Earn the President’s Volunteer Service Award through Compass

PVSA Logo SquareCompass is an approved Certifying Organization (CO) for the President’s Volunteer Service Awards (PVSA). The PVSA is a prestigious national honor offered in recognition of volunteer commitment. Established in 2003, this award honors individuals and groups who have demonstrated a sustained commitment to volunteer service over the course of 12 months. Service hours can be accumulated through work on a variety of projects throughout the year.

The PVSA is awarded annually at the Bronze, Silver, and Gold levels. For many, earning one or more awards will be a noteworthy honor on future college or scholarship applications.

Because our volunteer year runs from September 1- August 31, if there are any Compass students or families who completed enough volunteer work during the 2016-2017 year  (9/1/16 – 8/31/17) and kept a log or calendar of their efforts,  hours may be entered by August 31 this year to get the 2016-17 award. If not, then please read program details below to plan for 2017-18.

Program Requirements

  1. Recognized volunteers must be US citizens or lawfully admitted permanent residents of the US
  2. Volunteers may perform any type of community service that they wish. However, the volunteer service must not be court-mandated.
  3. Volunteers must not receive any compensation or stipend for the community service hours.
  4. Monetary or in-kind donations to an organization do not have a volunteer hour equivalency and cannot be counted.
  5. Volunteers must register with PVSA in order to create an online account to track hours. Children under age 13 must provide a parent’s e-mail and obtain parental permission.
  6. Volunteers must designate Compass as their CO in their online account. Volunteers should enter the Record of Service (ROS) Key YJG-9797 in order to link their volunteer hours to Compass for certification.
  7. Volunteer hours must be completed in the 12 month award period. Unused hours may not be “rolled over” to the next award period. The exception is the Lifetime Achievement Award which is cumulative across multiple years.

Volunteer Hours

PVSA Hours Table

Compass Requirements

  1. Hours counted towards the PVSA do not need to be uniquely earned for this award. Hours contributed through, or as part of, work in Boy Scouts, Girl Scouts, church, HSA, or similar civic or community initiatives may be applied towards a PVSA recognition.
  2. Volunteer hours worked must be entered in the online tracking system by the volunteer in discrete entries noting date worked and beneficiary organization. As an example, instead of entering “12 hours for Boy Scout Troop 789”, enter the specifics like: 5 hours- Park clean-up on March 3; 4 hours- Food bank collection on April 4; 3 hours- Building habitats for the animal shelter on May 5
  3. Participation in marches, rallies, or protests shall not count as volunteer hours.
  4. Volunteers using Compass as their CO must be current Compass families: students, their siblings, or their parents. Current families are those who have at least one student registered in a class in the current calendar year. Compass is unable to certify for the at-large homeschool community.
  5. The Compass award year shall run from September 1 through August 31 each year. A small awards ceremony will be held in the early fall each year for the recipients of the prior year’s medals.
  6. Compass orders and pays for all official awards. Compass will furnish the medallion package (customized parchment certificate and medal on neck ribbon) for all students ages 18 and under and will furnish the pin package (customized parchment certificate and lapel pin) for all volunteers ages 19 and older.
  7. Compass will review all service hour entries and maintains the right to contact beneficiary organizations to verify volunteer work completed. Compass may reject any entries that are incorrectly documented or unsubstantiated.

For more information or questions on the PVSA, contact Compass.

PVSA Awards