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How to Start a Program
Each year the Iowa Commission on Volunteer Service (ICVS) manages around $2 million in AmeriCorps State funds, which are awarded through a competitive grant application process. Sometime during the fall of each year, the Corporation for National and Community Service finalizes and releases the application instructions, which must be followed when applying for AmeriCorps program funds. Organizations then submit their completed grant applications to ICVS, which are scored locally by a grants review committee. The highest-scoring applications are then funded, with either competitive or formula funds from the Corporation. (Competitive funding means that those funds are in addition to the formula funds, which are awarded to each state based on population). Programs which are awarded funding are notified in summer, and then begin their program in the following September.
Each year the grants review process is becoming increasingly more competitive, but ICVS encourages organizations to contact our staff to learn how to submit the best application. Applicants must be non-profit [501(c)3] organizations, schools, Indian tribes, faith-based organizations, or local or state government agencies (or a combination of these organizations) and their program design must propose to engage a minimum of 10 full-time equivalent AmeriCorps members. Grants are awarded on a competitive basis to programs that address educational, environmental, homeland security, human or public safety needs (particularly those mobilizing more volunteers, ensuring a brighter future for all of America's youth, engaging students in communities and harnessing baby boomers' experience), and demonstrate community support to provide resources and meet matching requirements. The following are some links to resources and documentation from the most recent grants review cycle.
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