As a valuable partner, we view your organization as a campaign ambassador, and as such, we hope that you will use these Public Service Announcements (PSAs) as an outreach tool to encourage older Americans to volunteer in your community.
The COVID-19 pandemic greatly impacted AmeriCorps Seniors membership. Through a national PSA effort, we hope to boost awareness of AmeriCorps Seniors as a whole and reverse the decline in volunteer recruitment numbers for all programs — RSVP, Senior Companion Program and Foster Grandparent Program.
The PSA campaign titled “Your Moment” celebrates the multifaceted identities of older adults and illustrates how valuable they are as volunteers by combining warm, engaging visuals with inspiring messaging that communicates a sense of urgency (e.g., “this is your moment”). This messaging aspires to connect with older adults and motivate them to take the next step on their volunteering journey.
The PSA effort includes television and radio spots for:
All television and radio spots have 15-second, 30-second and 60-second versions and are available in English and Spanish. Production assets are owned by AmeriCorps Seniors and will be used to amplify the existing in-market recruitment efforts.
Through a united effort at both the national and local levels, we aim to distribute the PSAs for maximum visibility following the strategic plan detailed below:
In mid-January 2025, the AmeriCorps Seniors marketing and communications team distributed the general awareness "Seize the Moment" PSAs through television and radio to thousands of stations nationwide. We anticipate an immediate response to this initial national campaign push, which focuses on raising general awareness. The performance is being tracked and reported through Nielsen watermarking.
As of February 2025, the program PSAs are available for download along with a template pitch letter for targeted outreach by Program Directors. Based on your area's active programs and recruitment needs, the goal is for Program Directors to pitch the appropriate program PSAs to local stations.
These PSAs are tagged and tracked through Nielsen watermarking, allowing us to report on local engagement. Below is pitch guidance, and training will be scheduled to review best practices and address any questions.
In mid-June 2025, the AmeriCorps Seniors marketing and communications team will conduct a second national PSA campaign push. This campaign will promote both general awareness and program-specific PSAs through television and radio on a national level. This effort will supplement the local outreach activities carried out by Program Directors from February to May 2025.
Approved PSAs are posted here and are available for download. To reinforce national efforts, Directors can promote the program PSAs locally by following this step-by-step placement guide:
Identify your local television and radio stations and find out who handles public service advertisements. This person may have the title of public service director or community affairs director. Avoid contacting a reporter or the newsroom.
Select a method of outreach.
Contact the station directly by calling or visiting in person – here’s an example of what you might say:
“Hello. My name is [INSERT NAME], and I am involved with AmeriCorps Seniors, a program within AmeriCorps, the federal agency for national service and volunteerism. I am reaching out to share a PSA campaign titled "Your Moment" and request your consideration in featuring it during your public service rotation.AmeriCorps Seniors connects those aged 55 and above with organizations in our local community that need volunteers' help and greatly benefit from this large and growing population's time, skills, and wisdom. Our volunteers serve where the need is greatest, and our goal of this PSA campaign is to raise awareness of our programs and encourage older adults to learn more.
Our PSAs are professionally produced and available in 15- 30- and 60-second versions in English and Spanish. I can email you the link to download the spots.”
Contact Via Email:
Thank the public service/community affairs director for his/her/their time and tell this individual that you’re looking forward to seeing (or hearing) the spots.
A reminder if cold calling, confirm the appropriate station representative's email address.
We recommend offering stations 15-second, 30-second and 60-second PSAs. Here’s why: public service directors have a limited amount of advertising inventory at any given time. A variety of lengths provides the local station with multiple opportunities to broadcast the campaign. We also produced Spanish versions. Spanish-language media outlets are also looking for content on topics that affect the Hispanic and Latino populations. Altruistic, community-oriented messages like volunteerism resonate well with all audiences.
When local stations donate their unsold inventory to government agencies and nonprofits, these entities have no control over when and where the TV and radio PSAs may appear. The “Your Moment” campaign will be broadcast by the station without advance notice to AmeriCorps Seniors in a variety of programming, diverse times of the day, and on various days of the week. There is no guaranteed schedule for when and where the campaign will air, and paying advertisers may preempt PSA placements at any time.
No, AmeriCorps Seniors does not profit from this PSA effort. Public service announcements are not for profit and are designed solely to spread awareness about an important community topic/entity.
In addition to the narrative-driven TV and radio PSAs, we’ve developed and are excited to release:
(3) long-format explainer videos that delve deeply into each of AmeriCorps Senior’s programs. These videos are approximately 2:40 and concisely describe each program and the benefits of service for volunteers.
A special grantee video titled “Our Community” was produced to be a resource for Program Directors to secure funding.
And finally, a collection of new companion photography is available through Aprimo.
All new assets can be showcased on your organization's and grantees' websites, social media, fairs, community events and across all communication channels.
National Distribution #1 – General Awareness PSA
Local Distribution by Program Directors – RSVP Program, Foster Grandparent Program and Senior Companion Program PSAs
National Distribution #2 – General Awareness and Program PSAs