Rules and Regulations

1. Volunteering is defined as an unpaid service by a person who acts willingly. In order for the volunteering hours to count, you cannot receive tangible compensation for your efforts.
   1. Volunteer hours cannot be conducted with any religious or political affiliation.
   2. Volunteer hours cannot be court-ordered.
   3. Any time spent in preparation for other tangible rewards besides money, such as a competitive title or scholarship, does not count as volunteer service.
2. The volunteer year period shall be from October 1 to September 30 of the next calendar year.
3. A chapter is defined as a local sect of Student Corps, led by local officers, which conducts volunteer projects and activities at a local level, either through the school or outside of school.
4. You must fill out an application from the Student Corps website in order to start a new chapter.
   1. In order to start a chapter, you must have a President, Secretary, Treasurer, and Advisor.
   2. Registration fee for starting a chapter is $30.
   3. An annual fee of $10 is due to the headquarters at the beginning of each subsequent volunteer year. Again, this fee excludes the chapter’s first volunteer year.
   4. Other requirements to start a chapter can be found in the chapter application here.
5. New chapters may submit applications at any time, but the recommended submission period is between May 1st and September 20th of the same calendar year to process your chapter application in time before the new volunteering period. 
6. For each chapter’s members’ hours to count, they must be submitted to the chapter officers via hard copy. We have provided “hours forms,” available here. The President must verify and vouch for the signatures on those forms, while the Secretary must upload information from those forms to a spreadsheet unique to each chapter.
   1. If you claim more than 10 hours with a single form, then you need to specify exactly how they were spent.
      • E.g: instead of saying “Planning an event” to claim 20 hours, you must specify: “Met with a committee for 4 hours, made documents and forms for 6 hours, revised plans as a group for 3 hours, and attended the event for 7 hours.”
   2. The number of hours given per item collected or donated must be approved by the advisor.
      • The maximum number of hours given per item donated or collected is half an hour. Chapters may decide to lower the hours gained per item accordingly.
      • The justification for this rule follows thus: the mission of Student Corps is to promote active student participation within the community, and while drives, such as bottle drives or coat drives are a crucial part of aiding the community, the National Board has imposed this rule to prevent abuse of drives as a method for “easy hours.”
   3. Hours used towards Student Corps cannot be used for other organizations, including for fulfilling school requirements.
      • Similarly, Student Corps will not accept hours that have already been used for other organizations. It is the chapter President’s responsibility to verify that all hours reported are valid.
7. All hours must be verified by a certified organizer or supervisor, or the advisor if they are the only adult relevant. Hours submitted without signatures should not be acknowledged by the chapter.
   1. It is the chapter board’s responsibility to be strict with this rule. If there should ever arise a question concerning whether an hour “counts” for Student Corps, then the chapter should contact the National Board immediately, through our contact form here.
   2. For national Student Corps events, the advisor can sign in place of the event supervisor.
8. Each secretary of a chapter must post the members’ event reports via their chapter’s hours spreadsheet.
9. Each chapter must participate in at least one long-term AND one short-term National Student Corps Event per volunteer year.
   1. National events for each volunteer year will be published by the National Board at the beginning of September, to allow chapters to plan their year accordingly. You can find the 2018-2019 National Events here.
   2. For the event to count as a “National Event,” the chapter officers must offer the event as an available opportunity to the whole chapter.
      1. There are no restrictions on how many people must attend each national event, only that the long-term and short-term events are completed by the end of the volunteer year.
   3. Chapter advisors will verify that each chapter has participated in these events through the quarterly report.
10. The Presidential Volunteer Service Award will be presented to members who satisfy the requirements in their respective age groups. Student Corps will award certificates to members who did not satisfy the minimum hour requirements for the PVSA.
    1. Students may only receive one award per volunteer year.
    2. Awards will be given based on how many hours a member has submitted within one volunteer year, according to the following chart:
    3. The chapter board will notify the national board of which members are eligible for these awards in the fall quarterly report.
11. Chapters are able to decide their election methods for officers. Required officers for each volunteer year include the following:
    1. The President, a student, plans and leads frequent meetings and plans chapter activities. The President is responsible for making sure three national Student Corps events are fulfilled in each volunteer year. The President should also be aware of important deadlines, such as the quarterly report deadline and volunteer hour deadlines, and remind the chapter of these dates. The President is also responsible for checking that all hours have corresponding event organizer signatures, and the President’s role is at stake if the President is found to be dishonest.
    2. The Secretary, a student, is responsible for communication with the chapter. The secretary is responsible for making sure all forms and applications are filled out, including informing the National Board which students have achieved which awards by the end of the volunteer year. The secretary is also responsible for logging each member’s forms into their chapter spreadsheet.
    3. The Treasurer, a student, is a fiscal agent responsible for handling all monetary services of the chapter. The Treasurer must make sure that the headquarters receives the registration money and annual dues. Additionally, the Treasurer is responsible for forwarding fundraised money to the National Board.
    4. The Advisor, a responsible adult, plays the verification role on quarterly reports, making sure all hours and claims are honest. The advisor also acts as the moral compass, providing the chapter feedback on propriety and general advice. The advisor is preferably a teacher, though may be an out of school trustworthy adult if necessary.
       1. If the chapter is found to be fabricating or enabling the fabrication of hours or claims, then the chapter will be required to find a new advisor. Furthermore, those hours and claims will be dismissed.
    5. All other positions of office can be decided upon by the chapter and their roles can be designated as necessary. The National Board should be made aware of any additions made to the mandatory leadership structure, through either the chapter application or the quarterly report.
12. The quarterly report is a report that chapters must fill out four times a year, which will allow the National Board to be updated regarding chapter issues and requirements. Quarterly reports shall be due on March 31, June 30, September 30, and December 31, and the form can be found here. If chapters miss these deadlines, they will receive two reminders to fill these forms out via email, before their chapter may be up for discussion to be terminated.
13. In the event that any individual posts inappropriate or false information concerning Student Corps, whether it is for or against the organization, the person, or group of people, may be asked to leave the organization.
14. Anybody who intentionally violates Student Corps rules and regulations, with the knowledge that they are lying, cheating, and/or acting against the Student Corps mission, will have disciplinary action taken against them, especially concerning lying about service hours. People who are given disciplinary action and are disassociated with Student Corps are prohibited from using the Student Corps logo, name, insignia, or emblem.  
15. Failure to follow these rules may result in dissociation of members from the Student Corps brand, and harsher punishments, such as the termination of an entire chapter, may be enacted as necessary.

Last updated on December 31st, 2019 at 1:00 PM (EST).