Prohibited Activities:

Per 45 CFR 2520.65, there are certain activities that AmeriCorps members and staff may not perform in the course of their duties while charging time to the AmeriCorps program, or at the request of sponsoring organization staff. Furthermore, members and staff may not engage in conduct in a manner that would associate the national service program or AmeriCorps with the prohibited activities, as follows:

(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:

(i) A business organized for profit,
(ii) A labor union,
(iii) A partisan political organization,
(iv) 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 shall be construed to prevent participants from engaging in advocacy activities undertaken at their own initiative; and
(v) An organization engaged in the religious activities described in paragraph (7) of this section, unless AmeriCorps assistance is not used to support those religious activities;

(9) Conducting a voter registration drive or using AmeriCorps funds to conduct a voter registration drive;

(10) Providing abortion services or referrals for receipt of such services; and

(11) Such other activities as AmeriCorps may prohibit.

In addition to the above activities, the below activities are also prohibited:

Census Activities. AmeriCorps members and volunteers associated with AmeriCorps grants may not engage in census activities during service hours. Being a census taker during service hours is categorically prohibited. Census-related activities (e.g., promotion of the Census, education about the importance of the Census) do not align with AmeriCorps State and National objectives. What members and volunteers do on their own time is up to them, consistent with program policies about outside employment and activities.

Election and Polling Activities. AmeriCorps members may not provide services for election or polling locations or in support of such activities.

Washington Service Corps Prohibited Activities:

(1) Participating in activities that pose a significant safety risk to participants;

(2)  Preparing any part of a grant proposal or performing other fundraising functions to help the program achieve its match requirements, or to pay the program’s general operating expenses;

(3) Fundraising, unless under the following circumstances: provides direct support to a specific service activity, falls within the program’s approved objectives, is not the primary activity of the program, and does not exceed 10% of the total hours served for any member;

(4) Organizing a letter writing campaign to Congress.

AmeriCorps members may not engage in the above activities directly or indirectly by recruiting, training, or managing others for the primary purpose of engaging in one of the activities listed above. 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-AmeriCorps funds. Individuals should not wear the AmeriCorps logo while engaging in any of the above activities on their personal time.