Linked Organizations
John volunteered with Keep Knoxville Beautiful for 2 hours. You look at the verifier's email, and it is a Keep Knoxville Beautiful email address. You look at the reflection and it says "I had a great time cleaning up trash in the fort." Verify or Dispute?
Verify!
Lex logged a write-in impact with Old Smokey Moonshine for 3 hours. The verifier's email is an Old Smokey email address. In the reflection, he stated "I helped transport moonshine from Knoxville to Bristol." Verify or Dispute?
Dispute - It's a for-profit organization, not a 501(c)3 non-profit organization.
Chad, a member of Sigma Nu Fraternity, logged a impact with Sigma Nu and had the event "Sigma Nu x KKB Fort Cleanup." You look at the event, and see that it was shared with Keep Knoxville Beautiful. Also, you see that the creator of the event verified Chad's impact. Verify or Dispute?
Verify!
Organization: The Love Kitchen
Date Created: 11/16/2025
Hours: 3
Reflection: “We served meals and washed dishes.”
Verifier: mom@gmail.com
Dispute - Verifier not connected to nonprofit, so we need them to correct it to someone with The Love Kitchen or confirm how the other verifier is connected to the organization.
The Knoxville Service Wire, a media organization that writes news articles about community service, comes up to the front desk during your shift. They ask if they can interview you for an upcoming article on the University of Tennessee. How should you respond?
Don't take the interview, and ask them to email leadserve@utk.edu so professional staff can review the request.
Sara logged a 31-hour impact at Metro Drug Coalition. Looking at the impact details, it states she volunteered from 9:00 am 11/16 to 4:00pm on 11/17, and they didn't include any details in their reflection. Verify or Dispute?
Dispute - Bulk Logged 10+ Hours without sharing a breakdown of times
Taylor logged a write-in impact with Food Bank for NYC for 4 hours. The verifier's email is connected to Food Bank for NYC. In her reflection, Taylor wrote "I volunteered to help sort cans and produce at Food Bank for NYC while home for the weekend." You do some further research and find that Food Bank for NYC is a registered 501(c)(3) organization. Verify or Dispute?
Verify! Even if an organization is outside of Knoxville, it qualifies if it is a 501(c)(3) organization.
Bella logged an impact with AIM - Accounting and Information Management Club and it was attached to an event titled "11/10 Information Session." The event isn't shared with a non-profit. You read Bella's reflection and it says "Attended 11/10 AIM info session." Verify or Dispute?
DISPUTE - Not a Non-Profit, Event was for a Student Organization/Internal Benefit.
Organization: East Tennessee Children’s Hospital
Hours: 12 (single impact)
Reflection: “I volunteer every Tuesday from 1–4 p.m. in the emergency department. This impact covers my last 4 weeks (4 visits x 3 hours each). I play games with patients and help create a welcoming environment.”
Verifier: coordinator@etch.org
Attachments: PDF of ETCH electronic volunteer log with dates & hours
Verify
You get a call from Lexi, a volunteer fostering with Young Williams Animal Shelter. She calls and informs you that she has been fostering 3 cats for 1 week, a young puppy for 2 weeks, and an older husky for 6 days. Before she logs her hours, she wants to ensure that she has calculated the correct number of hours. How many service hours does Lexi have from fostering?
41 service hours
Justin logged an impact for 3 hours with Young Williams. The verifier's email is associated with Young Williams. In his reflection, he says "I spent 3 hours making dog toys at my house for Young Williams. I then dropped them off at the shelter." Verify or Dispute?
Dispute - Excessive hours for Indirect Service (limited to 2.0 hours)
Ben logged a write-in impact with "Knox Area Rescue Ministries" for 2 hours. You look at the verifier's email and it is associated with KARM. In his reflection, Ben said "I volunteered with KARM and helped sort clothes." Verify or Dispute.
First, try to edit the Primary Group to KARM. If successful: Verify.
If unsuccessful: Dispute - Tracked with Wrong Primary Group
Carly logged an impact with Muse Knoxville and had the event "Arts Assistant" attached. You look at the event and it was created by Muse. The verifier's email is connected to Muse. Carly did not write a reflection. Verify or Dispute?
Verify! You can verify an impact that doesn't include activity details/reflection if it's with an event and known community partner.
Organization: American Red Cross
Date Created: October 21st, 2025
Impact Type Chosen: Time
Hours: 5
Reflection: “I baked cupcakes and sold them at a table on Pedestrian Walkway to raise $500 for the Red Cross.”
Verifier: johnsmith@redcross.org
Dispute - Not Counted as Time Impact because fundraising doesn't qualify for service hours.
Name the number of hours needed for each Service Medallion and the verification deadline for the Fall 2025 semester.
Kate logged an impact with her BUAD 405 class for 2 hours. You look at the verifier's email and it is a UTK email. In her reflection, Kate says "I volunteered with my BUAD 405 class at KARM. I had a great time sorting clothes with my classmates." Verify or Dispute?
Dispute - Primary Group listed as BUAD 405
Jane logged a write-in impact with "Harvest Church" for 2 hours. The verifier's email is linked to Harvest Church. In her reflection, Jane states "I had a great time volunteering in my church's daycare center when home for fall break." After doing some research, you find proof that the church has 501(c)(3) tax registration. Verify or Dispute?
Verify
An impact comes in that’s attached to a ServeUTK event called “Big Event: Habitat for Humanity Build”, scheduled from 11:00 a.m. to 3:00 p.m.
In the ServeUTK event description, it explains that participants will spend the next 4 hours helping Habitat staff build and paint at a home site.
Tom's impact is auto-created from the event. It shows 4 hours of Time. In the reflection, the student writes: “I showed up late and met everyone at the build site at 2 p.m. I stayed until the end at 3 p.m. and mostly painted trim and helped clean up.”
Verify or Dispute?
Try to edit Tom's hours within the impact to correct for his time missed.
Logan recently went on a VolBreak and logged his impact attached to an event "VOLBreaks: Alternative Fall Break – Hunger & Homelessness (Atlanta)." Use the impact breakdown in ServeUTK to decide if you want to dispute or verfiy:
Event (in ServeUTK):
Title: VOLBreaks: Alternative Fall Break – Hunger & Homelessness (Atlanta)
Host Group: VOLBreaks – JCLS
Date/Time: October 10–13
Event Description:
“Join VOLBreaks for a 4-day immersive service experience with Atlanta Community Food Bank and local shelters. Volunteers will serve 6–7 hours per full day plus nightly reflection.”
Impact (created from that Event):
Attached Event: VOLBreaks: Alternative Fall Break – Hunger & Homelessness (Atlanta)
Impact Type: Time
Where You Served: Atlanta Community Food Bank & partner shelters
Hours Logged: 48
Date of Service: 10/10–10/13
Reflection: “We were on site the whole time, so I counted 12 hours per day for 4 days."
Dispute - Bulk Logged Hours
Tyler comes into the office during your front desk shift and asks "I served with Bristol Emergency Food Pantry on 5 separate occasions and my impacts were disputed. I'm required to complete service for my fraternity and I want to make sure these hours count."
You pull up Tyler's impact history and see his impacts have been logged and he served with Bristol Emergency Food Pantry between September 20th and October 3rd. These impact are still pending to be verified by the Food Pantry. What should you say to Tyler?
Your impacts have been pending for more than 31 days, which means the non-profit verifier you listed has not verified your service hours.
You can inform the nonprofit that they do not need a ServeUTK login to verify your impact and can verify your impact by clicking the blue “Yes, Verify Impact” button in the email.
Also, Tyler resend a verification request through ServeUTK.
Avery logs an impact in ServeUTK for 3 hours. The organization she selects from the ServeUTK dropdown is “Knox County Election Commission” (a government agency). The verifier listed is “Megan Carter” with the email megancarter@knoxcounty.org.
In the reflection, Avery writes:
“I volunteered at an event to help get out the vote. We used a script to call registered Knox County voters and remind them about Election Day. We also talked about why Senator Carter is the best choice and encouraged people to support her campaign."
Verify or Dispute?
Dispute - Partisan Political Activity
Bobby logged a write-in impact with Waltonwood Nursing Home for 5 hours. The email is connected to Waltonwood. In his reflection, Bobby said "I volunteered at Waltonwood Nursing Home to help coordinate activities with the elderly. I set up games and helped manage their activities throughout the day." When doing research, you discover that Waltonwood is not a 501(c)(3) and that they are a corporate chain of nursing homes.
Verify. The JCLS recognizes these volunteer opportunities because they have a community need serving the elderly.
Jake logged an impact with Volunteer Puppy Partners for 2 hours and had the event "Volunteer with SMSD" attached. You look at the event details and see that the event is being shared with Smokey Mountain Service Dogs. Also, you see that the creator of the event verified Jake's impact. Looking at his reflection, Jake said "I helped table for Volunteer Puppy Partners. We tabled on ped walkway and raised awareness for our organization and signed people up to join Volunteer Puppy Pals." Smokey Mountain Service Dogs is a registered 501(c)(3) organization.
Dispute - Internal Benefit
Organization: American Cancer Society
Date Created: November 1st, 2025
Hours: 4
Reflection: “I participated in Relay for Life and walked the track with my friends for 4 hours.”
Verifier: help@cancer.org
Dispute - Participation in Event
A parent of a student calls and wants to know how many network verified service hours their son has. How do you respond?
Let them know we aren't able to share student information due to FERPA rules, but let them know that their son can contact us at leadserve@utk.edu and we can walk them through the steps.