Service Guidelines

Service hours can be completed anywhere in the world with an approved community organization.

• Nonprofit or Mutual Aid Organizations
• Typically, this means the organization is a 501(c)3 nonprofit organization.
• Schools or Educational Organizations
• Public schools, daycares, PTA
• Exceptions: Volunteering at a for-profit private school does not qualify as service.
• Public Health Organizations
• Hospitals, public health, or nonprofit health clinics
• Resident-focused activities in nursing homes, hospitals, and rehabilitation centers
• Exceptions: Volunteering at a private practice does not qualify as service
• Government or Public Sector Agency
• Federal, state, or local agencies, parks, libraries, etc.
• Exceptions: Partisan organizations or activities such as election campaigning for a candidate does not qualify as service.

Please Note: Service hours logged with a for-profit business or organization will not be verified even if those activities were unpaid.

Please Note: Most on-campus volunteer opportunities for UT departments, student organizations, or athletic teams do not qualify as service because they do not meet a community need beyond campus.

The following campus organizations have been approved by the Jones Center to qualify as community service:

• Programs through the Center for Basic Needs, including Big Orange Pantry, the Free Store, and Smokey’s Closet
• FOOD4VOLS
• FUTURE Program
• Office of Sustainability
• Precious Prints
• Students Promoting Environmental Awareness and Knowledge (SPEAK)
• UT Gardens

If you represent a department or organization that would like to submit an event or volunteer opportunity for consideration, please contact us at [email protected].

At UT, we rely on community agencies to identify community needs, as they work most closely with community members.

Examples that typically align with community needs include animal welfare, education, health, disaster relief, sustainability, etc. Activities that qualify for service hours include but are not limited to:

• Serving or packing food at a food pantry
• Working at an animal shelter or rescue organization
• Weeding plants or removing invasive species at a local park or nature preserve
• Assisting with after school care at a school or youth organization
• Coaching athletes with nonprofit sports organizations
• Creating marketing materials for a nonprofit organization
• Attending a service-learning trip (only hours spent serving qualify)
• Donating blood (maximum 1.0 hour)

Volunteer training required by an approved organization before your first volunteer shift

• Internal/UT Benefit
• If an activity only benefits a department, college, student organization, athletics team, campus office, or university event, it does not meet a community need beyond campus.
• Examples: Tabling for your club, volunteering at a baseball game, serving as an ambassador to a department, working at a career fair, proctoring exams, or directing parking on campus for an athletic event.
• For-Profit Organizations
• Work completed for a for-profit organization, even if the work is unpaid.
• Indirect Community Activities
• Student or campus organization letter or card writing events, while valuable, do not qualify as service as the activity is not directed by an approved community organization.
• Exception: An event setup by an approved community organization directly to write cards or letters can be tracked.
• Donations
• Donating money, goods, food, clothing, or supplies does not count as service.
• Exception: Volunteering at a qualifying organization where volunteers are asked to sort, organize, or distribute donated items does qualify as service.
• While donations do not qualify as service, they can be logged in ServeUTK by selecting the Money or Goods impact type.
• Fundraising and Philanthropy
  • Participating in or attending a fundraiser does not count as service.
  • While funds donated to organizations do not qualify as service, they can be logged in ServeUTK by selecting the Money impact type.
  • Examples: Service through soliciting donations, tabling to raise money, walking or running in a charity event, or attending planning meetings focused on fundraising or philanthropy.
  • Exception: Helping with event set up or operations as requested by an approved community organization that is hosting a fundraiser can be tracked.
• Event Participation
• Attending a workshop, lecture, rally, awareness raising event, race, or campus program does not count as service, even if the event supports a good cause.
• Examples: Participating in an event such as Relay for Life or VOLthon.
• Self-Directed Activities
• Independent acts of kindness or neighborhood improvement do not count unless they are done in partnership with an approved community organization.
• Examples: You and your roommates clean up your street, tutoring for free, helping elderly neighbors, babysitting for free for private individuals.
• Partisan Political Activities
• Partisan political activities do not qualify as service.
• Exception: Nonpartisan activities such as voter registration drives qualify for service hours.
• Required Academic Experiences
  • Required internships, clinicals, practicums, or field experience work that is required for a certification cannot be added to ServeUTK. This includes time spent shadowing and observing. These experiences are designed to benefit you as a student rather than for the exclusive benefit of the organization.
  • Note: Students who are volunteering with an approved organization to meet an academic service requirement can track those hours. However, if the purpose of the experience is exclusively to acquire skills or experience required to qualify for certification or field experience, it cannot be tracked in ServeUTK.
• Research
• Participating in a research project as a participant does not qualify as service. Serving as a researcher only qualifies as service if it meets a community need beyond UT campus and is done in partnership with a qualifying organization such as a 501(c)3 or government agency. If a research opportunity is only done for the benefit of UT, it does not qualify as service.

Before logging your hours in ServeUTK, be sure to confirm if the volunteer opportunity qualifies as Direct Service or Indirect Service, as the type will determine how many hours can be tracked.

• Direct Service – Working directly for or with people who benefit from your service
• Examples: Serving food at a food pantry, tutoring at a K-12 school, mentoring or coaching youth, helping at the animal shelter
• Cannot include time spent eating, sleeping, taking a break, etc.
• Indirect Service – Service without being directly involved with those being served
• Examples: Making dog toys for an animal shelter, sewing blankets for a nonprofit organization
• Important: Indirect service activities will only be verified for up to 2.0 hours per event in ServeUTK.

In ServeUTK, the term Impact is an umbrella term to describe all potential forms of community engagement. While all Impact types can be tracked in ServeUTK, only Time Impacts count toward service hours for scholarships, classes, campus organizations, or service medallions.

1. Time – Record hours served in a service project as a volunteer with approved community organizations. Only activities that meet the UT Service Guidelines can be logged as Time Impacts.
2. Money – Record monetary donations or amount raised (i.e., $10 donated to Habitat for Humanity).
3. Goods – Record in-kind and physical donations (e., school supplies donated to Boys and Girls Club). Time spent shopping for items to donate does not qualify as a Time Impact.
4. Research – Record the outcome of research.
5. Training – Record any training experiences.
6. Other – Use this impact type to record a community engagement activity not listed above. This impact type is also used to track any Civic Action Scorecard events.

• Now that you have reviewed the UT Service Guidelines, you’re ready to serve! Look for volunteer opportunities posted by nonprofit organizations on the ServeUTK calendar.
• Did you find a qualifying opportunity that isn’t listed on the ServeUTK calendar? Be sure to log your Impact using the “Add an Impact” function in ServeUTK.
• Visit the ServeUTK webpage for instructions about tracking your impact and sharing your hours in ServeUTK.