures, Budget

• Approvals needed: Grantee, Portfolio Manager, Senior Portfolio Manager

Deobligate Funds

This amendment type is used when reducing the amount of funds obligated to the grantee.

• Initiated by: AmeriCorps staff

• Editable fields for grantees: Applicant Info, Application Info, Budget

• Approvals needed: Portfolio Manager, Senior Portfolio Manager

Modify Budget Period

This amendment type is used to adjust the start and/or end date(s) of the budget period.

• Initiated by: AmeriCorps staff

• Editable fields for grantees: None

• Approvals needed: Portfolio Manager, Senior Portfolio Manager
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Modify Performance Measures or Workplans

This amendment type is used to adjust, add, or remove performance measures.

• Initiated by: AmeriCorps staff or grantee

• Editable fields for grantees: Applicant Info, Application Info, Performance Measures

• Approvals needed: Grantee, Portfolio Manager, Senior Portfolio Manager

Modify Project Period

This amendment type is used to adjust the start and/or end date(s) of the project period.

• Initiated by: AmeriCorps staff

• Editable fields for grantees: None

• Approvals needed: Portfolio Manager, Senior Portfolio Manager

Request No Cost Extension

This amendment type is used to extend the budget and project period end dates to 

complete ongoing activities.

• Initiated by: AmeriCorps staff or grantee

• Editable fields for grantees: None

• Approvals needed: Portfolio Manager

Revise Budget

This amendment type is used when adjusting line items and/or match without changing the 

total AmeriCorps or grantee share of the budget.

• Initiated by: AmeriCorps staff or grantee

• Editable fields for grantees: Applicant Info, Application Info, Budget

• Approvals needed: Grantee, Portfolio Manager, Senior Portfolio Manager

Revise Narrative

This amendment type is used when editing one or more application narratives.

• Initiated by: AmeriCorps staff or grantee

• Editable fields for grantees: Applicant Info, Application Info, Narratives
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• Approvals needed: Grantee, Portfolio Manager, Senior Portfolio Manager

Terminate Grant

This amendment type is used when ending a grant prior to the currently approved end date. 

• Initiated by: AmeriCorps staff

• Editable fields for grantees: Applicant Info, Application Info, Narratives, Performance 

Measures, Budget

• Approvals needed: Portfolio Manager, Senior Portfolio Manager, Budget Office, 

Grants Specialist

Agency Approval or Follow-Up

Some amendments require approval from AmeriCorps prior to amendment creation or 

processing, including: 

• Any amendment involving a change in total awarded funds (Deobligate Funds) 

• Any amendment terminating a grant before the end of the originally awarded project 

and budget periods (Terminate Grant, Modify Budget Period, and Modify Project 

Period) 

Additionally, some amendment types require follow-up from AmeriCorps after amendment 

creation or processing, including:

• Any amendment extending a grant’s originally awarded project and budget periods 

(Request No Cost Extension) 

• Any amendment changing the Authorized Representative (Change Authorized 

Representative) 

Timing Considerations

Certain award timelines and statutes can affect amendment processing. AmeriCorps 

recommends that grantees consider the impact of amendments on other grant processing 

before initiating an amendment. Please keep the following considerations in mind:

• Ensure grantee staff are available to revise and submit the amendment (if applicable) 

and AmeriCorps staff are available to initiate (if applicable) and process the 

amendment. 

• Note that a grant may be amended regardless of whether it is a new or continuation 

application; however, only the most recently awarded application will be available to 

amend. If you do not see an amendment link on the last awarded application, this may 

indicate that there is already an amendment in process.
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• Acknowledge Project Progress Report (PPR) data entry timelines and due dates. If 

there is an open amendment when a grantee is in the process of entering data in the 

PPR, it may not be possible for the grantee to submit the PPR until the amendment is 

awarded or deleted.

• Initiate a No Cost Extension amendment no later than 30 days before the original end 

date of the project and budget periods.

Grantee Initiated Amendments

The steps listed in this section outline how to create and submit a grantee-initiated 

amendment. It is strongly recommended that you consult your Portfolio Manager prior to 

initiating an amendment.

Before initiating an amendment, identify the amendment type(s) that best describe the 

desired changes to the grant. Selecting multiple amendment types allows multiple sections 

of the application to become editable. Reference the Amendment Types section of this guide 

to see which application fields are available for grantees to edit under each amendment type.

Complete the following steps in eGrants to initiate the amendment:

1. On the homepage, under the “Creating an Application” menu, select “Amendment”.

Figure 1: eGrants home screen with Amendment action circled
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2. The Existing Applications page will open and display awards that are eligible to be 

amended. Find the award that needs to be amended and click the “amend” link 

located next to it.

Figure 2: eGrants Existing Applications page with amend action circled

3. The Start Amendment page will open for the selected grant number and display all 

available amendment types. Select one or more amendment types and provide a 

reason for amendment in the Amendment Reason text box, then click “next”.

Figure 3: eGrants Amendment page
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4. The grant application will open with the sections available for editing based on the 

amendment type(s) selected. Proceed by clicking “next” through all application 

sections and editing sections necessary for the amendment. If a necessary section is 

not available to edit, you may need to initiate a different amendment type.

Figure 4: Opened eGrants amendment application

5. Once edits are completed, navigate to the “Authorize and Submit” page. To run a 

check that you have completed all required fields, select “Verify this Grant 

Application”. When you are ready to submit, select “Submit amendment to CNCS”.
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Figure 5: Figure 2: eGrants Authorize and Submit page with "Verify this Grant Application" and "Submit 

amendment to CNCS" actions circled

AmeriCorps Initiated Amendments

Grantees should contact their Portfolio Manager to discuss and request any amendments that 

can only be initiated by AmeriCorps agency staff: 

1. Add or Remove a Special Condition

2. Deobligate Funds

3. Modify Budget Period

4. Modify Project Period

5. Terminate Grant

For amendment types that both AmeriCorps and the grantee can initiate, it is recommended 

that the grantee initiate. However, as mentioned previously, grantees are strongly 

encouraged to consult with their Portfolio Manager before beginning the amendment 

process.