Project Partner FAQs

AmeriCorps, a federal agency, brings people together to tackle the country’s most pressing challenges through national service and volunteering. AmeriCorps members and AmeriCorps Seniors volunteers serve with organizations dedicated to the improvement of communities. AmeriCorps helps make service to others a cornerstone of our national culture. Find out more about AmeriCorps.

CivicSpark Fellows provide capacity-building support through research, planning, and implementation project activities. CivicSpark Fellows can support a wide range of initiatives, as long as they are eligible and can be completed by a Fellow within the service year. For eligibility details, review our eligibility information here.

For sample projects, please visit our impact page and our current projects here.

Applications for the 2024-25 service year have reopened! You can view a sample application here, and apply here. Our partner application deadlines are as follows:

Partner Applications Close: November 8, 2024

Yes, but with some constraints. CivicSpark Fellows can be placed with public agencies, non-profits, Tribal governments, or state agencies. CivicSpark Fellows cannot serve directly with a for-profit organization, however, private companies can sponsor CivicSpark Fellows to deliver capacity building services to eligible public agencies.

Yes, CivicSpark has outlined goals in our Racial Equity Action Plan to identify barriers to program participation for Tribes, to foster authentic relationships with Tribal partners and increase the number of projects we support with Tribal governments. Interested Tribal governments are encouraged to get in touch to discuss their project ideas or to visit our partner page to learn more and apply.

Yes! We are happy to work on larger projects that will create lasting impacts for multiple local governments.

Please review our eligibility information here.

Check out our partner responsibilities here.

The service year is comprised of an 7.5 month service term with Fellows serving about 920 hours. Fellows start their fellowship in January. Exact end dates are determinant on the Fellow’s specific start date.

For Fellows serving 1700 hours, Fellows will serve over the course of 11 months with at least 1300 of those hours dedicated to project service. Fellows’ additional time, approximately 250 – 300 hours, is dedicated to professional development activities with up to 100 hours for community volunteer engagement.

Three-quarter time Fellows will serve about 1200 hours over the course of 7.5 months with at least 920 of those hours dedicated to project service.

All host agencies must provide a dedicated work space and office resources (phone, computer, etc.) for their Fellows. This does not need to be a full private office; it can be a cubicle, shared work space, or other arrangement, as long as the Fellow has a designated place to work on a daily basis. If the Fellow will be serving in a hybrid setting, partners will need to provide sufficient resources (computer, access to servers) to complete service remotely. 

CivicSpark is funded by federal AmeriCorps funding, partner match, and in some cases, external sponsors. For more information on the fiscal contribution for the 24-25 service year, see our main partner page.

Partners are invoiced for Fellow service dependant on the option they choose during contracting. This can be either via a lump sum payment at the start of the service year or via quarterly installments during the service term.

Partially – rates for the program are all-inclusive and cover the Fellow’s living allowance, workers compensation and liability insurance, Fellow benefits, and programmatic operating costs including professional development and CivicSpark staff support for Fellows. The fiscal contribution only covers a portion of the total cost to run the program.

Participating organizations are required to identify the funds for the project, but projects can be funded by a third party who is supporting the service project. If your organization is being sponsored by a third-party, you will be responsible for securing the funds and working with CivicSpark staff and the sponsor in the contract process. CivicSpark staff are not able to support searching for or securing funds for organizations.

CivicSpark is a great resource to leverage for outside funding. Because of its flexible design, there is an opportunity to focus the service on a suite of projects that align with available resources. For example, a regional foundation interested in supporting public health might support a vulnerability assessment. Local utilities might support a business energy audit project. If there is an open RFP for climate related work, CivicSpark could be built into responses as a supporting mechanism for completing the project.

We can accept your application and engage with you on a tentative basis, but we also have to fill our cohort and will prioritize those organizations that have funding secured.

No. CivicSpark Fellows are allowed to support grant writing and fundraising, as outlined by AmeriCorps regulations, however they cannot raise funds for living allowances or for an organization’s general operating expenses or endowment. CivicSpark Fellows are allowed to help local agencies identify possible future funding sources though (no more than ~120 hours, or 10% of their project time), and work completed by CivicSpark Fellows may be used to better prepare an agency to access existing funding sources.

AmeriCorps has a policy of deferring to other federal agencies with regard to commingling of federal funds. If the funding agency approves the use of funds for AmeriCorps, it is allowable.

No. CivicSpark Fellows are covered by the CivicSpark insurance.