AmeriCorps and its grantees have invested significant resources in evaluating different agency programs and supported program models designed to improve a range of outcomes for national service members and volunteers, children, families, organizations, and communities across America. AmeriCorps has commissioned an independent expert, ICF International, to conduct ROI analyses to help measure program performance and build the base of evidence for future resource allocation decisions. Each ROI study helps AmeriCorps communicate the value of its programs to relevant stakeholders. The ROI Studies Project will produce 16 ROI assessments from FY20 to FY23.  

For insights from the first eight ROI assessments, AmeriCorps has developed the ROI Studies Fact Sheet. Click to view highlights of the first eight assessments.

View the Factsheet

The ROI studies listed below evaluated the cost and benefits of each of the following programs:

  • AmeriCorps Senior: Foster Grandparents/Senior Companion: This study estimates that the AmeriCorps Seniors Foster Grandparent Program (FGP) and Senior Companion Program (SCP) generate an ROI of $3.50 per funder dollar. FGP alone has an ROI of $2.75 per funder dollar, while SCP has an ROI of $5.08 per funder dollar.
  • Birth & Beyond Home Visitation Program: This study estimated the Home Visitation program’s ROI to be between $0.50 and $2.11 per funder dollar, depending on how long program participants and AmeriCorps members experience increased earnings as a result of the program.
  • College Possible’s College Access Program: This study estimates College Possible’s ROI to be between $1.50 and $6.41 per funder dollar, depending on how long program participants and AmeriCorps members experience increased earnings due to College Possible’s College Access program. The return on each dollar of federal.
  • Community Technology Empowerment Project (CTEP): This study estimates CTEP’s ROI to be between $2.95 and $34.26 per funder dollar, depending on how long program participants and AmeriCorps members experience increased earnings as a result of CTEP.
  • Habitat for Humanity: This study estimated HFH AmeriCorps’s ROI to be between $0.62 to $2.61 per funder dollar, depending on how long HFH AmeriCorps members experience increased earnings from their national service.
  • Minnesota Reading Corps - Kindergarten (MRC): This study estimates MRC Kindergarten’s ROI to be between $5.47 and $6.99 per funded dollar, depending on how long program participants and AmeriCorps members experience increased earnings as a result of MRC Kindergarten.
  • Washington Conservation Corps: This study estimated Washington Conservation Corps’ ROI to be between $0.20 and $33.90 per funder dollar, depending on how long WCC AmeriCorps members experience increased earnings as a result of program participation, as well as the range of estimated benefits from improved ecosystems.
  • YouthBuild AmeriCorps: This study estimates YouthBuild AmeriCorps’s ROI to be between -$0.40 and $9.58 per funder dollar, depending on how long YouthBuild AmeriCorps participants experience increased earnings from serving and participating in YouthBuild AmeriCorps.
  • Breakthrough Central Texas’s Austin Program: This study estimates the Breakthrough Central Texas’s Austin program’s ROI to be between $0.03 and $10.22 per funder dollar, depending on length of program participation and level of increased earnings after AmeriCorps service.
  • Nevada Conservation Corps: This study shows the program produces strong returns for the medium- and long-term scenarios when benefits to AmeriCorps members, program participants, and state/local governments are included.
  • SBP AmeriCorps: This study shows the program produces strong returns for the medium- and long-term scenarios when benefits to AmeriCorps members, program participants, and state/local governments are included.
  • Washington State Department of Veterans Affairs Vet Corps: This study estimates The Vet Corps program’s ROI at two-year institutions to be between $3.16 in return for every dollar invested and $17.52 for every dollar invested.

Full report

Further information

Implementing Organization
AmeriCorps Office of Research and Evaluation Commissioned Report
AmeriCorps Program(s)
AmeriCorps State and National
Social Innovation Fund
Study Type(s)
Cost-benefit or Cost Effectiveness Study
Other
Researcher/Evaluator
ICF International
Published Year
2021