PAGE UPDATED 8/31/23
The Commissioners’ Award program recognizes the hard work of students who volunteer 40+ hours during the school year.
Many Commissioners’ Award and Mayor’s Award recipients are also eligible to receive the President’s Award at no extra cost. Use the application link below to apply for multiple awards.
DEADLINE TO SUBMIT ALL AWARD INFORMATION IS JULY 8.
You will need the following information to complete the application.
Other important things to keep in mind:
Register by clicking on “Apply Now” below.
VERY IMPORTANT!
Be sure to always keep a copy of all your volunteer timesheet hours! If these are lost in the mail or are not received in email, you will need a copy to verify your hours. TNVLC does not retain volunteer time sheets from year-to year. If you need these for other purposes you will need to keep a copy for your own records.
Payment
Financial Assistance
Essay Contest
As you are finishing up with volunteering, consider entering the Commissioners’ Award essay contest. The theme is the benefits of volunteering, and/or why it is important to be active in your community. The essay should be 3-5 pages double spaced, with a font no larger than 12 point. Give your essay an original title. Use your summer experience, other volunteering, and your own ideas to talk about the importance of volunteering. The winning essay will be read at the Award Ceremony in the fall. The deadline for the essay is September 6, so you may turn it in with your application, or you may turn it in early. If you choose to e-mail your essay, send it to youth@thevolunteercenter.org.
The Commissioners’ Award program recognizes the hard work of students who volunteer 40+ hours during the school year. If you earn enough hours, you will automatically receive the President’s Award at no extra cost. (You must submit a separate time sheet for the Presidential Award. Timesheets for all youth programs are in the Application packet below.) There is a $45 processing fee for the Commissioners’ Award.
Students who are 12 (or turn 12 by June 1) to 18 years of age. Please note that some nonprofits have age minimums and may require an adult to be present if this minimum is not met. Generally there are fewer opportunities for students under age 14.
Our online volunteer matching database, HandsOnTriangle.org has hundreds of volunteer opportunities. You can also search “Mayor’s Award” on HandsOnTriangle.org to search for those that have been specifically identified (though any opportunity listed is eligible). Students can also contact nonprofits and select opportunities that may not be listed in HandsON. There are thousands of nonprofits throughout the Triangle providing students with plenty of ways to find an opportunity to volunteer.
You can serve at several different organizations, as long as your hours add up to the required minimum. You must maintain a timesheet and your supervisor will need to approve your hours and complete an evaluation form. Those documents are included in the Service Packet above.
We encourage students to take leadership in locating a volunteer opportunity. If you have contacted several agencies and they are unable to find a placement for you, consider creating an opportunity with another agency. It is common to have to contact numerous groups before finding a match. If you have contacted more than 5 agencies and cannot find a match, e-mail the names of the agencies that you have contacted, your name and age, city, and volunteer interests to adrienne@thevolunteercenter.org and we will assist you in locating an opportunity.
Hours from any certified nonprofit will be recognized.
Click Here to see if an organization is registered with us.
If the nonprofit is not registered with us, please use this database to check if it is a certified 501c3 Nonprofit.
Your hours must be completed by the start of the first day of school. This varies between schools.