America’s 250th anniversary is arriving with a new push for year-round community service, as the U.S. Semiquincentennial Commission unveiled “America Gives” ahead of the start of commemorations for the 1776 signing of the Declaration of Independence.
The commission said it wants to make the 250th year the country’s biggest for volunteering, while also trying to address what organizers described as a need to revitalize a culture of service after volunteering rates declined and had not returned to pre-pandemic levels. In one measure, an AP-NORC poll in December found that 28% of Americans said they volunteered time to a religious or secular charitable organization this year. Organizers said they do not yet know how many service hours they need to set a record, and they are not targeting a specific total, instead focusing on building a volunteer pipeline for nonprofits that lasts beyond 2026.
Funding for America Gives is described as coming from congressional appropriations and corporate sponsors including Walmart and Coca-Cola. The commission said it will invite participants to pledge their time and then log volunteering on an online tracker, pairing a public commitment with a mechanism to track participation.
Among the nonprofit partners is the Girl Scouts of the USA, which will offer a volunteering badge to any of its roughly 1 million youth members who complete a service project. Keep America Beautiful, the program’s cleanup partner, is leading an effort aimed at removing 250 million pieces of trash by the Fourth of July. The effort also includes JustServe, a service project coordinator sponsored by The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, which is sending 250 semitrucks to deliver food donations to 250 food banks across the 50 states.
Rosie Rios, chair of America250, said the program is intended to connect the anniversary with what comes afterward. “We strongly believe that this is as much about the future as it is the past,” Rios said, adding that organizers want the next generation “to give them something to believe in.” She also described the effort as a way to encourage lasting community involvement that strengthens nonprofit volunteer pipelines.
Organizers said reaching young people is a particular priority for the campaign, with Rios saying America Gives is working with high schools that already list community service as a graduation requirement so that hours can be logged and giving habits build over time. Rios said that “They’re very passionate. They’re very purpose driven. They do want to give back,” and she added that inspiring young people “to not just visualize, but maybe fuel their own future, is a big priority for us.”
Sofia Alvarez, a cohort lead for the Youth250 Bureau, described young people’s interest in “third spaces”—places outside home, school, or work that feel safe, but do not require spending money. She said that craft or activity-based volunteering can help young people connect with each other through “chit chat” and bonding, framing those connections as part of building community.
Sarah Keating, vice president of Girl and Volunteer Experience at Girl Scouts of the USA, said nonprofits have been adjusting volunteer opportunities to fit younger volunteers’ schedules and preferences. Keating said young people want to give back but are busy and do not always know how, and she said organizations must offer experiences that match their lives—for example, helping lead a specific badge program rather than serving as an entire troop leader. She said America Gives helps show “the multitude of ways that you can volunteer,” including “There are small ways to volunteer. There are big ways to volunteer.”
America Gives also aims to draw people across political divisions by framing volunteering as a shared national effort. Acknowledging polarization, Rios said commission research shows that most Americans want to bring back a spirit of volunteerism and described the campaign as “It is about one country,” adding, “I think there’s gonna be a lot of people who feel like now, more than ever, we all need to stand up.”
Jennifer Lawson, the chief executive of Keep America Beautiful, said the nonprofit’s nationwide network expects to unify people around litter cleanup. Lawson said her benchmark for next year is to reach 4 million volunteers through local chapters devoted to cleaning up communities, planting trees, and making gardens, and she said the campaign is meant to show that patriotism is an action done with neighbors rather than just an idea. “It doesn’t have to be all flags and tricornered hats,” Lawson said. “Patriotism in this country is an act of giving into community.”
The commission said America Gives will continue beyond July 4, in part by offering participants a way to keep volunteering in their communities after the anniversary day. Volunteers who register their service hours can enter a sweepstakes in which 250 randomly selected winners will be able to donate $4,000 to an approved nonprofit partner. The program also plans to rally people around national days of service on Martin Luther King Jr. Day and 9/11, with organizers saying the year-round goal is to keep volunteering local and on people’s minds.
“It should be on people’s minds all the time, not just the day that they’re doing service,” Rios said. “But how do they plan ahead to keep it going?”