Member Login
Search

About Us

Mission, Vision, and Values

Mission

We lead and elevate the state service network.*

Vision

Our vision is that all states and territories will embrace service as a strategy to build community in solving local challenges.

Values

Unity, Equity, Bipartisanship, Devolution

  • Unity — As the sole organization that brings together all Governor-led state service commissions, we honor the distinct voice of each individual member commission while seeking to find common ground and shared goals to advance national service and volunteering nationwide. We believe in the power of our collective voice to get things done.
  • Equity — We strive to make national service and volunteering accessible to all who want to serve. We recognize that not all people currently have the opportunity to serve their country due to socioeconomic and other systemic barriers, many of which are created intentionally or unintentionally by federal, state, and local policies or organizations. We advocate for removing all barriers to national service and volunteering and will take actions that make service accessible to all communities and individuals.
  • Bipartisanship — We work strategically to build relationships on both sides of the aisle in a two-party political system and to find partners and champions across the political spectrum. We believe that service is inherently nonpartisan and that leaders of diverse ideologies can appreciate and understand the benefits of national service and volunteering.
  • Devolution — State service commissions are key statutory partners with the federal government in the service infrastructure and delivery system. As social challenges are experienced locally within communities, local needs and interests are more easily identified through state structures than by large federal bureaucracies. We believe that state service commissions are uniquely positioned to strengthen communities by supporting sustained, well-managed volunteer and national service programming at the local level.

Strategic Plan

View our 2021-2023 Strategic Plan summary below, as approved by the ASC Board of Directors in March 2021 or download as a PDF.

*The use of the word state is inclusive of all state service commissions as defined by federal statute, which currently includes 49 states, the District of Columbia, Guam, and Puerto Rico.

ASC 2021-2023 Strategic Plan Summary. Our vision: All states and territories embrace service as a strategy to build community in solving local challenges. Values and membership principles: unity, equity, bi-partisanship, devolution. Goal 1 — Commission Capacity Building: Increase the leadership and capacity of state service commissions so that by December 2023, 80% of commissions indicate that ASC services have increased their organizational capacity based on a retrospective assessment completed as part of the annual ASC Landscape Survey. Goal 2 — Public Policy: Grow the total amount of annual federal funding to support state service commissions from $27 million to $31 million by FFY 2024 and increase the number of state service commissions receiving state funding from 34 to 40 by July 1, 2023. Goal 3 — National Serve Ecosystem: Strengthen ASC’s role in and leadership of the national service ecosystem, to make national service more accessible and representative of communities served as measured by a research study documenting the impact of these efforts by December 2023. Goal 4 — Financial Model: Grow annual ASC income from $1.7 million in 2020 to $3.2 million by 2023 and strengthen ASC financial systems for tracking and utilizing funds. Goal 5 — Human and Operational Resources: Secure and develop ASC’s human and operational resources necessary to execute on the strategic plan in a remote work environment. ASC’s use of the word state is inclusive of all state service commissions as defined by federal statute, which currently includes 49 states, the District of Columbia, Guam, and Puerto Rico. For more information about ASC, visit our website at www.statecommissions.org

Who We Are

 
America's Service Commissions (ASC) is a nonpartisan, nonprofit 501 (c)(3) organization representing and promoting state service commissions across the United States and territories. Formerly known as the Association of State Service Commissions, ASC is a peer network of governor-appointed commissioners and state service commission professional staff.

State service commissions are governor-appointed public agencies or nonprofit organizations made up of more than 1,200 commissioners - private citizens leading the nation's philanthropic and service movement. The nation’s 52 state service commissions operate at the state and local level granting more than $300 million from federal national service funds while matching these federal dollars with over $30 million from state and local sources to support citizen service and volunteerism in America. These funds support more than 40,000 AmeriCorps members.

 

Our History

 

ASC was launched in 1997 by a group of state service commissioners and executive directors. The motivation for establishing the Association was a belief that voluntary service, in all its forms, would be strengthened and enhanced by an organization that could mobilize the expertise of commissioners and staff to promote and represent all streams of national and community service.