Community Service Bursary (CSB) - Volunteer Organizations
What are the criteria to become a registered volunteer organization with the Community Service Bursary Program?
Volunteer organizations must meet the following criteria to be eligible for registration:
- Organizations should be able to provide volunteer work which offers students a chance to develop new career and leadership skills;
- All organizations must be set up or registered as a non profit
- The volunteer work does not displace paid employees in the organization;
- The volunteer work is not part of a student’s academic studies or related to school activities which take place during school hours. (The International Baccalaureate community service requirements do not qualify as volunteer work for this bursary); and
- The volunteer work is not for students who have joined the organization as a trainee or an associate.
What are the responsibilities of Volunteer Organizations?
- They must agree to supervise each student’s work;
- They must keep track of each student’s volunteer hours,
- They should encourage students to complete the online Student Registration Form before they begin volunteering;
- They must report each student’s volunteer hours to our office (students and parents cannot report their own volunteer hours).
Are there any limitations to be aware of?
- Organizations are responsible to inform students about the commitment, obligations, and responsibilities involved with volunteering for their organization. Student Financial Services shall not be held liable for any accident or situation that might occur while the student is volunteering for an organization.
- Member-only organizations are limited in what type of volunteer hours they can submit to the Community Service Bursary program. A member-only organization is an organization where the student volunteer is a member of the organization, such as Cadets, Churches, Youth Groups, Community Centres, etc. These organizations should not submit volunteer hours related to their core business operations. Instead, they should only submit volunteer hours for activities, events, or programs which occur outside of their core business operations. (For example, educational programs, coaching/mentoring, and charity work are examples of events which may occur outside of an organization’s core business operations.)
What kind of volunteer work is eligible for the Community Service Bursary?
Our program aims to provide students with an opportunity to develop new skills and make a meaningful contribution to a registered volunteer organization and its goals. Acceptable volunteer activities would include the following examples (but are not limited to):
- Coaching, tutoring, or mentoring children in sports, at a library, at a camp, at a church, or at an after-school program;
- Labour assistance (packing, stocking, organizing, serving, or moving items for a food program, for special events, or for festivals);
- Office assistance (filing, photocopying, typing, creating or editing social media);
- Presenting to groups (guided tours, or information desks);
- Providing information and answering questions at an information desk;
- Conservation (making trails, planting trees, beach clean-up, restore wildlife habitat, removing invasive species, carrying equipment, water collection);
- Holding a youth position on a board or sitting on a youth council.
What kind of volunteer work is not acceptable?
- Direct fund-raising activities (canvassing or selling merchandise);
- House cleaning/janitorial duties;
- Volunteering during school hours (for example, peer tutoring and library work must be done after school hours);
- The International Baccalaureate community service requirements do not qualify as volunteer work for this bursary;
- Volunteer hours completed for organizations that are for-profit;
- Volunteer hours which displace paid employees in the organization;
- Volunteer hours completed if you are a trainee or an associate of the organization;
- Volunteer hours completed during an organization’s core business operations when the student is a member of the organization;
- Volunteer hours for political organizations or elections;
- Volunteer hours completed for organizations not registered with the Community Service Bursary program.
How does an Organization register?
To register to become a volunteer organization with our program, please complete the Community Service Bursary Organization Registration Form.
Once completed, email the form to communityservicebursary@gov.pe.ca.
Approved organizations will be added to our List of Registered Volunteer Organizations on our web page.
Please note: If a registered volunteer organization does not report any volunteer hours within a 5 year period, the organization will be removed from our list of registered volunteer organizations. If they decide to use the Community Service Bursary program again, they can re-register at any time.
How should volunteer hours be reported?
Beginning February 17, 2022, all volunteer hours will be reported by email. (The previous online web form will no longer be available.)
All organizations should complete the volunteer hours record form and email it to communityservicebursary@gov.pe.ca. This form is available in either excel or PDF file formats.
Excel: Volunteer Hours Record
When a volunteer organization submits a student's volunteer hours to our office, the hours are recorded, and a confirmation email is sent to the volunteer organization and to the student. Students can track the number of volunteer hours recorded for the bursary through the confirmation email(s).
When should volunteer hours be submitted?
There are two options to submit volunteer hours.
Yearly: Organizations may submit volunteer hours on a yearly basis. This would include submitting hours at the end of the student’s grade 10, grade 11, and grade 12 school year.
One-Time: Organizations may submit the student’s total volunteer hours at the end of the student’s grade 12 school year.
Volunteer hours will only be accepted until July 31 in the year the student completes grade 12.