What is Volunteering?
We are providing the following as a series of guidelines to help you think about
and plan your service. Developing an understanding of service is an ongoing
process that we engage with as we encounter new questions and situations. If
you would like some additional guidance or have questions about a specific type
of service please contact the Center for Student Involvement at csi@uh.edu.
The following are guidelines for logging service hours with the Center for Student
Involvement.
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Community Service hours are broadly defined as time spent contributing
uncompensated effort with the intention of addressing a genuine
community need in association with a Community Partner .
Community Need is defined as a social or environmental issue generally
recognized as having a significant negative impact on society.
Community Partner is defined as a public, nonprofit, or volunteer
organization with a stated mission to address one or more identified
community needs and that has specific expertise for addressing issues
related to that need. A Community Partner may also be a for profit
organization awarded public funding to address a specific community
need (such as a section 8 housing community, or private hospital,
hospice, or nursing home that accepts public funding).
Students that work through private organizations to spend time with and
run activities for residents in nursing homes, hospitals, and rehabilitation
centers may log these hours as service.
The following are examples of uncompensated effort that may be logged as
Community Service:
• Volunteering, service learning, or VIA (Volunteer In Action) Experiences
(including for credit internships and FYE Peer Leader positions)
supervised by and coordinated with a Community Partner. This may
include special event volunteering, coaching, tutoring, mentoring, camp
counseling, child care, senior care, notetaking, fundraising activities,
presentations and performances, attendance at board meetings, setting
up and taking down events, and attendance at planning meetings.
• Service hours undertaken with a faith based organization as long as direct
service is offered to the general population with no faith requirement.
Examples include building houses with Habitat for Humanity, or guiding a
church youth group as they work at a soup kitchen open to the public.
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Actual training time of a service animal or required training to work with a
service animal. Trainers may log up to 5 hours a day for everyday
activities with service animals.
Time spent completing required training for a specific volunteer activity.
For example, required confidentiality training and agency orientations.
Volunteer firefighters or uncompensated first responders may log ¼ of
their shift hours and 100% of their actual time on a response.
Citizenship activities, such as voter registration drives, tutoring for
citizenship courses, etc. are considered community service.
Volunteering with department sponsored events
Providing support services to students with disabilities
Pro bono professional services to non-profit organizations or community
residents
The following are examples of uncompensated effort that may NOT be logged as
Community Service:
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Any effort for which the student is paid or receives other significant
compensation.
Driving time to and from volunteer experiences and travel, leisure, and
sleep time on an away service trip.
Time spent in service learning classrooms or doing class work that will be
turned in for credit.
Shadowing experiences or self-improvement experiences. Examples
include Red Cross CPR training, leadership courses, job shadowing, and
in class preparation for service learning projects.
Internal service to a student organization or time spent in general student
club or organization activities without a community partner, fundraisers for
the student organization, tabling and meetings.
Performance, rehearsal, practice, artistic creation and setup/ takedown
time if the community benefit is secondary to the real purpose of the
program; for instance if a jazz ensemble dedicates its spring concert to a
local organization, but the concert was primarily an academic program
requirement, the hours may not be logged as community service.
Time spent in class, socializing, or sleeping while a service or companion
animal accompanies you may not be logged as service hours.
Service to family members and neighbors that has not been coordinated in
some way through a Community Partner does not constitute community
service.
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Faith based service benefiting only those of a specific congregation or
creed, or spent studying or persuading a specific faith.
Partisan political activities, such as volunteering on campaigns.
Logging Volunteer Hours
Keep track of your volunteering hours online through Get Involved by logging
them with your Student Organization or with the Center for Student
Involvement
Students that log hours can:
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Use their Get Involved service hour log as a tool to build a resume and
keep track of volunteer experience
Qualify to receive the President’s Service Award at the annual Student
Leader Reception
Be on an annual list of students who receive the President’s Service
award through the Center for Student Involvement that is published online.
Show the positive impact that UH students are making on the community!
Steps to Get Volunteer Hours Approved:
1. Go to your Student Organization’s Get Involved page or the Center for
Student Involvement’s Get Involved Page
2. Request to be a Member
3. Once a member, select the “Service Hours” tab
4. Select the “Add Service Hours” button
5. Make sure to include in the description box
6. Name of the event
7. Description of volunteer services you performed
8. Name of the agency or organization you volunteered with
9. Name of a contact person (preferably a staff member) at that agency or
organization that can verify your volunteer hours
10. Submit the phone number and email for the contact person
11. Finish filling out the required fields of the form, and click the “create”
button
Approving Volunteer Hours
For Student Organizations: One of the top three officers in your organization
must “approve” your hours.
For Center for Student Involvement: Civic Engagement staff will “approve” all
accepted hours logged under CSI.
***All hours submitted by applicants, under CSI or under a Student Organization, for the
President’s Service Award will be verified by CSI Staff.