LISC AMERICORPS FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS

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1 LISC AMERICORPS FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS This document is a companion piece to the LISC AmeriCorps Application for Participation. CNCS provisions and regulations, as well as LISC agreements and contracts, take precedence over the information contained below. Partner Selection Questions and Answers Is this a competitive application? Yes, it is a competitive application. It is anticipated that there will be more applications than slots. Applications will be evaluated by at least LISC staff and potentially LISC advisory board members. LISC will be looking to see: How closely it fits with the LISC office s priorities in the promotion of comprehensive community development priorities Building Sustainable Communities; If the anticipated goals and outcomes of the proposed project engaging the prospective member; The ability of the organization to have and meet the recruitment process and retain a Member for the full term; and, The ability of the host organization to meet the Corporation for National and Community Service (CNCS) requirements and expectations of the LISC AmeriCorps program, ranging from not allowing members to engage in unallowable and prohibited activities to timely payment of the match requirement. When will Member Awards be made? LISC Michigan Statewide anticipates making slot placement decisions no later than August 15, With the award letter, partners will also be provided with the program calendar including key dates for the program. When will the Member start service? All full-time and half-time Members are expected to begin service October 1, Quarter time members may begin service on this date. This will require enrollment paperwork to be to the national AmeriCorps department no later than September 15, What are the LISC priorities for awarding a Member? LISC Michigan Statewide s priorities for funding include: Member activities with the local LISC office s Sustainable Communities footprint; Member activities that take place in the LISC target area for investment; Demonstration of sustainability of Member activities, after the Member completes service; Creating and measuring tangible outputs and outcomes associated with the project; The primary priorities for Member activities include: Financial Opportunity Centers/ Centers for Working Families (or provide a service that a Center provides) to help clients with budgeting, credit counseling, VITA tax assistance, employment counseling/ training Serving at CDCs to develop affordable housing either new or rehab Providing clients with first time homebuying counseling services or assisting clients to avoid foreclosure Engaging residents to be volunteers in their community and assisting organizations increase their capacity in managing volunteers by implementing volunteer practices at the organization Other allowable activities will be considered on an individual basis and as our slot configuration allows. Page 1 Version: May 2014

2 Can host sites request more than one Member? Sites can request more than one LISC AmeriCorps slot, but there is no guarantee that the request can be accommodated. LISC staff will look at each proposal, member goal worksheet, and service description individually to make a determination. There are likely insufficient resources to support multiple members at all organizations. What kinds of slots are available for request? Pending a funding award from CNCS and approval of our request by our National office, LISC Michigan Statewide has 9 full-time 1700-hour, 2 half-time 900 hour, 4 quarter-time 450-hour, and 2 minimum-time 300- hour AmeriCorps positions available for award. This is the third year of a three year funding request. What is a Member slot? A slot is CNCS s way of determining the length of the service term for a member. LISC National applied for a variety of slots or member positions to meet local partner needs. Not all services require a full-time member and not all organizations can afford a full-time member. What do Member slots look like? LISC applied for four different types of slots 1700 hour, 900 hour, 450 hour, and 300 hour. Each slot type comes with different information. Full-time AmeriCorps Member: 10 months of service and at least 1,700 hours in the term Serves a ten month period beginning on October 1 and ending on July 31 Is required to complete a minimum of 1,700 hours within the term of service Earns an $15,000 stipend paid through LISC on the 15 th and the last day of the month Earns a $5,730 education award to either return to school or pay off an existing, qualified student loan if service is completed successfully Is eligible for health insurance and can apply for a child care benefit (income eligibility basis) Funding is available from the program for the member to attend the National Leadership Conference and all full-time members are expected to be present The match is budgeted at $14,000 per full-time member Half-time AmeriCorps Member: 10 months of service and at least 900 hours in the term Serves a ten month period beginning on October 1 and ending on July 31 Is required to complete a minimum of 900 hours within the term of service Earns an $8,000 stipend paid through LISC on the 15 th and the last day of the month Earns a $2,865 education award to either return to school or pay off an existing, qualified student loan if service is completed successfully Funding is available from the program for the member to attend the National Leadership Conference in October and all part-time members are expected to be present The match is budgeted at $7,000 per part-time member Quarter-time AmeriCorps Positions: Typically four months of service and at least 450 hours in the term May serve up to a ten month period (most serve four months) that can start as early as October 1 but must end by August 31. We request a start date no later than June 1 so a Member can end by August 31 Is required to complete a minimum of 450 hours within the service term Can earn a stipend up to $6,635. The stipend is payable through the hosting non-profit organization Earns a $1, education award to either return to school or pay off an existing, qualified student loan if service is completed successfully Works well when partnering it with an existing internship program Page 2

3 Summer Only AmeriCorps Positions: Typically three to four months of service ONLY over the summer and at least 300 hours in the term Serves up to a five month period (most serve a three month period) that can start as early as May 1 but must end by August 31 Is required to complete a minimum of 300 hours within the service term Can earn a stipend up to $4,420. The stipend is payable through the hosting non-profit organization Earns a $1, education award to either return to school or pay off an existing, qualified student loan if service is completed successfully Works well when partnering it with a summer internship program Can my organization receive AmeriCorps support from multiple AmeriCorps programs? It is not encouraged that organizations do this. If your organization plans on requesting members from multiple programs, you will need to inform the local LISC program staff and possibly your local State Commission. What else is required of my organization in order to be eligible to receive a Member? All Members must have one point of contact (site supervisor) assigned to them within the organization. That Supervisor may be a higher level manager within the organization, depending on the size of the organization. It is expected that the Supervisor will participate in one LISC funded Supervisor meeting prior to October 1, 2015 and then required to participate in a meeting at the onset of service with his/her member for one-half day. This person is the organizational point person for all questions by LISC staff. Multiple supervisors to whom the Member must answer directly within the organization is not an optimal model. Who should I call if I have any questions? For all LISC AmeriCorps program-related or application questions, call or Sonja Dean, or sdean@lisc.org. Page 3

4 Member Benefits Questions and Answers How many hours must Members serve? Full-time Members must serve at least 1700 hours and Half-time Members must serve at least 900 hours during the ten month service term (October 1, 2015 July 31, 2016). Quarter-time Members can be used for a flexible period of time during the service term, but must serve at least 450 hours. Minimum-time Members must serve at least 300 hours and can be utilized only during the summer (May 1, 2016 August 31, 2016). Does the Member get a stipend and how it is disbursed? LISC pays a living stipend directly to full-time and half-time members. Full-time Members receive a cost of living stipend from LISC of $15,000 for their service activities. The stipend is paid out by the National LISC office in semi-monthly installments on the 15 th and the last day of the month over the course of the 10 month service term. Half-time Members receive a cost of living stipend from LISC of $8,000 for their service activities, and have the same pay out schedule as full-time Members. Quarter-time and Minimum-time Members do not receive a stipend from LISC. However, we highly encourage groups to pay any quarter-time or minimum-time member a stipend in the range of $3,600 - $4,500 for a 450 hour member and $2,400 - $3,000 for a 300 hour member. Partners may not exceed a stipend of $6,635 for Quarter-time Members and up to $4,420 for Minimum-time. In addition, partners may not pay members an hourly wage based on actual hours served. The funds must be paid in equal installments regardless of if a member serves more hours or less hours during that stipend (payment) period. Do Members receive any benefits, and if so, what are they? Full-time Members are eligible for Health Insurance (if not already covered) and Childcare Assistance (if they have dependants under the age of 13 and their family is income qualified under State standards). Half-time, Quarter-time and Minimum-time Members do not receive these benefits. Host sites may provide these benefits at their discretion, but the total value (stipend plus value of additional benefits) cannot exceed $13,265 for a part-time (900 hour) Member, $6,635 for a quarter-time (450 hour) Member and $4,420 for a summer (300 hour) member. Are Members required to attend a national leadership conference? All Full and Half-time Members are expected to attend the LISC leadership conference and the costs are covered by LISC AmeriCorps. If partner sites cover the cost travel and lodging costs, Quarter-time members may attend. Minimum-time members are not enrolled at the time of the conference. Does the Member receive an Educational Award? Yes, all Members are eligible for an Educational Award at the successful completion of their term of service. Full-time Members receive an Educational Award of $5,730; Half-time Members receive $2,865; Quarter-time Members receive $1,515.55; and Minimum-time Members receive $1, The educational award can be used for eligible higher education expenses and/or qualifying student loans. Can Members collect other Federal benefits, like SNAP, during their service term? The member s stipend is not considered in the determination of most Federal benefits. LISC has a letter we can provide to members to document their service to assist with the process of receiving benefits. Not all federal benefits are eligible. Indeed, members should not attempt to collect unemployment benefits during their service term as they will likely be asked to repay these benefits. Page 4

5 Member Recruitment Questions and Answers When do Members have to start and end their term of service? All full-time and half-time Members must begin their term of service on October 1, Quarter-time and minimum time Members must start on the 1 st or 16 th of the month. What if my Member cannot begin until later? Late starts will impact the length of a Member s term of service. Therefore, LISC is requiring a strict adherence to the start day policy. If there are recruitment challenges, please contact the LISC office. As this is the third year of the three year cycle, national has set the last date to enroll a full-time or half-time member as November 1, How is recruitment done? When should recruitment start? The host organization is responsible for recruitment and direct supervision of the member. LISC staff will be actively engaged in assisting you if needed. Recruitment should begin upon receipt of award notification. Who and how should I recruit? In our experience, neighborhood residents familiar with an organization s mission and target area are the most fruitful sources of AmeriCorps candidates. Recent college graduates are also a good source of talent. We recommend contacting your local colleges, universities and trade school, as well as recruiting grass-roots leaders from within your own neighborhoods. Quarter-time and Minimum-time LISC AmeriCorps positions can be paired with educational credit opportunities for internships and also work study programs through the local colleges and universities (if such relationships already exist). Does LISC have a recruitment policy? A primary goal of the LISC AmeriCorps Program is to give a range of individuals, especially people of color and people of low-income backgrounds, the opportunity to learn and develop skills in the field of affordable housing and community development. Through the program, we hope to recruit people from the host organizations neighborhoods, introduce them to the field of community development, and foster their professional and long-term commitment to the sector. In an effort to achieve this goal, we have established a recruitment policy to be implemented by participating host organizations. Organizations that are able to substantiate that they have met the following guidelines will be given priority in the selection process: 1. Evidence that sufficient community outreach strategies will be implemented, including: Posting the service description and flyer at CDC owned/managed properties, local vocational schools, community colleges, local housing authority, welfare department, and unemployment office; Speaking at community meetings, organizations, and associations about the AmeriCorps position; 2. Ability to meet the recruitment timeline and select the top two candidates for a joint interview with LISC; 3. Ability to track and report on the number of applicants for the position(s) and the number of interviews (phone or in-person) conducted; and 4. Using the correct Service Description template and not asking members to perform prohibited or unallowable activities. Page 5

6 Are there Member eligibility requirements? Minimum member eligibility requirements include: Participants must be 17 years or older. Participants must have a high school degree, a GED, or must agree to achieve their GED within the term of service. Participants must be U.S. citizens or permanent residents. Proper documentation will be required. Please note that this documentation is DIFFERENT from the documents individuals need to work in the United States (i.e. not the same as documents required by the I-9). Participants must be able to produce a Social Security Card at the onset of service Participants should have an interest in and ability to work with diverse groups of people, including lowincome people living in distressed communities. If the applicant has held a job i.e. been employed at the desired host organization, there must be a 12 month break between his/her employment and the AmeriCorps term of service. o The exception to this is if accepting the AmeriCorps position creates a benefit for the individual. For example, if the person was making $7 an hour as a part-time employee and accepts a position as a full-time member, this is a benefit to the person and acceptable by CNCS standard. However, if a person was to be laid off due to lack of funding, that person could not become the AmeriCorps member nor could the position be filled by an AmeriCorps member (see information related to staff displacement). Participants must consent to complete a national sex offender registry check and a state criminal record offender inquiry. Some individuals may also be subject to an FBI check based on the population s/he would be serving. All checks must be initiated prior to beginning the term of service beginning (at least one day prior) and received within 30 days of the member s start date for service. Are there any Member term limits? An AmeriCorps member may serve up to four terms of service and earn the value of two full time education awards. If an applicant has already earned the value of two full-time education awards, s/he may not serve as a member with the LISC AmeriCorps program. The candidate I want to select to serve has earned the value of two full-time education awards but still could serve another term. May I have an exception to the LISC policy? No. If a candidate has already earned two full-time member education awards, then the person is not eligible to serve with our program. The candidate I want to select to serve resigned from service with another LISC AmeriCorps program? Can that person serve with my organization? No. If a candidate has resigned from a LISC AmeriCorps position, s/he is not eligible to serve with our program another term. Is a potential Member eligible to serve if s/he has findings on his/her criminal record offender search? All potential candidates for LISC AmeriCorps positions are asked to disclose whether they have committed a criminal offense and consent to a background search in the LISC AmeriCorps application. If a person knowingly makes a false statement to this effect, CNCS requires the program to dismiss the member from service. However, depending on the infraction, it is possible for a person to serve, even if they have a finding on their background search and they have made a good faith effort to disclose the information in their Page 6

7 application, with some notable exceptions. Individuals convicted of first degree murder and individuals listed on the National Sex Offender Public Website are prohibited from enrollment in ALL National service programs. If a partner site has their own criminal record or background search protocols, then the candidate will be subject to the LISC policy and the organization s policy. For example, the candidate is not a sex offender or convicted of first degree murder however he does have a conviction for check fraud. The candidate would be eligible under the LISC AmeriCorps guidelines. However, the site has a policy that they preclude staff/ volunteers with a fraud conviction from being with the organization. The candidate is not eligible to serve. Note: sites may not preclude a potential member from serving for an infraction if the site does not already have a criminal record/ background check policy. Using the same example, the site has no policy on file for precluding staff or volunteers from working with the organization based on results returned from a history check. However, when the LISC AmeriCorps history check was returned, it revealed an infraction. The site can not use this information to preclude the member from service. If there are questions or concerns regarding whether an individual is eligible to serve, based on a finding in their background search, please call LISC staff directly to discuss the issue before making an offer and submitting their paperwork for approval and enrollment in the LISC AmeriCorps program. Does a potential Member require an FBI check? No, unless the service requires a Member to serve a vulnerable population youth under age 17, elderly over age 62, and individuals with certain disabilities. At the time the service description is developed by the host site and subsequently vetted by the Program Director, it will be conveyed if an FBI level search will be required. Page 7

8 Host Site Responsibilities Questions and Answers What are the host site s general responsibilities? Using LISC guidelines, selected host organizations are expected to develop a work plan with clear goals and objectives for their AmeriCorps member(s) and a plan for ensuring effective supervision. Host sites will be responsible for providing an orientation within the first week of service and regular in-house training to the AmeriCorps member(s), identifying a direct supervisor to provide day-to-day supervision of the member(s) with weekly scheduled meetings to check progress, providing the member(s) with guidance and mentoring, and participating in regular status reports to the LISC program supervisor. What role does the day-to-day supervisor play? Site supervisors are expected to help with the member s day-to-day work and professional development. Responsibilities may include but are not limited to: Schedule Meetings/Check-ins: These can be as informal as a lunch/coffee meeting, but they should occur weekly. Goal Attainment: Work with member to achieve the measurable outcomes based upon the member service description and goals submitted with the application. Tasks and assignments throughout the year should be reflective of these goals. Review and Approve Monthly Reports and Timesheets: Review monthly reports with member and ensure that reports and timesheets are submitted to the LISC program manager on a timely basis. Attend LISC Orientation & Supervisor Meetings: Site supervisors are expected to attend a local orientation and supervisor meetings with LISC to discuss issues/successes of the program. Encourage Job Shadow: This is a great way to expose members to various roles within the community development field. Invite to Special Events: Member may benefit from the networking and informational opportunities if the supervisor invites him/her to a meeting, fundraising dinner or gala event. Provide Internal and/or External Training: While LISC does not require each host organization to provide a set number of trainings to their members, we strongly encourage each host site to make training opportunities available. Trainings should provide the member with relevant skills to help them perform their service more effectively or skills that will help them develop professionally. Provide Referrals: As members near the end of service, the host site can pass along information about new job openings, training opportunities, job fairs and assist in arranging informational interviews. Perform Mid-Year and Final Appraisal: Supervisors will be required to complete a mid-year and final appraisal for all full-time and part-time members. Supervisors for quarter-time and minimum-time members will be required to complete a final appraisal for their member. Attend AmeriCorps Graduation Ceremony: At the end of the program year, LISC will hold a graduation ceremony recognizing all AmeriCorps members. Supervisors will be asked to speak about their member(s) accomplishments. Page 8

9 Can a host site pay a full-time or a half-time Member a little more directly? Host sites cannot augment the Member s stipend while the member is serving his/her term. If a site does augment the stipend, the member s service term will be terminated immediately and the site will no longer be eligible for future LISC AmeriCorps member placements. Do host sites put Members on our payroll and incur payroll taxes and other potential liabilities? Any quarter-time and minimum-time member stipends must be disbursed by the host organization. The host site incurs any of these associated costs with the exception of workers compensation. Host sites have placed these member positions as contract employees and interns, to help mitigate the organization s exposure and liability, but each organization can decide how they would like to approach this issue. Do host sites pay for workers compensation coverage? No. All member slot types are covered as part of the national LISC contract with CNCS for workers compensation. Do host sites pay for unemployment benefits? No. Page 9

10 Member Activities Questions and Answers Can members be requested to perform activities that are not listed on the Measureable Member Goals sheet? No. All member activities must fit within the framework of goals and must measure the outputs and outcomes that are listed therein. What if a host site would like to measure different outputs and/or outcomes? Is that acceptable? Yes and No. The metrics indicated on the Member Goal Worksheets are metrics the national LISC applied to the funder, CNCS, to achieve. All host sites will be expected to conform within these broad categories of measurements. LISC will provide training on how multiple metrics can be measured using this output/ outcome language. However, if your organization wishes to measure additional metrics, we can work with you to have the member compile those elements in their monthly reports but we cannot program the system to capture an organization s unique data within the output and outcome framework. What if a host site would like to measure additional outputs and/or outcomes? Is that acceptable? Yes. A host site and/or the local LISC office may require that additional outputs and outcomes are measured IN ADDITION TO the national outputs and outcomes that are measured. The additional measurements cannot be used in place of the national outputs and outcomes. Are there any activities that Members cannot perform? Yes. There are eleven prohibited activities that members are not allowed to engage in. As CNCS guidelines state: While charging time to the AmeriCorps Program, accumulating service or training hours, or otherwise performing activities supported by the Program or the Corporation for National and Community Service (the Corporation ), staff and members may not engage either directly or indirectly in (by recruiting, training, or managing others for the primary purposes of engaging in) the following activities: 1. Attempting to influence legislation; 2. Organizing or engaging in protests, petitions, boycotts, or strikes; 3. Assisting, promoting, or deterring union organizing; 4. Impairing existing contracts for services or collective bargaining agreements; 5. Engaging in partisan political activities, or other activities designed to influence the outcome of an election to any public office; 6. Participating in, or endorsing, events or activities that are likely to include advocacy for or against political parties, political platforms, political candidates, proposed legislation, or elected officials; 7. Engaging in religious instruction, conducting worship services, providing instruction as part of a program that includes mandatory religious instruction or worship, constructing or operating facilities devoted to religious instruction or worship, maintaining facilities primarily or inherently devoted to religious instruction or worship, or engaging in any form of religious proselytization; 8. Providing a direct benefit to: a. A business organized for profit; b. A labor union; c. A partisan political organization; d. A nonprofit organization that fails to comply with the restrictions contained in section 501(c)(3) of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 except that nothing in this section Page 10

11 shall be construed to prevent participants from engaging in advocacy activities undertaken at their own initiative; and e. An organization engaged in the religious activities described in paragraph (7) of this Section, unless Corporation assistance is not used to support those religious activities; 9. Conducting a voter registration drive or using Corporation funds to conduct a voter registration drive; 10. Providing abortion services or referrals for receipt of such services; and 11. Such other activities as the Corporation may prohibit. Individuals may exercise their rights as private citizens and may participate in the activities listed above on their initiative, on non-americorps time, and using non-corporation funds. Individuals should not wear the AmeriCorps logo while doing so. Are there any other activities that Members cannot perform? A member s service activities CANNOT be basic office clerical/ receptionist/ administrative assistant work, only research, or only fundraising. So, a Member can help our organization fundraise? No. A member may only fundraise for his/her own project. That is, if - and only if - the fundraising is exclusively and directly related to the Member s service project. In addition, the time spent fundraising must account for less than 10% of the Member s overall time at the organization. We recently had to lay off some staff and are hoping that the AmeriCorps Member could take on some of those responsibilities. That s O.K. right? No. This is considered by CNCS to be staff displacement and is illegal under Federal guidelines. Members are not intended to be utilized in this fashion. What constitutes staff displacement? Members can not be used to (1) fill currently vacant staff positions; (2) fill positions that have been vacant less than two years; (3) provide services a current volunteer performs; or, (4) provide services that a paid member of the community would perform (i.e. preparing for open houses is an activity that a real estate agent provides and therefore a member cannot be used to perform this service). In addition, Members may not be used to fill in for other staff persons that are on parental/maternity leave. This is considered to be staff displacement by CNCS. All of this is considered to be staff displacement by CNCS. It is expected that partner organizations will adhere to the spirit of this compliance element. Both National and local LISC staff will be ensuring that the member position proposed has not been a funded staff position for at least two full years prior to granting an AmeriCorps member to perform that activity. How will LISC find out if the Member is displacing staff? We respectfully request that your organization to work with us and respect the Federal guidelines. As part of our detection strategy, National LISC will be reviewing all service descriptions for proposed member activities to ensure compliance with this as well as prohibited activities. National LISC will make the final determination if the proposed position is considered staff displacement or includes prohibited activities. However, we will always work with the host site to determine ways that the position could overcome these potential roadblocks. Page 11

12 However, if it determined that the member is performing staff work despite our request, the member s service term will be terminated immediately and the site will not be eligible for future LISC AmeriCorps member placements. Do Members have responsibilities with LISC also? Yes. ALL members are expected to attend ALL LISC-sponsored training and monthly meetings. These are requirements of the program and ALL host organizations are asked to assist with us meeting this goal. Hosts sites can anticipate that their Member will be participating in the following LISC AmeriCorps activities: One and one half days in for a Local Orientation at the onset of service One week in March 2016 for the AmeriCorps Leadership Conference Two days for service projects Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Day of Service and a day during National AmeriCorps Week; One half day to one full day per month for a monthly meeting (two monthly meetings will be held on the two days of service required to limit the time out of the office); A minimum of six webinars (lasting no longer than two hours each); and A minimum of five affinity group conference call meetings (lasting no longer than two hours) What if the Member I select does not want to attend the Leadership Conference or other LISC AmeriCorps events? Non-attendance is a violation of the Member Agreement of Participation. During the recruitment process, site supervisors should take attendance at the conference, monthly meetings, service projects, etc. into consideration. Members who will knowingly have a conflict with attending these programmatic requirements should not be considered for service. What if there is a conflict with an event/ meeting that the organization is holding? While we recognize that the organization needs the member to be present, it is expected that for the limited number of activities that will be taking place for the AmeriCorps program that every effort will be made to encourage the member to attend. Page 12

13 Host Site Matching Requirements Questions and Answers Is there a match requirement from the host organization? Yes. On-time payment of the Member match is an expectation of all host organizations. What is the match used for? The match covers a portion of the health insurance costs, stipend, criminal background check costs, workers compensation, FICA, training, and program related expenses (e.g. on-line reporting/ timekeeping). Most of the match is used to pay the members stipends. The living stipend for a full-time and part-time member is $15,000 and $8,000 respectively. Since Members who successfully complete the program also receive the education award at the end of service, a full-time member would effectively earn $20,645 and a part-time member would effectively earn $10,822 for 10 months of service. How much money is the match requirement? Placement partners have a matching obligation of $14,000 per full-time (1700 hour) member and $7,000 per part-time (900 hour) member. The local LISC office and the national LISC office also contribute to the match in the aggregate of approximately $17,000 per full-time (1700 hour) and $9,000 per part-time (900 hour) member. Roughly translated this is a cost of $31,000 per full-time member and $16,000 per part-time member for all direct and indirect costs to operate the program. Will the local LISC office pay the match? The payment of the match is the sole responsibility of the placement partner. The local LISC office may consider providing additional support to the partner s match amount to support the AmeriCorps member placement. The level of support, if any, is at the discretion of the local LISC office and will be done through a separate grant. Can my organization use other Federal funds to pay the match? Partner sites may not use other federal funds to meet the match without providing written authorization from that funding agency. This will be a data collection point in application process to ensure CNCS compliance for the upcoming year. Does my organization have to pay the full match upfront? While that is an option, it is preferred that payments be made on the quarterly schedule. If not, the partner will be billed in three installments for the match on a pre-payment basis. Confirmation of the billing process and payment due dates will be conveyed at the time of the official award of a position. The program will not bill sites monthly for match payments. What if my member resigns from service and the match has already been paid? If a member resigns from service prior to the end of his/her term, any funds due the partner post the member s official end date with the program will be refunded. This is dependent on the site and member providing the local and national office with exit documentation to begin the refund process. Page 13