1. What are the award criteria?
Any individual, family or group that meets the program’s criteria can receive Presidential recognition for volunteer hours served over a 12-month period or over the course of a lifetime. Criteria for recognition are:
- Recipients must be United States citizens or lawfully admitted permanent residents of the United States.
- Awards are issued for service hours served within a 12-month time period or over the course of a lifetime.
- Awards are issued for volunteer service only. Additional levels of participation with the organization, i.e. charitable support, are not a factor considered for the award.
- Court-ordered community service does not qualify for the award.
- Awards are issued by approved Certifying Organizations. The Center for Community Engagement is an approved Certifying Organization.
- Service must be with an organization that is legally established in the United States, the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico or one of the territories.
- The Center for Community Engagement can verify volunteer hours for any twelve-month period. Award packages are only purchased twice a year.
- The CCE recognizes UT Austin students during their annual Tower Awards ceremony which takes place in May each year.
2. How many hours do I need to qualify for each award category?
*Families and Group: Two or more people, with each member contributing at least 25 hours toward the total.
3. How does CCE verify my hours?
- You will have 12 months from the date of your first entry to complete your hours (If your first hour log starts April 1st, you have until March 31st of the next year to submit hours for your Award).
- Starting Spring 2023, CCE will be ordering awards once a semester. The deadline to submit volunteer hours for Spring is March 31st and awards will be ordered April 5th. The Fall deadline is September 30th and awards will be ordered October 5th.
- Note: these are CCE-specific deadlines! The PVSA program accepts submission year-round. Due to the volume of submissions we receive throughout the year, we have created these deadlines to help keep processing time smooth and manageable for our team. As long as your submission is received by the 9/30 or 3/31 deadline your award will be certified and ordered as long as it meets the requirements.
To track volunteer hours, CCE utilizes the GivePulse platform to submit timesheets and verify hours. Learn more about this process below:
PVSA Hour Verification Process
PVSA Hours Verification – Alternative (if you are unable to find the organization name):
- Click on the blue “Can’t find it?” button
- Click on “Add Timesheet”
- Fill in all the relevant information
- Scroll all the way down: make sure to share that information with The University of Texas at Austin
- Click the green “Add Timesheet” button
- It should then take you to another page that lists all the information you input
- At the top of the page you will see “pending verification”
- Once the hours are verified, it will turn to a green checkmark that says “verified”.
- Once it is verified, email us at utcce@austin.utexas.edu so that we can place the award.
4. Do I have to be a UT student to apply?
- No, anyone can apply for the PVSA. UT students have their service hours certified by the CCE.
- If you are not a UT student, hours can be certified by us if your service was done locally (within Travis county.)
- If you are not a UT student and hours were not done locally, you will need to find a local organization that can certify your hours.
5. Can I receive an award every year?
- Yes, an individual may receive an award for any 12-month period, but must follow all the requirements as described above including submission of documentation. 12-month periods may not overlap any dates from previous submissions.
- You may also consider receiving the Lifetime award which requires 4,000 hours to be contributed towards the award.
6. How does my student group apply for the PVSA group award?
- The student group president/leader may also apply by going through the same process outlined above on GivePulse.
- Instead of creating individual member accounts, create an organization GivePulse account to input timesheets and receive verification.
- Group members should only submit an individual form if they would like to be recognized for individual efforts including hours they contributed to their student group.
- Contact the CCE if you have any other questions at utcce@austin.utexas.edu
7. May I apply service hours that I completed as part of an AmeriCorps program or received a stipend?
- Volunteer hours must be non-paid hours.* (If volunteer is being paid a stipend hours served are not eligible.)
- *AmeriCorps participants are allowed to apply the hours served during their stipend year towards the lifetime achievement award following your active year.