Volunteer Generation Fund FY17 | CNCS 05 08 17

Opportunity Information: Apply for CNCS 05 08 17

The Volunteer Generation Fund (VGF) FY17 grant opportunity (Funding Opportunity Number CNCS 05 08 17) was a discretionary federal grant program offered by the Corporation for National and Community Service (CFDA 94.021). The central purpose of the program was to strengthen local and regional systems for engaging volunteers by investing in community-based organizations and the intermediary entities that connect volunteers to meaningful service roles. Rather than focusing on direct service alone, the VGF program emphasized building the infrastructure and know-how that allows communities to consistently recruit, place, manage, and retain volunteers in high-quality assignments.

At the heart of the opportunity was the idea of supporting "volunteer connector organizations," meaning organizations that serve as hubs or intermediaries for volunteer engagement. CNCS was looking for approaches that measurably expand volunteering in a community, improve an organization’s ability to recruit and keep volunteers (including skill-based volunteers), and promote more strategic use of volunteers to address real community problems. In practice, this could include developing better volunteer recruitment pipelines, improving volunteer screening and matching processes, strengthening training and supervision systems, and creating retention supports that keep volunteers engaged over time.

The grant description makes clear that CNCS wanted applicants to focus on capacity building: expanding the ability of these connector organizations to recruit, manage, support, and retain people in roles that are well-designed and impactful. The emphasis on "high quality volunteer assignments" signals that CNCS cared not only about increasing the number of volunteers, but also about improving the volunteer experience and the outcomes of service, such as better alignment between volunteer skills and community needs, clearer responsibilities, stronger oversight, and more consistent follow-through.

Another key feature of the VGF FY17 opportunity was flexibility in how funded activities could be carried out. Applicants that received an award could implement the supported activities directly, or they could operate a pass-through model by issuing subgrants to community-based entities. This structure was designed to help state and local networks scale volunteer generation work by channeling resources to organizations closest to the community, while still benefiting from the coordination, standards, and technical assistance a connector organization can provide. The source text also associates the opportunity with a "State Service Commission," which typically refers to the state-level entities that administer and coordinate national service resources and may serve as applicants or key partners in implementing volunteer infrastructure strategies.

From an administrative standpoint, the opportunity was posted with an original closing date of July 6, 2017, and CNCS anticipated making about 20 awards. The public listing did not specify an award ceiling in the provided data, but it did identify the instrument type as a grant and the opportunity category as discretionary. Eligibility in the provided fields is listed broadly as "Others," which usually indicates that multiple organization types could be considered depending on the full notice, often including nonprofits, local entities, intermediaries, or other qualified organizations that can demonstrate the capacity to build volunteer management systems and produce measurable improvements in volunteer engagement.

Overall, the VGF FY17 opportunity was designed to invest in the behind-the-scenes systems that make volunteerism effective: stronger recruitment and outreach, improved volunteer management and support, better retention strategies, and smarter deployment of volunteers, especially those bringing professional or specialized skills. The end goal was to help communities solve problems more effectively by building durable, scalable volunteer engagement capacity within and across local organizations.

• The Corporation for National and Community Service in the other sector is offering a public funding opportunity titled "Volunteer Generation Fund FY17" and is now available to receive applicants.
• Interested and eligible applicants and submit their applications by referencing the CFDA number(s): 94.021.
• This funding opportunity was created on 2017-05-08.
• Applicants must submit their applications by 2017-07-06. (Agency may still review applications by suitable applicants for the remaining/unused allocated funding in 2026.)
• The number of recipients for this funding is limited to 20 candidate(s).
• Eligible applicants include: Others.

Apply for CNCS 05 08 17

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