Table of Contents
2020 AmeriCorps Funding Priorities
State Commission Competition Contacts and Due Dates
Funding Announcement, Mandatory Supplemental Guidance, Application Instructions
Performance Measure Instructions
Financial Management Survey (FMS)
Technical Assistance Information and Documents
Technical Assistance Call Schedule
2020 AmeriCorps Funding Priorities
In the FY 2020 AmeriCorps competition, CNCS seeks to prioritize the investment of national service resources in:
- Economic Opportunity – evidence-based interventions on the CNCS Evidence Exchange. In order to qualify for this priority, the applicant must be assessed as having Moderate OR Strong evidence by the reviewers.
OR
Increasing economic opportunities for communities by preparing people for the workforce.
- Education - evidence-based interventions on the CNCS Evidence Exchange. In order to qualify for this priority, the applicant must be assessed as having Moderate or Strong evidence by the reviewers.
- Healthy Futures - evidence-based interventions on the CNCS Evidence Exchange. In order to qualify for this priority, the applicant must be assessed as having Moderate or Strong evidence by the reviewers.
OR
Reducing and/or preventing prescription drug and opioid abuse.
- Veterans and Military Families - positively impacting the quality of life of veterans and improving military family strength.
- Rural intermediaries - organizations that demonstrate measurable impact and primarily serve rural communities with limited resources and organizational infrastructure.
- Faith-based organizations.
Application Deadline
The deadline for applications to the 2020 NOFO is Wednesday, January 08, 2020 at 5:00 p.m. Eastern Time. Organizations that propose to operate in only one state must apply through the Governor-appointed State or Territory Commissions. Each state and territory administers its own selection process and puts forward to CNCS the applicants it selects to compete for funding. State applicants must contact their State Commissions to learn about their state or territory processes and deadlines which may be significantly before the CNCS deadlines and may have additional requirements.
Single-state applicants from South Dakota are eligible to apply directly to CNCS for the FY 2020 competition. If you are a potential applicant from South Dakota, please contact AmeriCorpsGrants@cns.gov for additional guidance.
State Commission Competition Contacts and Due Dates
2020 State Commissions Contacts and Due Dates (PDF) | Coming Soon
Funding Announcement, Mandatory Supplemental Guidance, and Application Instructions
2020 Notice of Funding Opportunity (PDF)
2020 Mandatory Supplemental Guidance (PDF)
2020 Application Instructions (PDF)
Performance Measure Instructions
2020 Performance Measure Instructions (PDF)
Financial Management Survey (FMS)
Financial Management Survey (FMS) (PDF)
Clarification
The AmeriCorps State and National Grants Competition will include a Clarification period. During the Clarification period, applicants may be asked for clarifying information regarding issues of significance, and may be asked for corrections or changes to elements of the application and budget. The AmeriCorps State and National Grants process also includes a Resolution period for successful applicants. During the Resolution period, which will occur after applicants have been notified of the results of the competition, successful applicants will make corrections or changes to elements of the application, including Performance Measures, and provide additional requested information. Although not all applications will receive requests for clarification, it is imperative that staff involved in the development and submission of the application be available to respond to clarification, if requested.
Dates for these periods appear below. Single-state subapplicants should be aware that Commission Clarification periods may be shorter than those below.
Clarification for New/Recompete Applicants: Friday, March 20 – Friday, April 3, 2020
Technical Assistance Information
If you are having technical difficulties with creating an account or preparing or submitting the application in eGrants, please contact the National Service Hotline at (800) 942-2677 or via Questions.
For all other application questions, please contact AmeriCorpsGrants@cns.gov.
Technical Assistance Calls & Webinars
The video recordings include external links to Youtube’s video platform. Youtube’s privacy and security practices and policies may differ from CNCS'. CNCS is not responsible for these links nor does it endorse the content of the third-party website (Read more).
2020 AmeriCorps State & National Grant Competition: Overview
For an overview of the 2020 AmeriCorps State and National Notice of Funding Opportunity (NOFO), the application timeline, or other general questions about AmeriCorps and the grant competition. Participants are encouraged to review the following materials before the call: 2020 Notice of Funding Opportunity (NOFO) and 2020 Mandatory Supplemental Guidance. The call will include a Q&A session.
Date: October 23rd, 2019. Time: 1:30 - 2:30 PM EST
Webinar Recording: https://youtu.be/B2i8QSrey_o
Webinar Resources: PowerPoint Presentation
2020 AmeriCorps State & National Grant Competition: Best Practices in Budget Development
In this webinar, a CNCS Grants Officer provides guidance about how to create a compliant grant budget for an AmeriCorps program. Participants are encouraged to review the Budget Instructions section of the Application Instructions, as well as resources available on the CNCS Knowledge Network Financial and Grants Management webpage.
Date: October 30th, 2019. Time 1:30 - 2:30 PM EST
Webinar Recording: https://youtu.be/j2aNCXrzIGc
Webinar Resources: Budget Narrative FY2020 Sample, PowerPoint Presentation
2020 AmeriCorps State & National Grant Competition: Best Practices in Developing Performance Measures
For guidance about how to create high-quality performance measures that align with an applicant's program design and meet AmeriCorps requirements, attend this session. Webinar content is applicable to new, recompeting and continuation applicants. Participants are encouraged to review the 2020 Performance Measure Instructions prior to attending this webinar.
Date: November 6th, 2019. Time: 1:30-2:30 PM EST
Webinar Recording: https://youtu.be/_69o72IR5hA
Best Practices in Writing an Evaluation Plan
This webinar, which is a repeat of a workshop session during the 2019 AmeriCorps State and National Symposium, will provide attendees with an overview of how to develop an evaluation plan that meets CNCS's evaluation requirements. Key components of the plan will be reviewed, and examples of best practices and common challenges will be presented. CNCS's evaluation technical assistance provider, NORC, will facilitate the webinar and will also describe the resources available to competitive grantees, subgrantees, and potential AmeriCorps applicants to support evaluation plan development and implementation.
Date: November 7th, 2019. Time: 2:00 - 3:00 PM EST
Webinar Recording: https://youtu.be/jnsX9unZi50
Webinar Resources: Best Practices in Writing an Evaluation Plan Handout, PowerPoint
2020 AmeriCorps State & National Grant Competition: Best Practices in Demonstrating Evidence
This webinar provides guidance on how to identify a program’s level of evidence, and how to support it with relevant data, studies, and/or evaluation reports. Participants are encouraged to review the Mandatory Supplemental Guidance section on Evidence Tiers, prior to attending this session.
Date: November 13th, 2019. Time: 1:30-2:30 PM EST
Webinar Recording: https://youtu.be/o4Pib6dQFHQ
Webinar Resources: PowerPoint Presentation