Service Project Report Form Help
The purpose of this page is to provide assistance and to answer questions related to the purpose of each of the form fields on the Service Project Report Form. Please review the content of this help page to answer your questions. If, after reviewing this page, you still feel that you need help, contact the webmaster.
PART ONE
Did your chapter participate in either National Service Week (projects performed during the first week of November) or Spring Youth Service Day (projects performed during the month of April, or any time during the Spring Semester) by completing a service project?
The reason that this question is being asked is that the service project report form is used to only report actual service projects that have been completed. It may be used for National Service Week (NSW) in the Fall, or Spring Youth Service Day (SYSD) in the Spring, as well as for other non-required service projects that you wish to report.
If you are not reporting an actual service project, the page directs you to click on the link for the No Project Report Form.
PART TWO
Contact Name:
This is the name of the individual that is filling out the form. If you are logged in to the website, your name will automatically appear here. Sometimes, a member of your chapter's service committee might fill out the form, and put the Service Vice President's contact information here. This is acceptable, as the name can be changed. This field is NOT for the name of the person in another organization that you worked with, however. There is a separate form field for that information later in the form.
Contact Email:
This is the email address of the person listed under contact name. If you are logged in to the website, your email address will also appear here, if it is on file in our database. The form will automatically send a cc: of the submission to the email address entered here. Please insure that the email address entered is in the format of username@service-provider.com, or student@school.edu.
Project Type:
This item is a drop-down menu, which includes the following options:
- National Service Week (NSW) - Fall
- Spring Youth Service Day (SYSD) - Spring
- Sectional Service Project
- Regional Service Project
- Emergency Response Project
- Other Project
The word Fall appears next to NSW to remind you that NSW projects typically occur during the Fall Semester, usually during the first week of November, although your chapter can plan an NSW project at any time during the semester. The word Spring appears next to SYSD to remind you that SYSD projects typically occur during the Spring Semester, usually in mid-April, although your chapter can plan an SYSD project at any time during the semester.
Reporting of NSW & SYSD projects by your chapter is required. If you are reporting a project that may fall under another category, such as a project in response to a natural disaster or other emergency (Emergency Response Project), or a project that encompasses participants from other chapters in the Section or Region (Sectional or Regional Service Project), this is highly encouraged. These other categories are there to categorize the project when it is not your chapter's required NSW or SYSD project. However, if an Emergency Reponse, Sectional, or Regional Service Project is being reported as your chapter's NSW or SYSD project, please use the NSW or SYSD category, as this takes precedence. Failure to do this could result in your chapter being listed as not in good standing.
Project Title:
This is a text field (length: 100 characters)
that is for the title of the project. It should be brief, but
descriptive of the purpose of the project. Examples: "Alpha Chapter
Blood Drive", "Frank Reed Horton Boulevard Habitat for Humanity
Project", or "Halloween Trick-or-Treat Food Drive."
Project Date:
There are three drop-down menus here, one for the month, one for the day, and one for the year. The date that the project occurred on should be provided here. If the project occurred on multiple days, put the first actual day of the project here, and provide information about the date range under either the project planning (Part Four: 1.) or Additional Information (end of report) sections.
Project Location:
This is a text field (length: 100 characters) that is for a brief description of where the project took place. Examples: "Lafayette College Student Union, Suite 200", "1600 Pennsylvania Ave., Washington, DC 20500", or "Hanover, Ave., Richmond, VA."
Project Description:
This is a text field (length: 500 characters) that is for a brief description of what you did during the project. You should still be brief, but you should be more descriptive of what you did in this field than under project title. Cover the major aspects of the project. The minute details will be covered under Part Four.
Project Results:
This is a text field (length: 500 characters) that is for a brief description of your project team accomplished by doing the project. Sure, "The Project went well." or "We had fun." or "Successful!" are acceptable for a "bare minimum" report. But for the project to be useful to future generations of brothers performing similar projects, you should be more descriptive. Did the project raise funds for a charity? Did you construct something at a park or cleaned it up? What about the benefit to your chapter in addition to the charity? Did Brothers learn new skills by performing the project?
Area of Service:
This is a drop-down menu with four options:
- Service to the Nation
- Service to the Community
- Service to the University
- Service to the Fraternity
Chapter/PG/IG:
This is a drop-down menu containing a list
of all active chapters, including Petitioning & Interest
Groups. It is in alphabetical order by school name, with the
chapter's greek letter designation (or "School Name PG") in
parentheses. The list is compiled directly from the fraternity's
database. If your chapter or PG/IG is not listed, please
contact the webmaster. DO NOT report your project under
another school's listing unless directed to do so by National
Office Staff or a Member of the National Service Committee, as this
will cause confusion in reporting.
Your chapter's Region & Section will be automatically selected using the database and included in the project report.
PART
THREE
Preparation Hours:
This is the total number of service hours performed by all members of your chapter in preparation for the actual event. These would normally include service hours done before the actual event.
Total Chapter Members (Students) Participating in Project:
This number should include all participants of the project that are either: active, pledge, or associate/inactive members of your chapter. Members of other chapters should be recorded under, "Total Non-Chapter Members."
Total Service Hours by All Chapter Members (Students) on this Project:
Add up the total number of service hours performed by all of the student chapter members (specified in the previous question), and put that total here. Do not count hours recorded under, "preparation hours."
Total Alumni, Advisory, and/or Honorary Members Participating in Project:
This number should include all participants of the project that are either: alumni, advisory, or honorary members of Alpha Phi Omega. Alumni, advisory, and honorary members of other chapters may be counted here.
Total Service Hours by All Alumni, Advisory, and/or Honorary Members on this Project:
Add up the total number of service hours performed by all of the alumni, advisory, or honorary members (specified in the previous question), and put that total here. Do not count hours recorded under, "preparation hours."
Total Non-Chapter Members Participating in Project:
This number should include all participants of the project that are not members of your chapter that assisted with either the planning or execution of the project. You should include all those non-members that participated in a project that your chapter planned and executed itself. However, if you participated in a major project sponsored by another organization (e.g. Relay for Life, American Cancer Society), do not include the total number of people at the entire event; only include those non-members that directly participated with your chapter. Also, if the project has attendees that did not assist with the organization of the project (e.g. donors at a blood drive, attendees of a haunted house or other event), the total number of attendees should be listed under Project Results and not in this field.
Total Service Hours by All Non-Chapter Members on this Project:
Add up the total number of service hours performed by all of the non-members that participated (specified in the previous question).
PART FOUR
1. Please provide a brief outline of the planning steps that you undertook in preparation for this project.
This field is a text field (length: 65,000 characters) for you to describe the planning steps that your chapter took to perform the project. Please be as descriptive as possible, keeping in mind that this report should be able to help a member of your own, or another, chapter perform the service project at a later date. It may help to organize this in outline format (A., B., C., or I., II., III., etc).
2. Did your chapter use any resources listed in the National Service Week Handbook or the Spring Youth Service Day Handbook? (if you are not reporting NSW or SYSD project, then skip this question)
This is a YES/NO question. The NSW & SYSD handbooks are available here. You either used one of them, or you didn't. There's no penalty for not using them,...
If you are not reporting an NSW or SYSD project, but still used these documents as a reference, you may still wish to answer YES here.
What resources did you use?
This is a text field (length: 65,000 characters). Whether you answered YES or NO to the above question, tell us what resources you did use. Perhaps you used Google? Or maybe APO's own Service Project Database? Did your chapter fill a needed project by a local charity? Did Wilfred Krenek give you a great idea? Tell us about it here.
3. Did any other people or organizations (not included above) participate in the project?
This is a YES/NO question. If the project was co-sponsored with another organization, or you helped another organization with their project, or another organization helped you with your project, Answer YES. If a significant number of unaffiliated persons assisted with your project (e.g. your chapter recruited volunteer students from the campus through a sign-up table in the commons), you would answer YES. If one or two friends or relatives of brothers (in a non-recruiting manner) assisted with the project, use your discretion. We are primarily interested in what types of relationships are chapters are developing through the service projects that they perform, as well as how chapters recruit new members through service projects.
If so, with whom (what group) did you work with? Please describe the nature of their involvement.
This is a text field (length: 65,000 characters). List the names of the people or organizations that you worked with here.
Cosponsor Contact Name:
This is a text field (length: 100 characters). Provide the
contact name of the person in the primary organization that you
worked with. Additional names & contact information may be
included in the text field immediately preceding this one, if
necessary). This field is
optional.
Cosponsor Contact Email:
This is a text field (length: 100 characters). Provide the email address of the person in the primary organization that you worked with. This field is optional.
Cosponsor Contact Phone:
This is a text field (length: 25 characters). Provide the telephone number of the person in the primary organization you worked with. The telephone number must be entered in the format of AAA-XXX-XXXX (A = area code, X = number). This field is optional.
4. Did your chapter request, acquire, and/or utilize any official proclamations (city mayor, state governor, etc)?
This is a YES/NO question. If a member of your chapter secured an official proclamation or declaration for NSW or SYSD from an elected official, you would answer YES here. Sometimes, a member of the local sectional or regional staff does this on behalf of all chapters in their region or section. If this is the case, and you are aware of it, answer YES.
If yes, please provide details:
This is a text field (length: 65,000 characters). Please provide details on your knowledge of the proclamation or declaration. If this information is available online, please provide a link to it.
5. Did your chapter generate PR for this project (actual media coverage of the event)?
This is a YES/NO question. If there was media coverage in any form (local television, radio, newspapers, including student newspapers or campus news sources), answer YES.
If yes, please list contact names and phone/email addresses for: radio stations, TV stations, newspapers, etc, that provided media coverage for your service project. Submission of the URL or text of a news article can be done under PART FIVE of this report, immediately after initial submission.
This is a text field (length: 65,000 characters). Please provide details on the contact information for the media that provided coverage for your event. Be as descriptive as possible, so that future brothers may use this information to contact the media for coverage on future events.
If a news story is available online, the details of this story should be submitted using this form, which submits news stories on Alpha Phi Omega topics to our news database. A link to the form will also be available on the confirmation page after you submit the service project report, if you answer YES to the previous question.
6. Was this project youth-oriented (e.g. was the primary purpose for the benefit of pre-college youth and/or incorporating younger children)?
This is a YES/NO question. If the purpose of the project was done for the primary benefit of youth or children (e.g. persons under the age of 18), or if children participated in this project as participants with members of your chapter, answer YES.
If yes, please provide the total number of youth reached as a result of this project:
This is a numeric field (length: 15 digits). Please enter your best estimate of the number of youth (e.g. persons under 18) that were benefited from this project. If youth participated in the project as participants with members of your chapter, one can argue that they did "benefit" from that, so you can include those numbers as well.
7. Did this project use funds provided by an Alpha Phi Omega Youth Service Grant?
This is a YES/NO question. If your chapter was awarded a Youth Service Grant from Alpha Phi Omega, and you utilized funds from that grant to perform this project, answer YES.
8. Was this project scout-based (e.g. did your chapter work with or for a scout-based organization, such as the BSA, GSUSA, Campfire, or another scouting organization)?
This is a YES/NO question. If your chapter worked with or for one of the scouting organizations mentioned in the question, answer YES.
If yes, which organization did you work with?
This is a drop-down menu with the following options:
- Boy Scouts of America
- Girl Scouts USA
- Campfire USA
- Other (please specify)
8. Was this project a fundraiser for a charitable
organization?
This is a YES/NO question. If your chapter raised funds for a charitable organization, answer YES. Chapters from time to time do raise funds for Alpha Phi Omega, as we are a charitable organization ourselves. So you would answer YES if you raised funds for your own chapter or the section, region, or national fraternity.
If yes, how much money was raised during the project?
This is a numeric field (length: 15 digits). Enter the total dollar amount (rounded to the nearest whole dollar) of funds that the project raised. DO NOT include a dollar sign ($).
If yes, which charitable organization was the money raised for?
This is a text field (length: 100 characters). Enter the name of the organization that the funds were raised for.
9. During the execution of your project, what areas/procedures went well?
This is a text field (length: 65,000 characters). Please describe aspects of the project that went well, were successful, or otherwise went off as planned with little or no surprises. Please be as descriptive as possible so as to provide assistance to future brothers that may wish to perform a similar project in the future.
10. During the execution of your project, what areas/procedures could have been improved?
This is a text field (length: 65,000 characters). please describe aspects of the project that did not go as planned, or areas that you did not plan for or otherwise had difficulties with. Please be as descriptive as possible so as to provide assistance to future brothers that may wish to perform a similar project in the future.
Please list the names of all participants that participated in this project:
This is a text field (length: 65,000 characters). List the names of all members and non-members of your chapter that participated in the project. This field is for National Office reference only, and will not be included in the publicly-accessible project report. If the full list of names is not available, that is ok. It would be helpful to list then names of some of the key individuals that planned & organized the project, as well as what their roles were.
Please provide any additional information that you believe we should know that was not covered by one of the above questions:
This is a text field (length: 65,000 characters). This field is for any additional information that was not included in any of the above fields and questions that you would like to include in the report. The field is included in the publicly-accessible project report, so if you have specific concerns regarding any aspect of the service program, including the database, these concerns would best be addressed by contacting the National Service & Communication Program Director directly, in a separate message. If you have technical concerns or issues with the form, please contact the webmaster directly.
Submission of the Form:
Once you have finished filling in all of the fields of the form, click the Submit Request button at the bottom of the form. If you press the Clear Form button, all of the contents of the fields that you just entered will be erased.
The form is submitted via electronic mail to the Chapter Services Assistant, the Service & Communication Program Director, the Service Project Database Coordinator, your Regional Service Chair, and your Section Chair. If it is an NSW report, a copy is sent to the National NSW Chair. If it is a SYSD report, a copy is sent to the National SYSD Chair. If it is a Youth Service Grant project, a copy is sent to the National YSG Chair. A copy of the report is also cc:ed to the email address entered in the Contact Email field (above), for your chapter's records. If you do not receive a cc: of the project report after submitting, contact the webmaster.