Track Your Impact

Track Service Hours in ServeUTK

In ServeUTK, you can track service hours (“Impacts”) after service opportunities and share them courses, programs, and campus organizations. “Impact” is used as an umbrella term to describe all potential forms of community engagement. An impact can be described as funds donated, funds raised, goods donated, hours trained, voting, training, research, and, most often, volunteer hours served.

Please note: While all of these impact types can be tracked in ServeUTK, only volunteer hours served can be tracked for courses, programs, scholarships, and service medallions.

The Jones Center for Leadership and Service further defines impact time as non-compensated activities that are organized in partnership with a non-profit or mutual aid organization and directly benefit the larger public or external community, beyond the UT campus.

Before adding an Impact to ServeUTK, we recommend reading through our service guidelines to make sure that your activity can be network verified by the Jones Center. 

Tracking Impacts

If you registered for an event in ServeUTK, an Impact will automatically be created for you after you attend the event.

To add your own Impact, follow the steps below.

1. Log into ServeUTK. Choose Log in via UTK SSO, then log in using your UTK NetID. 
2. From the home page, scroll below the ServeUTK banner image and click the blue Add Impact button.
3. Next, you will be asked where you served. Search for the non-profit organization where you served. If you don’t see the non-profit listed, please try alternative spellings or check their logo on their website to see if they may go by an acronym or other spelling. If you still cannot find the non-profit organization, click the Can’t find it? button. Type in the name of the organization as it is listed on their website. This helps the JCLS verify the organization.
   • Tip: Only enter the name of the organization. You will enter details about your volunteer experience later, and that information does not need to be shared here.
4. Select the verifier for your Impact. This should be someone with the non-profit who can verify your attendance. If you selected a community partner with a ServeUTK profile, the verifier will be pre-filled. If you entered an organization that was not in ServeUTK, you will enter the verifier yourself.
   • Important: The Jones Center must be able to connect the verifier with the non-profit organization through a Google search or with an organization-associated email address. 
5. Next, enter the date, time, and Impact Type. Use the JCLS Service Guidelines to select the correct impact type. Indirect service opportunities will only be verified for up to 2 hours.
6. In the About Your Experience section, share an overview and reflection of your service.
7. Under Sharing and Privacy Settings, be sure that your Impact is being shared with the University of Tennessee, Knoxville so it can be verified by the JCLS.

   You can add other groups you are a member of here (i.e., UT Promise, your fraternity/sorority, etc.) as long as you are on their roster in ServeUTK.

8. Once your fields are complete, click Submit.

You can find more information with step-by-step instructions on this website.

Impact Verification Process

Once your impact is submitted, it will be sent to your verifier for review.

After impacts are verified, they will be network verified by the Jones Center for Leadership and Service. All tracked impacts are subject to review by the Jones Center for Leadership and Service staff and must be able to be verified by a nonprofit partner or volunteer event manager first.

All impacts that have been pending for more than 31 days will be disputed. To resend the verification request, you can log in and then go to My Activity > Impacts. Find the impact you need to resend verification for and click the small blue arrow next to it and then Verification Logs. At the top of the screen you will see the option to resend the verification request. Please note, you can only resend it every three days.

Disputed Impacts

There are many reasons why an impact submitted to ServeUTK may not be verified. Here is a list of the most common impacts that can be submitted to ServeUTK but will not be verified (and will be disputed) by the Jones Center for Leadership and Service.

• Donations of any type, including but not limited to money, supplies, clothing, food, blood, etc. You can track this impact using the money or goods measurement in ServeUTK.
• Indirect Philanthropy and Fundraising Activities:
  • Attending meetings related to planning or organizing fundraising events, such as VOLthon, Relay for Life, etc.;
  • Attending a fundraising activity (including VOLthon or Relay for Life) but not engaging in direct service;
  • Running or walking in a 5K, walk, or race for charity;
  • Greek philanthropic events such as percentage nights or working a phone bank or other events to raise money for the national Greek organization or the organization’s philanthropy.
• Projects completed with any for-profit organization/business, even if the work was unpaid. Any substantial activities of this kind should be pursued as an internship.
• Internships, clinicals, practicums, or field experience work in hospitals, clinics, or similar organizations. This includes time spend job shadowing and observing.
• Self-directed “projects” without the oversight of a supporting community organization, such as trash pick-up or recycling, tutoring for free, helping elderly neighbors with yard work, babysitting/pet-sitting for free for private individuals, etc.
• Activities completed for the benefit of a student organization or UT athletic team or department (i.e., tabling, Peer Mentoring, serving as an ambassador to a department, being a student organization officer, UT Sports Nutrition/Fuel Station, Sports Ambassadors, etc.).
• Participation in self-improvement workshops, clinics, conferences, or conventions.
• Participating in a research project either as a participant (i.e., focus group) or a researcher (i.e., a lab assistant).
• Helping with a campus program that does not directly serve a population beyond the UT campus.
• Partisan political activities (ex. working on a specific political campaign)