The Corporation for National and Community Service is offering the 2013 RSVP Competition Grant to increase national service impact through senior volunteer programs.

A. Purpose of RSVP Re-competition Funding
Established in 1971 and now one of the largest senior volunteer programs in the nation, RSVP offers a diverse range of volunteer activities that serve communities to create measurable impact, benefit volunteers through the service experience, and create community capacity. RSVP volunteers serve with commitments ranging from a few hours to 40 hours per week. Click here for RSVP Program Regulations.
Through this competition the Corporation for National and Community Service seeks to increase the impact of national service in 264 specific communities across the country. CNCS intends to fund RSVP grants that support volunteers 55 years and older serving in a diverse range of activities that meet specific community needs and that respond to National Performance Measures. Applicants must propose to serve the entire geographic service area associated with the funding opportunity for which they are applying listed in Appendix A.
Available funding opportunities are listed in Appendix A. Detailed summaries of the activities of each of the 264 available funding opportunities are available on the Senior Corps website at: http://www.seniorcorps.gov/for_organizations/funding/index.asp
RSVP grant applications must:
• Serve all the counties in the geographic service area associated with the funding opportunities listed in Part 1 or Part 2 of Appendix A;
• Support at least 80% of the number of volunteers listed in Part 1 or Part 2 of Appendix A;
• Meet the National Performance Measure requirements and other criteria established in this Notice; and
• Minimize, to the extent possible, disruptions to the current volunteers associated with any incumbent project. Please see Appendix C for more information on how new and incumbent applicants must describe how they plan to minimize the disruption of volunteers if they propose graduating* volunteer stations that are included in an incumbent project.

B. 2013 RSVP Re-competition Funding Priorities
In alignment with the SAA and the CNCS Strategic Plan, this Notice will focus grant making for fiscal year 2013 in the following six Focus Areas:
• Education
• Healthy Futures
• Veterans and Military Families
• Environmental Stewardship
• Economic Opportunity
• Disaster Services

This Notice especially seeks to prioritize:
1. Programs that have a well-articulated plan to strengthen communities through service in a Primary Focus Area selected from one of the six Focus Areas.
2. Alignment of the following programming elements in the Primary Focus Area:
• Persuasive evidence of community need(s).
• Highly effective management of RSVP volunteers and volunteer stations.
• Service activities that lead to National Performance Measure outputs or outcomes.
3. Investments that lead to outcomes that can be measured by National Performance Measures.
4. Investments that serve veterans and military families or engage veterans and military family members as national service participants.

These priorities are reflected in the application selection criteria described in the Notice. Applications that reflect these priorities are not guaranteed funding.

In alignment with the Serve America Act (SAA) and the CNCS Strategic Plan, this Senior Corps RSVP Draft Notice will focus grant making for fiscal year 2013 in the six Focus Areas identified by SAA:
• Education
• Healthy Futures
• Veterans and Military Families
• Environmental Stewardship
• Economic Opportunity
• Disaster Services

In order to carry out the intent of Congress and to maximize the impact of the investment in national service, CNCS seeks to fund programs that can demonstrate community impact and solve community problems through National Performance Measures in the Focus Areas listed above. Please see the full text of this Draft Notice for additional funding priorities.

In this competition CNCS intends to fund RSVP projects that support volunteers 55 years and older serving in a diverse range of activities that meet specific local and community needs and respond to National Performance Measures.

RSVP projects awarded under this Draft Notice must:
• Serve all the counties in the geographic service area associated with the funding opportunity listed in Appendix A Part 1 or Part 2 of the Notice;
• Support at least 80% of the number of volunteers listed in Appendix A of the Notice;
• Minimize, to the extent possible, disruptions to the current volunteers associated with any incumbent project. Please see Appendix C of the Notice for more information; and
• Meet the National Performance Measure requirements and other criteria established in this Draft Notice.