Presidential Volunteer Service Award

AmeriCorps Members
Any current AmeriCorps members or AmeriCorps alumni may receive the Lifetime Achievement Award. Hours put towards AmeriCorps are not eligible for the Bronze, Silver, or Gold Presidential awards.
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Those who are able to nominate AmeriCorps members and alumni are:

1. The AmeriCorps member or alumni (self nomination)
2. A representative of their AmeriCorps program
3. A representative of their current or former AmeriCorps partner site
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Any of these individuals can fill out the nomination form on behalf of the nominee. The nominee must fill out the AmeriCorps Members Hour Tracking Sheet on behalf of themselves, regardless of who is nominating them.

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Community Members
Any organization that has a standing partnership with NCOE can nominate their high value (20+ hours of service) volunteers that they believe deserve recognition. These volunteers are able to be nominated for the Bronze, Silver, Gold, or Lifetime Achievement awards.
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A representative of their organization must fill out the nomination form on behalf of the community volunteer they want to nominate.
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The Community Member Hours Tracking Sheet must be filled out by the nominee. A representative of their organization can fill out the Hours Tracking Sheet if and only if all hours being counted towards the award were done at that organization.

*Please note that we encourage a donation of $20 from the representing organization to nominate a community member. 

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Who is eligible to apply for a Presidential Volunteer Award through NCOE?
NCOE can grant Presidential Volunteer Service Awards to any current or former AmeriCorps members who have served in any AmeriCorps program at any point in time. NCOE can also grant awards to any community volunteer is a high-value volunteer (has volunteered for at least 20 hours) at an organization with a long-standing partnership with NCOE.

What activities count as volunteering?
According to the Presidential Service Award website, eligible service is defined as any unpaid acts of service benefitting others. Service through a National Service program (AmeriCorps, Peace Corps, etc) will only count towards the Lifetime Achievement Award, not the Bronze, Silver, or Gold awards. Any nominee’s hours must not include noneligible service activities including donating funds, political lobbying, religious instruction, conducting worship service, proselytizing, services performed as part of court ordered community service, or serving only family members. You can review noneligible service activities on our page here or on the Presidential Service Awards website.

What are the requirements to be nominated?
Nominees must meet the hours requirements for their age group within the allotted timeframe; for the Bronze, Silver, and Gold awards, nominee must have completed the required number of hours within a 12-month period; hours for a Lifetime Achievement Award can be done over the nominee’s lifetime.Nominees must also be citizen or permanent resident of the United States and at least five years of age.

NCOE requires that any community volunteer is nominated through one of NCOE’s organization partners and must be a high-value volunteer (completed 20+ hours of volunteering) at that organization.

Who can nominate an individual?
Current or former AmeriCorps members applying for the Lifetime Achievement Award can be nominated by their former AmeriCorps program, program officers, or partner site. AmeriCorps members can also nominate themselves. Community members must be nominated by a representative of one of NCOE’s parterning organizations at which the community member is a high-value volunteer.

What information do I need to fill out the application?
You will need to know the nominee’s contact information including their phone number, email address, and mailing address. For partnering organizations, you must know which age category the nominee falls into, the 12-month period their volunteer hours are from, and which award you would like to nominate them for.

For AmeriCorps members, you must know that program they completed their service with, the organization they served at, and the years they served.
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Can I fill out the Hours Tracking Form on behalf of my nominee?
Nominee’s must fill out the Hours Tracking Form on their own behalf. A representative of the organization nominating a community volunteer may fill out the Hours Tracking Form if and only if all hours being reported were completed within the nominating organization.

How current do the volunteer hours have to be?
For the Bronze, Silver, and Gold awards, all submitted hours must be completed within a consecutive 12-month period.For the Lifetime Achievement Award, hours can be from any time period throughout your lifetime. There is no time limit on these hours.

How old does a nominee have to be to receive an award?
There are four different age categories for each award, starting at the age of 5. Refer to the age chart found on the Presidential Service Award website to know which category your nominee falls into, and ensure that they are meeting the correct number of hours for that category.

Can my organization nominate multiple people?
Yes, you are free to nominate as many people as you’d like, but you will need to fill out separate Google Forms and pay separate donation fees for each community member nomination (AmeriCorps member nominations are free).

Is there a fee associated with nominating someone?
While a fee is not required, we highly encourage that community organizations donate $20 per nominee to support our AmeriCorps programs and current service members .

AmeriCorps members and organizations nominating an AmeriCorps member are not asked to pay this donation fee. You can pay this by going to the NCOE Foundation page on our website and hitting the ‘donate’ button. This will take you to the NCOE Foundation’s PayPal page where you can select ‘AmeriCorps Fund’ from the drop-down menu. If you have any issues or questions about this payment, please reach out to Aeryn Jungerman.

I have received a Bronze, Silver, or Gold Award already and would now like to receive the Lifetime Achievement Award. Do the hours I was award for my Bronze, Silver, or Gold Award still count towards the Lifetime Achievement Award?
Yes, these hours can still count towards your Lifetime Achievement Award.

When will my nominee receive the award?
Nominations are reviewed on a quarterly basis in conjunction with NCOE’s AmeriCorps service year. We will announce the recipients of the award in August, November, February, and May. Application deadlines are:

• Applications received May 1st-July 31st are announced in August
• Applications received August 1st-October 31st are announced in November
• Applications received November 1st-January 31st are announced in February
• Applications received February 1st – April 30th are announced in May

Please allow 6-8 weeks for arrival of your award. If you need an award by a particular date (for example, if you are presenting it at a special event), please try to plan accordingly. We cannot promise that special requests be accommodated.
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