Evaluation Report Brief

CalSERVES-NCOE : AmeriCorps VIP

Office of Research and Evaluation, Corporation for National and Community Service June 2015

nationalservice.gov/research 1 

What is the community challenge? 

Communities throughout California face a number of 

challenges, including unemployment, poverty, poor 

housing, educational needs, and language barriers. 

Many of the community organizations working to 

address these challenges are also dealing with shrinking 

budgets. Support from volunteers would be a greater 

help than ever, but often these same organizations lack 

the capacity to maximize this help. 

Program At-a-Glance 

Intervention: AmeriCorps Volunteer Infrastructure Program 

(VIP)

Grantee: CalSERVES-Napa County Office of Education 

(NCOE)

Intermediary: CaliforniaVolunteers

Focus Area: Capacity Building

Focus Population: Community organizations

Communities Served: Communities facing social, What is CalSERVES-NCOE economic, and educational challenges across California ’s promising solution?

The AmeriCorps Volunteer Infrastructure Program (VIP) 

was developed to build the volunteer capacity of non-profit and educational organizations serving California 

communities. Since 2009, AmeriCorps VIP has placed hundreds of members in community organizations with 

the specific targeted goal of systematically increasing their capacity to recruit, train, support, and utilize 

volunteers in order to more effectively serve their clients.

What did the evaluation of AmeriCorps VIP find?

As a grantee of AmeriCorps State and National through CaliforniaVolunteers, CalSERVES-NCOE engaged an 

independent evaluator to evaluate AmeriCorps VIP. The evaluation found that: 

 AmeriCorps VIP had a strong and much larger positive impact on 

organizational capacity concerning volunteers than non-AmeriCorps VIP 

programs did, 

 AmeriCorps VIP had a particularly strong, positive impact on: 

- Clarity of volunteer roles 

- Volunteer recruitment and management 

- Including volunteers in decision-making 

 AmeriCorps VIP has a high likelihood of producing similar results if 

replicated with fidelity throughout California, and 

 The differences in results between AmeriCorps VIP and similar programs 

were found to be statistically significant. 

To access the full report and learn more about CNCS, please visit nationalservice.gov/evidence-exchange. 
Evaluation Report Brief

CalSERVES-NCOE : AmeriCorps VIP

2 

Evaluation design, timeline and study locations

Study Locations 

The evaluation of CalSERVES-NCOE’s AmeriCorps VIP by JBS 

International, Inc. began in 2011 and finished reporting in 2012. 

The report was funded in part through CalSERVES-NCOE’s 

AmeriCorps State and National award.

Evaluation At-a-Glance 

Level of Evidence* after Evaluation: Moderate 

Evaluation Design: Impact Evaluation (Quasi-Experimental Design) 

Study Population: Non-profit and educational organizations in 

California that use volunteers 

Evaluator: JBS International, Inc. 

*SIF and AmeriCorps currently use different definitions of levels of evidence.

How is CalSERVES-NCOE using the evaluation findings to improve? 

CalSERVES-NCOE has used the evaluation findings to improve services 

and expand its research agenda to address key areas of implementation. 

 AmeriCorps VIP continues to focus on building volunteer 

capacity by refining and establishing clarity of volunteers’ roles, 

assessing their contributions, and including them in decision 

making. 

 AmeriCorps VIP is focusing on developing protocols and other 

systems to build sustainability of volunteer capacity within those 

organizations. 

 AmeriCorps VIP is assessing the types of organizations (both in size and scope of work) that benefit the

most from the CalSERVES VIP program and the services that are most effective by organization type in 

order to increase impact even further moving forward. 

 The organization has been able to use the evaluation results to communicate more effectively with 

stakeholders and build program support. 

The content of this brief was drawn from the full evaluation report submitted to CNCS by the grantee/subgrantee. The section of the brief that 

discusses evaluation use includes contribution of the grantee/subgrantee. All original content from the report is attributable to its authors.

AmeriCorps State and National supports a wide range of local service programs that engage thousands of Americans in intensive community 

service each year. We provide grants to a network of local and national organizations and agencies committed to using national service to 

address critical community needs in education, public safety, health, and the environment.

Office of Research and Evaluation, Corporation for National and Community Service June 2015

nationalservice.gov/research