Des Moines, IA – Volunteer Iowa announced today that it received a grant of $289,737 from AmeriCorps, the federal agency for national service and volunteerism. The grant, funded through the Volunteer Generation Fund, will expand Volunteer Iowa’s volunteer engagement practices in Iowa. This funding will support volunteer engagement infrastructure statewide, including the recruitment of more than 1,500 volunteers and strengthened capacity in over 175 organizations in Iowa.
AmeriCorps provides support to organizations to help them to alleviate poverty, expand capacity in organizations and build economic opportunity through community-driven efforts across the country. The Volunteer Generation Fund grants will be used to strengthen entities’ ability to recruit, engage and support volunteers. At a time of social need, when Americans of all ages are looking for ways to give back, AmeriCorps seeks to fund effective approaches that strengthen the capacity and impact of volunteer and invest in innovative volunteer engagement practices.
"Volunteer Iowa is grateful to AmeriCorps for the Volunteer Generation Fund grant funding. This grant will allow us to help develop local volunteer infrastructure and resources and increase capacity to serve communities," said Adam Lounsbury, Executive Director with Volunteer Iowa. "Volunteer Iowa will use these funds to expand existing statewide volunteerism resources that support nonprofits and government organizations leverage the power of volunteerism across the state."
With this new funding, Volunteer Iowa will strengthen Iowa’s statewide and local volunteer infrastructure by expanding training, resources, and leadership development that help organizations more effectively engage volunteers. It seeks to realign how organizations involve volunteers with how today’s volunteers, especially youth, skills‑based volunteers, families, and rural residents, want to serve. This funding will support nonprofits, schools, and local governments by providing Service Enterprise accreditation, statewide and regional volunteer engagement trainings, youth mentoring supports, service‑learning resources, and local leadership fellowships. These efforts will increase organizational capacity to recruit, train, manage, and retain volunteers across priority need areas.
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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 AmeriCorps
AmeriCorps, the federal agency for volunteerism and national service, provides opportunities for Americans to serve their country domestically, address the nation’s most pressing challenges, improve lives and communities, and strengthen civic engagement. Each year, the agency places more than 185,000 AmeriCorps Volunteers in intensive service roles; and empowers millions more to serve as long-term, short-term, or one-time volunteers. Learn more at AmeriCorps.gov.