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Tuesday, July 08, 2008 |
CONTACT: Mikel Herrington |
Dear Colleagues: This message is in regards to ServiceNation, which includes both a Summit and a Day of Action in September. We have received inquiries from Commissions and programs about whether participating in a ServiceNation event is an appropriate Corporation-funded activity. While state commissions and AmeriCorps State programs may be involved in some components of the ServiceNation campaign, there are elements to the ServiceNation campaign that involve legislative lobbying activity, and grantees should be mindful of the Corporation’s restrictions on legislative lobbying and partisan politics using grant funds.The best advice remains: Focus on the purpose of your grant and if you have a question about a particular activity outside that purpose, ask your program officer at the Corporation. The following are some FAQ’s specifically regarding involvement with the ServiceNation campaign: (1) Which ServiceNation activities are covered by the prohibition on using Corporation grant funds or grant-funded time on political activities? (2) What if a Day of Action event features a service project but includes an advocacy component? As with any lobbying or political activity, you must be clear with staff and participants that while they are free to engage in such activities on their own time and on their own initiative, they may not include the activity as part of their grant-funded time. Instructions to any participants who are assigned to a service project should make clear that their assignment is exclusively to engage in service. (3) May a Commissioner participate in the political part of ServiceNation? (4) May State Commission staff participate in ServiceNation activities? (5) May AmeriCorps programs participate in ServiceNation activities? (6) Given these potential issues, why did the Corporation invite ServiceNation to address AmeriCorps programs at the national conference?
We support the sharing of ideas about how national service can solve our country’s challenges, and our Board of Directors passed a resolution at its May meeting specifically commending ServiceNation for convening such a dialogue. At the same time, as I indicated in my introduction to the presentation at the conference, we must be careful to avoid using any Corporation grant funds or grant-funded time to engage in political activities. It is our hope that the conversation initiated by ServiceNation will not be limited to proposed legislation but will also promote sharing of best practices, identifying opportunities to collaborate across States and programs, and otherwise making our impact greater than the sum of our parts. For more information on the Corporation’s restrictions on legislative lobbying and partisan political activities, including FAQs, please refer to this memo from our Office of General Counsel. If you have any additional questions, please forward them to your program officer.
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VIEWED ON: Wednesday, September 17, 2008 | |
URL: http://www.nationalservice.gov/about/newsroom/commcenter_detail.asp?tbl_pr_id=1110 |
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