AmeriCorps sets grant application deadline

AmeriCorps, a federal agency for national service and volunteerism, is seeking applications for fiscal year 2023 Volunteer Generation Fund grants.

The fund, open to state service commissions, local nonprofit, community, faith-based, tribal, state and local governments and schools, focuses on investments for volunteer management practices.

The fund is a competitive grant opportunity to strengthen nonprofit and other social service organizations’ ability to recruit, retain and manage mission-critical volunteers. AmeriCorps will make more than $8 million available for organizations with programs that meet community needs, expand volunteering, strengthen the capacity to recruit and retain skill-based volunteers and develop strategies to use volunteers effectively to solve problems.

“At a time when people of all ages are looking for ways to give back, the Volunteer Generation Fund helps service organizations support these Americans who are answering the call to serve,” said Michael D. Smith. “The Volunteer General Fund supports the ever-important issue of volunteer recruitment and management to meet the needs of communities across the nation.”

AmeriCorps’ priorities for this funding opportunity are programs that engage volunteers to support high-impact tutoring, mentoring and other school-based or out-of-school programs for student academic, mental and overall well-being; work plans that advance justice and equality in historically underserved communities; programs that develop innovative approaches in engaging volunteers from historically underrepresented groups; and activities that counter the corrosive effects of hate-fueled violence on our democracy and public safety.

Last year, AmeriCorps invested more than $6.6 million in Volunteer Generation Fund grants, a majority of which went to supporting the National Partnership for Student Success, a public-private partnership between the Biden-Harris Administration, including AmeriCorps and the Department of Education, the Johns Hopkins Everyone Graduates Center and a diverse coalition of education and service organizations committed to providing academic and mental health support that students need to succeed.

The application deadline is Tuesday, May 16, at 2 p.m. PDT. AmeriCorps expects to notify successful applicants in July 2023.