Welcome to the webinar on AmeriCorps program management and design for grant

applicants. This the final presentation in a series designed to help organizations that are

considering applying for AmeriCorps funding.
AmeriCorps Grants provide funding to high‐quality programs that demonstrate an

evidence‐based or evidence‐informed approach to strengthening communities and

solving community problems by engaging individuals in service as AmeriCorps

members.  

Grants are awarded to nonprofits, Indian tribes, colleges and universities, and state

and local public agencies to address unmet needs in education, economic

opportunity, veterans services, disaster services, health, the environment, and

more.

A grantee might use AmeriCorps resources to make an existing program more

effective, to reach previously underserved communities, or to expand their

activities beyond what they were able to do without AmeriCorps.

However, it is important to understand that AmeriCorps funds do not duplicate,

displace or supplant resources that currently exist in a community.  AmeriCorps

members cannot be used to take the place of staff, current volunteers, or existing

funding.
AmeriCorps State and National grants are awarded on a competitive basis to eligible

applicants.

AmeriCorps grants include an allotment of AmeriCorps member positions and associated

funding. The funds awarded by CNCS are directly tied to the specific number of members

awarded.

AmeriCorps grants are solely for program expenses and cannot be used for general

organizational operating expenses.

All AmeriCorps Grants provide partial funding to support AmeriCorps projects and

programs. Grant recipients must contribute additional resources to support the project.  
As your organization considers applying for an AmeriCorps grant and begins designing

your program, there are many important factors to consider.

Being successful is more than just having a good idea for a program; if you become an

AmeriCorps grantee, your organization will have many responsibilities. You will need to

have the capability and experience to manage federal funds, to manage and oversee the

grant and all of its components, and to ensure all the AmeriCorps members are well

trained and supervised.

Most programs actively engage other organizations as community partners to function as

host sites for AmeriCorps members. It is important for AmeriCorps programs to have or to

develop strong partners in the community and in your focus area.
An AmeriCorps grantee must fulfill some core roles and responsibilities for the program

and meet the requirements of the grant.

So while you determine the best management structure for your program, keep in mind

your overall responsibilities. You must:

• employ strong fiscal and program management systems;

• monitor financial management, program performance and member activities at

operating sites and service locations;

• train and provide technical assistance to staff at parent organization and at sites;

• ensure the recruitment, orientation and training of members;

• track and ensure the accuracy of member hours and activities, and track progress

toward meeting approved performance measures; and

• act as liaison between CNCS or the Commission and other components of your program
The previous slide referenced the terms “operating site” and “service location.” It is

important to understand the difference between the Parent Organization, Operating Sites

and Service Locations and how they fit into the program management structure. The Key

Terms webinar explained these already, but we will review briefly here, too.

The Parent Organization is the grantee, which has the ultimate legal responsibility for the

grant.

An operating site is the organizational entity that administers the AmeriCorps program in

that state. For multi‐state grantees, there will be at least one operating site in each state

where they are placing members.  Operating Sites can be affiliates, chapters, or unaffiliated

organizations.  

A service location is the organization where a member provides most of his/her service in

the community. Typical service locations are schools, food banks, health clinics, community

parks, etc. Service locations can be operating sites if the member actually serves at the

operating site most of the time.
AmeriCorps members can be placed at service locations individually or in teams; they can

be based out of one organization or be distributed across the community.

As you are thinking about your organization, your partners, and the role service can play

in addressing needs in your community, keep the following questions in mind:  

Where will the service activities take place? In one community, in one state or in multiple

communities across many states?

Will services be based out of a partner organization or in scattered sites?

Where will your organization acquire match funds? Do you partner with other

organizations who can provide the living allowance or other benefits (like housing, meals,

or work study) to members during their term of service?

What is the capacity of your partner organizations to provide programmatic or financial

support for the AmeriCorps program?

Your answer to these questions will help define your program design.
There are 3 basic management structures used by AmeriCorps programs:

In the centralized model, the grantee takes care of all the administrative functions and

assigns members to operating sites and/or service locations. For example, a grantee might

have operating sites that are small community‐based organizations with limited capacity or

they might be state offices of the grantee.   The grantee chooses to centrally manage the

grant.  Operating sites and/or service locations may be involved in recruiting and selecting

members, but the grantee handles the eligibility screening and the member files. The

grantee provides a high level orientation and training for the AmeriCorps members,

although the operating sites are generally expected to provide a local orientation.  The

grantee manages member stipend payments and other administrative functions and

provides members to the sites, but no funds go to the operating sites.

In a decentralized model, the grantee sub‐grants the funds, and the sub‐grantee is

responsible for member training, payroll and other administrative functions. For example, if

you have operating sites with a history of successfully managing federal grants and they

have the capacity to manage the AmeriCorps program, the grantee might choose to sub‐

grant the funds to each of their operating sites. Each site provides its own orientation and

training for the AmeriCorps members.  Each site manages member stipend payments and

other administrative functions.

You can also have a combination of these structures with more shared responsibilities.
Remember, regardless of the management structure employed, the grantee organization is

still ultimately responsible to CNCS for all funds and activities, so you will need to put into

place a process for oversight and monitoring of your operating sites and service locations to

ensure their compliance.
Now that you have learned a little about what your organization should have in place to

manage an AmeriCorps program, we want to share the starting point for developing a

program. A program design starts with your theory of change. A theory of change defines

a cause and effect relationship between a specific intervention, or service activity, and an

intended outcome.

It is essential to the program design that you be able to show how the problem you plan

to address, the service activities (or intervention) the program will provide, and the

anticipated outcomes relate to one another. It’s also essential that you provide evidence

that supports the likelihood that your intervention will lead to the intended outcomes.

Your theory of change is a method of explaining what needs to change, how you plan to

create that change, why you think these particular activities will create the desired

change, and the specific change you expect to see as a result.  
It is extremely important to use data and evidence to support your program design. Data

should be used to document the need in the community or to describe the problem your

program will address.

Data should be used identity the scope of the problem: Who is affected by the problem?

How many are directly affected? How severe is the problem? It is important that the need

is documented at the local level where members will serve, if at all possible.

In addition, data should identify the relevance of the problem, in other words, what

makes this a compelling problem? Is it likely to become worse?

You also need to identify the causes of the problem so you can tackle it as close to the

root cause as possible. Ask yourself repeatedly, ”why does the problem exist? How is the

problem perpetuated?”
Evidence should be used to support the basis for the proposed intervention.  As a grant

applicant, you need to design activities for AmeriCorps members that demonstrate an

evidence‐based or evidence‐informed approach to strengthening communities and solving

community problems.

The evidence basis for the intervention should demonstrate that the proposed intervention

is likely to solve the identified problem and should support a particular design, frequency,

intensity and duration of the intervention that is optimal to achieve the desired outcomes.
The evidence basis for an intervention, or member service activities, may come from one

or more of the following:

 The results of impact evaluation(s) of the proposed program or of similar programs;

 Experimental or quasi‐experimental research studies that document the

effectiveness of this or similar programs;

 Past performance measurement data showing the outcomes of the program
Data that supports the need and evidence for your intervention should be:

• Relevant

• Compelling

• Up‐to‐date, and

• From reliable and objective sources
Not only do you need to define the problem you want to address and identify the

intervention to be carried out by the AmeriCorps members, you also need to identify your

outcomes.

Your outcome is the change in attitude, knowledge, behavior, or condition that results from

the intervention.  Outcomes may reflect changes in individuals, organizations,

communities, or the environment.

Whatever outcomes you select, they must be measurable and must align with the problem

and intervention you identified.
You have just learned how to connect the components together that address the theory of

change for a program, however, having an identified problem, an intervention to address

that problem, and measurable outcomes that result from the intervention, does not

complete your AmeriCorps program design.

You will need to further develop components that will give your program its AmeriCorps

identity, allow members to have a powerful service experience, and engage community

volunteers to expand your impact.
This concludes the AmeriCorps Program Management and Design presentation, the last in

a series of technical assistance presentations available to help familiarize you with

AmeriCorps State & National funding. In addition, please review the Notice of Funding

Opportunity and other materials posted on our website.

16
If you have any questions, please contact CNCS at AmeriCorpsGrants@cns.gov.

17