Who Really Benefits? Why Volunteer Scholars Requires the Final Benefiting Organization
With just 2½ months remaining in this award year, we want to help members get their service activities documented and submitted correctly the first time. One of the most common reasons volunteer activity entries are returned with “Revision Requested” is that the wrong organization has been listed as the beneficiary of the service. In fact, this is currently the second most common reason entries are returned to volunteers for correction.
When an entry is flagged for this reason, volunteers must go back into the activity entry and update the organization information. In most cases, this means selecting the correct benefiting organization from the organization list. If the organization is not already listed, volunteers should select “My Organizations” and “Add New Organization” before resubmitting the entry.
Volunteer Scholars requires all activity entries to identify the final benefiting organization or end recipient of the service, not merely the organization, group, or individual that scheduled, coordinated, assigned, or organized the volunteer opportunity.
This distinction matters because many service projects are organized by groups that are not actually the recipients of the service. Scout troops, service clubs, school honor societies, youth groups, and similar organizations often coordinate volunteer projects by setting the date, time, project parameters, and expectations for participants. However, these coordinating groups are typically not the final benefiting organization.
For example, if a school honor society organizes students to pack meals for a food pantry, the benefiting organization should be the food pantry, not the honor society. If a scout troop coordinates a park clean-up, the benefiting organization should be the park, municipality, land trust, or other entity responsible for the site, not the scout troop.
The coordinating organization may still be mentioned in the activity description. For example, a student might write that the project was organized by their scout troop, honor society, youth group, or service club. But the organization selected for the activity entry should be the one that ultimately received the service or benefited from the volunteer work.
Accurate organization information helps Volunteer Scholars reviewers verify service more efficiently and ensures that award recognition is tied to genuine community impact. Taking a few extra moments to select the correct benefiting organization can prevent delays, reduce revision requests, and help your service record move through review more smoothly.