Des Moines, IA – Volunteer Iowa announced today that it has received a Volunteer Generation Fund (VGF) grant of $192,023 from the Corporation for National and Community Service (CNCS), the federal agency that oversees AmeriCorps and the nation’s volunteer initiatives. This funding will allow Volunteer Iowa to better support local organizations in recruiting, managing, and retaining volunteers to address some of Iowa's most pressing challenges.
"Volunteer Iowa is thankful to receive this VGF grant from CNCS so that we can continue to develop local volunteer infrastructure and resources, and build the capacity of communities to create a culture of volunteerism," said Adam Lounsbury, Executive Director with Volunteer Iowa. "We will continue to focus on the development of statewide volunteerism resources that support nonprofits, government organizations, and the public, to leverage the power of volunteering."
The VGF grant is instrumental in supporting volunteer centers and cities in Iowa to connect citizens with opportunities to serve, increasing capacity of local organizations to engage volunteers in meaningful service, promoting volunteering, and developing local programming that leverages volunteers to meet community needs, including disaster response. The award will support a network of local Service Enterprise hubs, provide access to beginning and advanced level volunteer management training statewide, and will allow Volunteer Iowa to collaborate with local communities and emergency management partners across the state to develop plans for managing disaster response volunteers.
This year’s grant competition was highly competitive with a strong demand by state service commissions seeking VGF resources. CNCS awarded 15 VGF grants to state service commissions across the country, totaling more than $3.7 million.
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About Volunteer Iowa (or Iowa Commission on Volunteer Service)
Volunteer Iowa and its partner agencies work with organizations and individuals on three main fronts. The first is to help agencies develop quality programs that use service as a strategy to fulfill their missions and address Iowa’s greatest areas of need. The second is to help engage Iowans in their communities by promoting service and expanding the volunteer base. Finally, the third area of work is to connect individuals with appropriate service opportunities by building the volunteer infrastructure. More information is available at volunteeriowa.org.
About the Corporation for National and Community Service (CNCS)
AmeriCorps is administered by the Corporation for National and Community Service, a federal agency that engages more than five million Americans in service through AmeriCorps, Senior Corps, the Social Innovation Fund, and the Volunteer Generation Fund. For more information, visit NationalService.gov.
