List of Prohibited Activities

There are certain activities 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 program staff.  Furthermore, members and staff may not engage in any conduct in a manner that would associate the national service program or the Corporation of National & Community Service (CNCS) with the prohibited activities.  Programs must become familiar with the specific prohibitions described in the CNCS formal regulations and the grant provisions. 

The list of prohibited activities includes:

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 any—
   1. business organized for profit;
      
   2. labor union;
      
   3. partisan political organization;
      
   4. 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
      
   5. organization engaged in the religious activities, unless Corporation assistance is not used to support those religious activities;
      
9. Conducting a voter registration drive or using Corporation funds to conduct a voter registration drive;
   
10. Providing abortion services or referrals for receipt of such services; and
    
11. Assisting any organization that has violated a Federal criminal statute.
    
12. Performing any services or duties, or engaging in any activities, prohibited under the nonduplication, nondisplacement, or nonsupplantation requirements relating to employees and volunteers.
    
13. Such other activities as the Corporation may prohibit.
    
14. participating in activities that pose a significant safety risk to participants; and
    
15. fundraising including: for living allowance or other costs of the AmeriCorps program or an organization's operating expenses or endowment; writing grant applications for AmeriCorps funding or for any other funding provided by the Corporation for National & Community Service; or writing grant applications for funding provided by any other federal agencies.

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.

• Additionally, members may not consider such hours as direct service:
  1) Time spent sleeping during overnight retreats affiliated with their service site (or for personal recreation) or travel time to and from a service site.
  2) Service outside a program state or outside the U.S.A.