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Community Service and Philanthropy Guidelines

The Lewis J. Burger Center for Leadership and Service (LJB Center) is charged to oversee the recording of community service hours. In order to ensure that students are completing intentional community service hours, we have created the following guidelines. We recognize that there may be situations where it is difficult to determine whether or not an activity meets the requirements to be classified as service, and we encourage students to email leadandserve@fsmail.bradley.edu with any questions or concerns.

These regulations will apply to all service hours submissions received on or after August 26, 2022 regardless of when the service hours were performed.

General Requirements

  • All Community Service should be unpaid and address or bring awareness to a social issue in the larger community.
  • Service hours can be earned by supporting nonprofit organizations or public schools through direct service (in-person, remote and/or virtual volunteering) and indirect service (such as physically organizing – not donating to – a supply drive or philanthropic event that meets an identified social issue).
  • All volunteer needs posted on Braves Volunteer qualify as community service experiences and hours.
  • All community service hours must be submitted for approval on Braves Volunteer.
  • Hour submissions MUST be submitted by Study Day each semester or within 3 weeks of the service project to provide time to approve and verify hours.
  • Submissions must include a detailed description of the service performed as well as an email address of a verification contact.
  • Students cannot count time spent on activities for which they received monetary compensation as community service hours. (A free meal or t-shirt does not count as compensation.)
  • All philanthropic efforts must be recorded on Braves Volunteer on the “Philanthropy Reporting Form.” Include total/overall donations for the philanthropic activity you organized.
  • If there are both on and off-campus opportunities for service hours, students are encouraged to participate in a variety of service projects.
  • Activities that generally do not count as community service include:
    • Donations, participating in or attending a philanthropic event - service hours for philanthropy can only be given to the person(s) who organized and managed the fundraiser or supply drive
    • Student club/organization activities
    • Religious Organizations (exceptions listed under Religious Organizations)
    • Work for which you receive monetary compensation
    • Work done for family, friends, or for-profit businesses

Community/Off-Campus Service

  • Off-campus service is a service that benefits entities other than Bradley University such as non-profit organizations, local schools, community members, etc.
  • Examples of off-campus service include but are not limited to:
    • Volunteering in-person or remotely for a non-profit program/agency
    • Volunteering in-person or virtually to support local schools and students (such as reading a book to preschool or elementary classroom(s) or creating a video demonstration related to STEAM)
    • Organizing and managing a philanthropic fundraiser or supply drive
    • Service on Saturday
  • Off-campus service is not limited to the Peoria community. Service hours can be completed all across the country and even internationally.
  • Please note that time spent traveling to and from the service location cannot be counted as service hours.
  • Service that does not qualify would include, but are not limited to the following:
    • Babysitting family or friends, helping a for-profit organization, observation hours, and performing

Philanthropy

  • Philanthropy is the act of donating or raising money and differs from community service. In order to earn community service hours, a student must give time rather than funds or in-kind goods.
  • Donating to, or attending, a philanthropic event does not count as service. Examples that do not count include:
    • A charity run/walk
    • Relay for Life
    • Up ‘Til Dawn
    • Baking
    • Philanthropic events hosted by a fraternity or sorority
    • Purchasing a T-shirt or other items to support a cause
    • Tabling
  • There are a few exceptions such as:
    • Time spent performing an essential philanthropic/event function can be counted as community service (ex. handing out water during a race, crowd management, checking people in, etc.)
    • With approval from the LJB Center, time spent planning/organizing a philanthropic event to support a social issue can be counted as community service. Students wishing to receive community service hours under this exception must include a detailed description of all activities completed and the amount of time spent on each activity. A decision will then be made based on the detailed description.

On-Campus Service

  • On-campus service directly benefits Bradley University and is not considered “community service”. Examples of on-campus service include, but are not limited, to:
    • Hours spent working in a research lab
    • Serving as an ambassador for your college (ex. STAR, Student Aide)
    • On-campus events such as Family Weekend, Student Activities Fair, Siblings weekend, etc. unless specifically listed as a service opportunity.
    • Holding a leadership position
    • Helping another student organization with their event
  • There are a few exceptions such as:
    • Volunteering to help with campus move-in
    • Active trainers for Wags for Mags
    • Registering as a volunteer for Late Night BU
    • BU Clean-Up Crew trash collection
    • Managing and hosting a philanthropic event or supply drive on-campus

Student Clubs and Organizations

  • Time spent on activities that only benefit the membership of an organization cannot be counted as community service hours. Examples include but are not limited to:
    • Attending/leading meetings
    • Preparing materials such as agendas or flyers
    • Marketing for your organization
  • Time spent on activities that benefit a wider population can be counted as community service hours. Examples include but are not limited to:
    • Hosting a philanthropic event that is open to all of campus and/or the community for the benefit of the community in regards to a social issue
    • Performing an off-campus individual or group service project
    • Creating/promoting educational materials that address a social issue

Religious Organizations

  • Time spent on activities that only benefit the membership of a religious organization cannot be counted as community service hours. Examples include, but are not limited, to:
    • Working with youth groups
    • Acting as a host or greeter
    • Creating religious materials
    • Fundraising for a religious organization
  • Time spent serving with a religious organization on activities that benefit a wider population can be counted as service hours (ex. serving dinner to members of the community through your church).

Service-Learning Courses and Internships

  • Students may count service hours that are completed outside of the classroom in conjunction with a service-learning course.
  • Unpaid internships completed at a 501(c)(3) can be counted as community service, even if they are a required component of a student’s coursework.
  • Time spent job shadowing, without performing a task, cannot be counted as community service hours.

Summer Camps

  • Unpaid hours completed while working for a summer camp can be counted as community service. Students cannot include time spent sleeping, eating, showering, etc. unless they were on-call.

Civic Engagement

  • Time spent promoting or campaigning for a political candidate/party/ideal can be counted as community service hours.
  • Voter registration drives can be counted as community service.

Blood Drives

  • On campus blood drives may only occur once every six weeks.
  • Donating or attempting to donate blood counts as one community service hour. Donating blood twice (as limited by campus regulations) can count as two hours of service.
  • Assisting with the functioning or marketing of a blood drive can be counted as community service.

Do My Hours Qualify?

Students that have questions about whether or not their service hours qualify may contact the Lewis J. Burger Center for Leadership and Service by email (leadandserve@fsmail.bradley.edu). In the event that your hours are denied, and you believe that those hours should have been approved, please contact the LJB Center; the center reserves the right to approve/deny hours at the office's discretion and to change the above guidelines as needed.

Examples of Social Issues:

  • Afterschool Programs, Tutoring and/or Mentoring
  • Arts and Culture
  • Community and Civic Engagement
  • Developmental and Intellectual Disabilities Support
  • Disaster and Emergency Services
  • Early Childhood Education
  • Education
  • Employment Services
  • Environment/Animal Advocacy
  • Equality and Diversity
  • Financial Stability
  • Food and Basic Needs
  • Health and Wellness
  • Housing and Shelter Services
  • Legal Services and Advocacy
  • Mental Health and Behavioral Services
  • Physical/Emotional Abuse Support
  • Senior Services
  • Veterans Services