The Center for Fraternity and Sorority Development defines community service and philanthropy as follows:
Community Service is hands-on interaction with organizations or individuals that benefit from the donation of your time. Guidelines on what counts for community service are listed below.
Philanthropy is the act of raising funds or collecting items to donate to organizations or individuals and may also include activities contributing to awareness and/or education of causes. CFSD requires all philanthropic contributions to be reported in USD value.
Community Service Guidelines
- Students cannot receive pay for community service hours.
- Babysitting, house sitting, yard work, and other services for family and friends is not considered community service.
- Volunteering at "for profit" organizations is not considered community service.
- Requirements for course credits (internships, practicums, clinical) are not considered community service.
- Activities for the sole benefit of a religious house of worship and it's congregation are not considered community service.
- Donations of goods or money are not considered community service.
- Extra-curricular activities (meetings, practices, performances, etc.) are not considered community service.
- Attending charity events (i.e., participating in HuskyTHON day of or going to Late Night activities) does not count as community service.
Acceptable Community Service Activities
This list is a starting point when planning your service, but it's not everything that's possible. There are thousands of ways to make an impact in our community. If you're not sure whether your activity counts, please contact your CFSD chapter coach.
The following activities count as community service:
- Service for non-profit agencies
- Service work with religious institutions
- Service that directly address a community need or social issue
- Volunteer service for charitable fundraising events (working the events, NOT attending)
Volunteer Activities to Consider:
- Animal Shelters
- Soup Kitchen
- Alternative Breaks
- Food Banks
- Tutoring
- Community Clean Ups
- Community Outreach Activities
Logging & Approving Community Service Hours
All community service hours must be logged on through the organization's UConntact page. Step by step instructions on how to log and approve hours are linked below:
- How Individuals Should Log Hours.pdf
- How Chapter Leadership Can Log Member Hours.pdf
- How Chapter Leadership Will Approve Hours.pdf
Community service hours are reported on the End of Semester Report. Only service hours completed between the first day of classes and the submission of the EOS report will be counted. CFSD will verify all chapter service hours recorded meet CFSD expectations outlined on this page.