Non-Profit Resources
Need Volunteers?
Are you a nonprofit organization or public agency looking for volunteers? If so, make sure your volunteer opportunities are listed on CaliforniaVolunteers.org.
Participating local partners around the state have been specially selected to assist nonprofits and public agencies post their volunteer opportunities into this searchable statewide database.
When you post your volunteer opportunities with one of our local partners, they are automatically posted at CaliforniaVolunteers.org. Local partners (usually a Volunteer Center, Hands On Network affiliate or other volunteer connector organization) are located throughout the state. Click here to find one in your area.
These organizations can assist your agency in determining your volunteer needs, drafting your volunteer position descriptions, posting your opportunities into the database, and promoting your opportunities to interested local volunteers.
Any questions or can't find a local partner in your area? Contact the California Volunteer Matching Network team at cvmn@CaliforniaVolunteers.ca.gov.
National Service Overview
CaliforniaVolunteers is designated as the state service commission and administers the AmeriCorps national service portfolio in California. CaliforniaVolunteers works with other national service programs to provide Californians of all ages and backgrounds the opportunity to strengthen their communities through service. National service programs include:
AmeriCorps: Through its programs, AmeriCorps provides opportunities for Americans to make an ongoing, intensive commitment to service.
• AmeriCorps*State and National: AmeriCorps supports a broad range of local service programs that engage thousands of Americans in intensive service to meet critical community needs. CaliforniaVolunteers administers the AmeriCorps program in California. More than three-quarters of AmeriCorps grant funding goes to Governor-appointed state service commissions, such as CaliforniaVolunteers, which in turn awards and monitor grants to hundreds of nonprofit groups and agencies. The other quarter goes to national nonprofits that operate in more than one state. For more information, click here.
• AmeriCorps*VISTA : For more than 40 years VISTA has provided full-time members to opportunity to create and expand programs that build capacity and ultimately bring low-income individuals and communities out of poverty. To learn more, click here. To apply for an AmeriCorps*VISTA grant, please contact the Corporation for National and Community Service California State Office at (310) 235-7421.
• AmeriCorps*NCCC: The AmeriCorps*National Civilian Community Corps is a full-time residential program for men and women aged 18-24 that strengthens communities while developing leaders through direct, team-based national and community service. To learn more, click here. The AmeriCorps*NCCC Western Region Campus based in Sacramento accepts applications from nonprofit and public agencies to host an AmeriCorps*NCCC team (typically 10-12 members) for 6-8 weeks to assist with high-impact, but short-term projects. For further information and/or application materials, please contact Sharon Morioka-Estrada at (916) 640-0310.
Learn and Serve America: Service-learning is a teaching and learning strategy that integrates meaningful community service with instruction and reflection to enrich the learning experience, teach civic responsibility, and strengthen communities. Learn and Serve America provides grants to schools, higher education institutions and community-based organizations that engage students, their teachers and others in activites that tie service to academic learning. To learn more about how your organization can partner with Learn and Serve America contact the Corporation of National and Community Service at (202) 606-5000.
• Grants: Available to schools, higher education institutions, Native American tribes, community-based organizations, and others to assist in the planning and implementation of service-learning programs. To learn more about service-learning grants for K-12 school districts in California, contact the CalServe Initiative at the California Department of Education at (916) 319-0543.
• Training and Technical Assistance: The National Service-Learning Clearinghouse provides a library of lesson plans, research, and project examples to support service-learning programs.
• Recognition Programs: The Presidential Freedom Scholarships and the President’s Volunteer Service Award acknowledge outstanding youth service.
Senior Corps : Senior Corps offers a network of programs that tap the rich experience, skills and talents of older citizens to meet community challenges. To learn more about Senior Corps and how your organization may be able to partner, contact the Corporation for National and Community Service California State Office at (310) 235-7421.
• Foster Grandparents: Connects volunteers age 60 and over with children and young people with exceptional needs.
• Senior Companion Program: Brings together volunteers age 60 and over with adults in their community who have difficulty with the simple tasks of day-to-day living.
• RSVP: offers "one stop shopping" for all volunteers 55 and over who want to find challenging, rewarding, and significant service opportunities in their local communities.
To search for national service programs in California by county, visit our National Service Directory.
Get Grants
*AmeriCorps Grants
The next anticipated AmeriCorps grant competition will begin in the summer of 2008 to support AmeriCorps programming beginning the fall of 2009. If you are interested in receiving information about future AmeriCorps grant opportunities, email funding@CaliforniaVolunteers.ca.gov.
*Other CaliforniaVolunteer Grant Competitions
As other grant competitions are announced, information will be available here. In addition, you can sign up for our agency newsletter in the blue box at the left to receive updates via email.
*Other Grant Opportunities
The Corporation for National and Community Service announced three funding opportunities for student service and service-learning projects totaling $5 million on March 27, 2008:
2008 College Student Social Media Initiative: Approximately $2.3 million is available to facilitate better engagement of college students in service through the use of social media such as Facebook, MySpace, Ning, podcasts, blogs and other social media tools. Successful applicants must demonstrate how their program can use these tools to engage increased numbers of college students, especially in partnership with other nonprofit or for-profit entities. An estimated 12 grants will be made for a project period of up to three years. Applications are due at 5 p.m. eastern time, May 7.
School-Based STEM: Approximately $2 million is available to qualified organizations that will provide financial resources, training, and other assistance to local education agencies to implement service-learning projects as part of Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) curriculum in grades six through 12. An estimated four grants will be made for a project period of up to three years. Eligible applicants include grant-making entities, which are public or private non-profit organizations that can make subgrants in two or more states. Applications must be submitted by 5 p.m. eastern, April 30.
Indian Tribes Drug Abuse Prevention Initiative: Approximately $1 million is available to Indian Tribes to implement service-learning programs focusing on drug-abuse prevention, especially methamphetamine. Applicants must propose to work with one or more local schools to support youth conducting service-learning projects, as well as working with their local methamphetamine task force supported by the federal Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration, so that the youth service is linked with existing local drug abuse prevention efforts and coordinates with other federal funding targeting methamphetamine. An estimated six to eight grants will be awarded for a three-year period. The application deadline is 5 p.m. eastern time, April 30.
For further information for the three grants listed above and to apply, visit http://www.learnandserve.gov/for_organizations/funding/nofa.asp
Gifts in Kind International
Accepting applications for membership to receive product donations, including computers, software, office supplies, clothing and personal care products. Organizations who are tex-exempt under Section 501 (c)(3) of the Internal Revenue Code are eligible to apply.
Contact:
333 North Fairfax St.
Alexandria, VA 22314
(703) 836-2121
feedback@giftsinkind.org
www.giftsinkind.org
Dunspaugh-Dalton Foundation
Accepting applications for grants which support the following program areas: civic affairs, culture, education, health associations, hospitals, social services and youth. Grant awards range from $5,000 to $50,000. The foundation primarily supports programs in California, Florida and North Carolina. Organizations who are tex-exempt under Section 501 (c)(3) of the Internal Revenue Code are eligible to apply.
Contact:
1500 San Remo Avenue, Suite 103
Coral Gables, Florida 33146
(305) 668-4192
Public Policy Updates
State Legislation
Prevailing Wage Exemption for Volunteers in California
Background
By 2003, state labor laws and regulations evolved to the point where strict limits on donated labor on public works projects limited volunteers and service members from working community projects that could be classified as public works. This meant that volunteers that wanted to work on a public works project – tree plantings, habitat restoration, school beautifications, etc. – were required to be paid a prevailing wage. A local volunteer organization was fined $33,000 in 2003 for failing to pay volunteers a prevailing wage for their service restoring a local creek bed.
In response to the limits placed on volunteers, the Legislature passed AB 2690 in 2004, which exempted volunteers from the prevailing wage requirement. As a result of this legislation, volunteers were able to serve in their communities on public works projects. The bill contained a sunset clause that will expire on January 1, 2009.
Several pieces of legislation have been introduced to address this issue.
SB 1345 (Ashburn): This bill would have permanently exempted volunteers on public works projects from prevailing wage requirements. SB 1345 failed 3-2 in the Senate Labor and Industrial Relations Committee on April 9, 2008.
AB 2364 (Walters): This bill will permanently exempt volunteers on public works projects from prevailing wage requirements.
AB 2537 (Furutani): This bill will extend the exemption for volunteers on public works projects until January 1, 2012.
Other State Legislation
AB 2123 (Lieu): California Financial Literacy Initiative
This bill would promote financial literacy in California and establish a Financial Literacy Corps that will rely on volunteers with professional certification.
AB 2935 (Huffman): Oil spill prevention and response
This bill would require the Oil Spill Prevention and Response administrator to develop hazardous material training program, no more than 4 hours in length, for oil spill clean up volunteers.
AB 2610 (Davis): Salvageable personal property: unattended collection boxes
This bill would authorize a county to prohibit an entity from placing a collection box for solicitation purposes without a permit, would limit the issuance of permits under these provisions to qualified charitable organizations, and would authorize the local jurisdiction to charge an annual fee for the permit.
AB 2396 (Carter): Pupil attendance: civic engagement activities
This bill would include civic engagement activities offered by a nonprofit organization or a governmental entity among the types of absences that are excused. Existing law authorizes a pupil to be excused from school for specified reasons, including for the purpose of serving as a member of a precinct board for an election.
AB 2417 (Runner): Safe Neighborhoods Act: Protect Victims, Stop Gang and Street Crime
This bill would, among others, provide funding opportunities for community-based organizations working with at-risk youth on gang prevention and intervention activities.
SB 227 (Harman) – Course of study: community service
This bill would encourage school districts to offer elective courses in community service and allow pupils to earn academic credit for service they provide to nonprofits.
Federal Legislation
Reauthorization of the National and Community Service Trust Act
A bill to reauthorize the National and Community Service Trust Act and Domestic Volunteer Service Act failed to pass in the House of Representatives.
The proposed legislation, H.R. 5563 (previously H.R 2857), Generations Invigorating Volunteering and Education (GIVE) Act, was debated on March 6, 2008. The legislation came to a vote on March 12, 2008 and failed by one vote.
The GIVE Act may come to a vote a later date but it is unlikely that reauthorization will occur in the 110th Congress. Please continue to check this site for updates as they become available.
Key provisions of the GIVE Act include:
*An increase in the percentage of funding available for AmeriCorps program administration.
*Provision for part-time AmeriCorps members to serve more than two years and thereby earn up to the equivalent of two full-time education awards (the maximum currently allowed for full-time members).
*An increase in the value of the education award by $100 per year for the next five years. This would increase the education award from $4,725 today to $5,225 in 2012.
*Lowering the age of participation to 55 for all National Senior Service Corps programs including the Retired Senior Volunteer Program (RSVP), Foster Grandparent Program and the Senior Companion Program.
*Raising the income eligibility for participants in the Foster Grandparent and Senior Companion Programs to 200 percent of the federal poverty level, or an annual income of $20,420 for a single adult in 2007.
*Establishment of an Energy Conservation Corps that will focus on energy conservation, infrastructure and transportation improvement, and emergency operations.
To view the legislative text, click here.
Other Federal Legislation
S 3200 (Kerry, Specter, Akaka, Coleman) - Mentoring for All Act of 2008
The bill creates a competitive grant fund of $50 million to strengthen and grow Mentoring Partnerships nationwide, and includes millions in additional grant monies for support of direct service mentoring programs.
HR 1819 (McDermott) – Commission on Civic Service
This bill establishes a Congressional Commission on Civic Service to study methods of improving and promoting volunteerism and national service.
S 960 (Clinton) – Public Service Academy
This bill would establish a Public Service Academy, modeled after the US military academies to educate and develop civilian leaders.
Additional Resources
To learn more about the history of service and volunteerism, visit Service Milestones.
Visit Service Field for an overview of the types of organizations that are involved in service and volunteerism.
To learn more about statewide nonprofit organizations interested in promoting service and volunteerism throughout California, click here.
Visit Service Links to learn about national nonprofit organizations that promote service and volunteerism.
Click here to review research and reports about service and volunteerism and its impact.
Looking for a quote to inspire students to serve in their community? Or one to inspire yourself? Visit our Service Quotes library.
Looking for ways to incorporate volunteerism into your youth program? Visit the Presidential Service Awards Web site for more information.
Need help figuring out the difference between an AmeriCorps program and VISTA? Visit our Jargon Key for assistance.