Volunteer START

Volunteer START grants are available to all Saginaw County high school students and student groups and are designed to help facilitate meaningful volunteer experiences that benefit the community at large. The goal of this program is to help empower young people to create volunteer projects and enable them to carry out these projects by providing them with adequate resources.

Service learning is often a component of a high school student's graduation requirements. Participating in Volunteer START gives students the opportunity to complete their service learning requirement as well as engage them in a meaningful volunteer experience that will benefit the community at large.

Students involved in Volunteer START will be responsible for identifying a project, designed to assist a local nonprofit organization, as well as create a plan of how they intend to accomplish the desired results. The plan is then submitted with an application to United Way for approval and funding. Each school is welcome to submit more than one application; however, no school shall receive more than $2,000 in total grant funding.

Thanks to financial support from the H.R.Wickes Foundation, more than 55 Volunteer START projects have been funded over the past five years. The impact the community has seen from these energetic and empowered student groups is truly incredible.

Grant applications for the 2011-2012 school year are currently being accepted, now through December 9, 2011. If you or your school is interested in getting involved, please fill out the following forms and return them to United Way of Saginaw County by December 9. If you have any questions or concerns, please contact Henrietta at 755-0505, ext. 216.

Volunteer START helpful links