FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS

FOR CANADIAN NOT-FOR-PROFIT ORGANIZATIONS & VOLUNTEER CENTRES

About Us

1. What is Volunteer Canada?
2. What is govolunteer.ca?
3. What is HandsOn Network? What is Points of Light Institute?

About the Program

4. What is the "Give a Day. Get a Disney Day." program?
5. Why should I opt into this program?
6. What is required of a verifying organization?
7. Does my organization have to pay a fee in order to collaborate with Volunteer Canada in the "Give a Day. Get a Disney Day."

About Becoming a Participating Organization, and Posting Positions

8. How can my organization and its volunteer opportunities participate in the program?
9. Our organization is already a member of govolunteer.ca. How do we register for "Give a Day. Get a Disney Day."?
10. Our organization does not currently post positions on govolunteer.ca. How do we register for "Give a Day. Get a Disney Day."?
11. Must all "Give a Day. Get a Disney Day." positions be posted on govolunteer.ca?
12. If I post volunteer opportunities on govolunteer.ca, where will they appear?

About the Volunteer Verification Process

13. The terms of the program state (in part) that my organization agrees to report and verify volunteer attendance. Does that mean my organization must verify all volunteer attendance for all of the opportunities I post? And how do I do that?
14. Why do I have two different usernames and passwords for govolunteer.ca and the Volunteer Opportunities Portal?
15. What if attendance is not verified within 72 hours of the service being completed?
16. Can anyone in my organization verify attendance?

About Volunteers

17. Can volunteers only sign up for the "Give a Day. Get a Disney Day" through www.disneyparks.ca?
18. Can volunteers register on www.disneyparks.ca, but find an opportunity on another website as long as their attendance is verified?
19. What if the volunteer can't find a qualifying opportunity on www.disneyparks.ca?
20. Can groups of volunteers sign up?
21. Is it possible for a volunteer to sign up for an opportunity and we then run out of vouchers by the time they actually volunteer?
22. How far in advance can volunteers sign up for a volunteer opportunity under the program?
23. Will volunteers have to pay to sign up or participate in a service project?
24. When does the "Give a Day. Get a Disney Day." program end?
25. Who can participate?
26. How often can a volunteer get a free ticket?
27. Can we specify age limits on the volunteers who apply?
28. How long does the volunteer opportunity have to last and what kind of opportunities qualify?
29. Where should volunteers go for more information on the program?

Technology Questions for Organizations that do not currently use govolunteer.ca

30. What if we do not have the time or staff to enter opportunities manually on
31. What is the benefit to manually listing our projects instead of just showing up as a verifying organization in the search results on www.disneyparks.ca?

Technical Questions for current govolunteer.ca users

32. Does being a current member of govolunteer.ca offer any advantages to me?
33. Do I still need to register if I am a current user of govolunteer.ca?
34. If we use govolunteer.ca, how will we manage our opportunities?
35. If I am a Canadian organization, can I still edit my positions in the VOP?
36. How often is data updated between the Volunteer Opportunity Portal (http://vop.handsonnetwork.org) and govolunteer.ca?

General Technical Questions

37. I can't remember my username or password for govolunteer.ca. What do I do?
38. I posted a position on govolunteer.ca, but it hasn't appeared in the search. Why not?
39. When I tried to register my organization I got error messages saying my organization name "has already been taken" or my email address "has already been registered by an organization."
40. Where will my organization's volunteer roles appear?
41. What if more than one person in my organization needs to access the system to verify volunteer attendance and/or post opportunities?
42. I never got the email to 'validate my account'. What do I do?
43. How will I know how to use the Volunteer Opportunity Portal to verify volunteers?
44. What about opportunities that are not on a specific date and time, or that require more than a one-day commitment?
45. When I log into my account, why can't I find a place to post opportunities?
46. I am a representative of a national organization with several local chapters (or a school district with several schools). Should I register once as a national organization or should I have each of our local chapters register separately?

What if I need more information?

About Us

1. What is Volunteer Canada?

Volunteer Canada is an International Partner of HandsOn Network and is the national voice of volunteerism in Canada. This organization is helping to deliver the "Give a Day. Get a Disney Day." campaign to Canadians.

Working with a network of volunteer centres and more than 161,000 non-profit agencies across Canada — all of which rely on volunteer efforts to accomplish their missions in their communities, Volunteer Canada actively leads national dialogues on how volunteerism is related to citizen engagement and civil society and provides leadership on issues and trends in the Canadian volunteer movement.

2. What is govolunteer.ca?

Launched in 2003, govolunteer.ca seeks to enable and promote civic engagement. This unique, innovative, and user-friendly portal quickly and easily connects potential volunteers with not-for-profit organizations in their area. govolunteer.ca currently receives over 3,000,000 million page views per year and benefits 11 volunteer centres, over 2,000 community organizations, and millions of potential volunteers. Through govolunteer.ca, volunteers and available volunteer roles come together, civic engagement grows in our society, and voluntary sector organizations increase their ability to deliver on mission.

3. What is HandsOn Network? What is Points of Light Institute?

HandsOn Network, the volunteer-focused arm of Points of Light Institute, is the largest volunteer network in the United States and includes more than 250 HandsOn Action Centers that reach more than 83% of the nation's population. These affiliates act as community hubs and places where people can get connected, get involved and make change happen in their communities.

About the Program

4. What is the "Give a Day. Get a Disney Day." program?
"Give a Day. Get a Disney Day." is a program that celebrates and inspires volunteerism. Disney is working with Volunteer Canada in Canada and the HandsOn Network in the United States to connect volunteers to community need. Disney is thanking those who volunteer for an eligible volunteer opportunity by giving them a free ticket good for one day admission to a Walt Disney World® or Disneyland® theme park.

5. Why should I opt into this program?
In addition to providing you a great way to celebrate your volunteers, you can increase awareness of your organization and recruit new volunteers.

6. What is required of a verifying organization?
Verifying organizations must comply with the following basic requirements:

• Your organization must be a registered Charity or Not-For-Profit Society
• You must register as a participating "Give a Day. Get a Disney Day" organization through govolunteer.ca. Current govolunteer.ca users should log in as usual and accept the terms and conditions, while new organizations must first sign up for govolunteer.ca by providing their contact information.
• You must agree to respond to inquiries from volunteers regarding your opportunities within 72 hours.
• You must agree to verify volunteer participation within 72 hours of their scheduled day of service.
• You must agree to participate with opportunities that can start on January 1, 2010 through program completion which will be no later than December 15, 2010.
• Full terms and conditions will be presented to you as part of the sign-up process.

7. Does my organization have to pay a fee in order to collaborate with Volunteer Canada in the "Give a Day. Get a Disney Day." program?
Organizations are not required to pay any fees. Volunteer Canada and other Volunteer Centres may charge a fee if an organization requests the Centre's assistance in managing a volunteer project. Please contact your local Volunteer Centre to find out more about project management assistance and other available resources.

About Becoming a Participating Organization, and posting positions

8. How can my organization and its volunteer opportunities participate in the program?
In order to be eligible to participate in this program, organizations must accept the terms and conditions, and fall into one of the following categories:

• Canadian Volunteer Centres
• Registered Not-For-Profit Societies in a province or territory of Canada
• Registered Charity in Canada

9. Our organization is already a member of govolunteer.ca. How do we register for "Give a Day. Get a Disney Day."?
Simply visit www.govolunteer.ca/members, and sign in as usual. Click on the "Give a Day. Get a Disney Day." logo, accept the program's terms and conditions, and follow the instructions provided. PLEASE NOTE: You must manually edit each of your existing volunteer opportunities in order to opt them into the program and ensure that they appear in the volunteer search. You can also add new positions. Positions will be posted live on govolunteer.ca, the HandsOn Network's Volunteer Opportunity Portal, and DisneyParks.ca beginning January 1, 2010.

10. Our organization does not currently post positions on govolunteer.ca. How do we register for "Give a Day. Get a Disney Day."?
Simply visit www.govolunteer.ca, select your province or territory, click on the "Give a Day. Get a Disney Day." logo and follow the instructions. This process will require you to accept the program's terms and conditions, provide the required information regarding your organization, and set up a username and password for govolunteer.ca. The registration process will only take you a few minutes. You can then use this username and password immediately, and begin to post positions. Positions will be posted live on govolunteer.ca and the HandsOn Network's Volunteer Opportunity Portal through DisneyParks.ca beginning January 1, 2010.

11. Must all "Give a Day. Get a Disney Day." positions be posted on govolunteer.ca?
All Canadian organizations who want to participate in this program must register through govolunteer.ca. By registering, potential volunteers will be able to view your organization's contact details on DisneyParks.ca and proactively contact you regarding what volunteer opportunities you have available. However, volunteers are more likely to sign up for opportunities that are easily found in the search, so it's to your advantage to list them directly.

12. If I post volunteer opportunities on govolunteer.ca, where will they appear?
By registering for this program and posting positions on govolunteer.ca, your organization's contact information and volunteer roles will be automatically posted to and viewable by volunteers searching in the following locations:
- govolunteer.ca
- HandsOn Network's Volunteer Opportunities Portal (accessible through DisneyParks.ca)
However, organizations will manage their contact information and volunteer postings only through govolunteer.ca. Organizations will verify their volunteers' service through the HandsOn Network's Volunteer Opportunities Portal.

If you need assistance and your question is not answered in these FAQs, please scroll to the bottom of this document and contact the appropriate support team.

About the Volunteer Verification Process

13. The terms of the program state (in part) that my organization agrees to report and verify volunteer attendance. Does that mean my organization must verify all volunteer attendance for all of the opportunities I post? And how do I do that?
Yes. Within 24 hours of registering for the "Give a Day. Get a Disney Day." program, you will receive an email directing you to verify your organization's details and set up a separate username and password for the HandsOn Network Volunteer Opportunity Portal. You are required to use this system to verify volunteer attendance. If you are a national or large organization with different local chapters, those chapters should register separately unless your organization can verify attendance for all of the opportunities offered. Attendance must be verified within 72 hours of completion of service.

14. Why do I have two different usernames and passwords for govolunteer.ca and the Volunteer Opportunities Portal?
These are actually two separate sites. For security reasons, you must create a separate username and password to verify your volunteers' service to the one that you use to sign into govolunteer.ca and post volunteer positions.

15. What if attendance is not verified within 72 hours of the service being completed?
If attendance is not verified within 72 hours of the service being completed, the verifying organization risks being removed from the program. HandsOn Network will send an e-mail reminder when the verification is due, and another e-mail reminder once another 72 hours has passed and attendance still has not been verified.

16. Can anyone in my organization verify attendance?
Yes. Once an account has been established and is approved for a verifying organization, you will have the opportunity to add users to your account. If more than one person is going to log in and verify attendance, separate use accounts must be created for each person.

If you need assistance and your question is not answered in these FAQs, please scroll to the bottom of this document and contact the appropriate support team.

About Volunteers

17. Can volunteers only sign up for the "Give a Day. Get a Disney Day" through www.disneyparks.ca?
Yes, volunteers MUST sign up on www.DisneyParks.ca in order to participate in the program.

18. Can volunteers register on www.disneyparks.ca, but find an opportunity on another website as long as their attendance is verified?
Volunteers MUST register for the "Give a Day. Get a Disney Day." program on www.DisneyParks.ca, and they MUST use www.DisneyParks.ca to register their qualifying opportunity.

Similarly, all participating organizations MUST register for the "Give a Day. Get a Disney Day." program on govolunteer.ca, and they must use the HandsOn Network's Volunteer Opportunities Portal to verify their volunteers' service.

Once registered for the program, organizations can post opportunities on govolunteer.ca, and these opportunities will be included in the search results on www.DisneyParks.ca. Volunteers will search and find volunteer opportunities on both govolunteer.ca and DisneyParks.ca. Volunteers will also be given the option to contact verifying organizations listed on DisneyParks.ca directly to find qualifying volunteer opportunities.

If a volunteer contacts a verifying organization directly, one of two actions must occur when they find a qualifying opportunity:

• the organization can post the opportunity on govolunteer.ca (which means that it will show up in the search results on www.DisneyParks.ca) and the volunteer must then sign up for it. Or;
• volunteers must be directed back to www.DisneyParks.ca to sign-up for the program (if they haven't already) and register that opportunity as a commitment they've made with the verifying organization.

If a volunteer finds a qualifying position on govolunteer.ca, they must also register for that position through DisneyParks.ca in order to enable verification and receive their pass.

If a volunteer finds an opportunity through another means, they will have to arrange to participate for that opportunity through a verifying organization that they find on www.DisneyParks.ca AND either have that organization post the opportunity on www.DisneyParks.ca OR register it themselves on www.DisneyParks.ca.

19. What if the volunteer can't find a qualifying opportunity on www.disneyparks.ca?
Volunteers can contact any of the verifying organizations that are on www.DisneyParks.ca and arrange to volunteer with them and then sign-up in the manner described in the previous question. Volunteers can also encourage organizations to apply to become a verifying organization, and to list their volunteer opportunities directly on govolunteer.ca to make the sign-up process simpler for them.

20. Can groups of volunteers sign up?
Members of the same household (i.e., same address) can sign up to volunteer together on www.DisneyParks.ca. Other non-household groups must register individually and can sign up for the same volunteer opportunity as space allows

21. Is it possible for a volunteer to sign up for an opportunity and we then run out of vouchers by the time they actually volunteer?
Once a volunteer registers and finds a qualifying opportunity on www.DisneyParks.ca, the volunteer will commit to serving. The voucher will be reserved for the volunteer at the time they commit to serving. After they serve and their attendance is verified, they will receive their voucher. Disney will track the reserved and distributed vouchers to ensure all qualifying volunteers receive their voucher.

22. How far in advance can volunteers sign up for a volunteer opportunity under the program?
Volunteers may sign up beginning January 1^st, 2010. Volunteers cannot sign-up for a volunteer opportunity under the program that is more than 60 days in the future.

23. Will volunteers have to pay to sign up or participate in a service project?
No. Volunteers do not have to pay to sign up or participate in a service project in connection with the "Give a Day. Get a Disney Day." program.

24. When does the "Give a Day. Get a Disney Day." program end?
Ticket quantities for this program are limited. The program begins January 1, 2010 and continues until all tickets are distributed or December 15, 2010, whichever occurs first.

25. Who can participate?
Volunteers can participate in the program by completing service for an eligible volunteer opportunity in the United States, Puerto Rico or Canada. However, they must sign up for an eligible volunteer opportunity through disneyparks.ca and only individuals with a residence in the United States, Puerto Rico, or Canada can sign up on this site.

26. How often can a volunteer get a free ticket?
The program is limited to one ticket per person, regardless of the number of times they volunteer.

27. Can we specify age limits on the volunteers who apply?
This program is open to volunteers aged 6 and above, but you can specify a minimum age for each opportunity. However, the goal of this program is to bring families together in the spirit of volunteerism, and we urge you to consider children as young as 6 to participate, where safe and practical.

We also encourage you to post group opportunities, as many households will be looking for opportunities to volunteer together. Those who choose to volunteer as a 'family team' will be limited to no more than nine volunteers.

All minors can be required to attend with a parent or guardian, who will be able to sign any waivers you require of volunteers.

28. How long does the volunteer opportunity have to last and what kind of opportunities qualify?
You can determine a suitable volunteer opportunity and duration. As long as it serves the community, and the service has value, any opportunity you list and verify will count for this program.

29. Where should volunteers go for more information on the program?
Volunteers that have questions about the "Give a Day. Get a Disney Day." program should be directed to DisneyParks.ca, where they will find access to FAQs, terms and condition, and contact information for volunteer support.

If you need assistance and your question is not answered in these FAQs, please scroll to the bottom of this document and contact the appropriate support team.

Technology Questions for Organizations that do not currently use govolunteer.ca

30. What if we do not have the time or staff to enter opportunities manually on govolunteer.ca?
In that case, your organization can still register to be a verifying organization through govolunteer.ca. This is a quick and easy process. In addition to searching for specific volunteer opportunities, volunteers will be able to view verifying organizations in their area and contact them directly to find out what opportunities that they offer. When volunteers find an opportunity with a verifying organization, the volunteer will obtain basic information about the opportunity (the name of the organization, the name of the opportunity, a brief description of the opportunity, the date and time, etc.). Once the verifying organization and the volunteer have agreed on these details, the volunteer will return to DisneyParks.ca and indicate that they found a qualifying opportunity. They will enter the verifying organization's name for their volunteer commitment. When they do this, the verifying organization will receive an email reminder that a volunteer has signed up to volunteer with them and that they must come to the VOP within 72 hours of their service date to verify their attendance.

31. What is the benefit to manually listing our projects instead of just showing up as a verifying organization in the search results on www.disneyparks.ca?
Volunteers are more likely to sign up for opportunities that are easily found in the search, so it's to your advantage to list them directly. We'll send you an email notifying you whenever a volunteer signs up for an opportunity found directly in the search.

Technical Questions for current govolunteer.ca users

32. Does being a current member of govolunteer.ca offer any advantages to me?
Yes. Your information and opportunities already exist in govolunteer.ca, and will be pre-populated into the Volunteer Opportunity Portal, so this information will not need to be entered manually. You only need to sign in and accept the program's terms and conditions. You can then select and edit the opportunities you currently have posted in govolunteer.ca, to opt them into the program. You can also add new volunteer opportunities.

33. Do I still need to register if I am a current user of govolunteer.ca?
Yes. Even if you already use govolunteer.ca, you must sign in as usual and register for the program. PLEASE NOTE: You must also manually opt in your current positions by editing and resubmitting them, but any new positions that you post will automatically be fed into the search on DisneyParks.ca. However, all verifications of volunteer attendance will be made in the Volunteer Opportunity Portal.

34. If we use govolunteer.ca, how will we manage our opportunities?
All opportunities will be managed in govolunteer.ca, except for the verification of volunteer attendance, which will be done in the Volunteer Opportunity Portal.

35. If I am a Canadian organization, can I still edit my positions in the VOP?
No. You cannot edit your opportunities in the Volunteer Opportunity Portal (other than to indicate that you do not want to have one or more of your opportunities visible in search. This option will allow you to temporarily remove an opportunity from search if you want to cut down the number of volunteers who contact you for a while). Any changes to opportunity content must be made in govolunteer.ca. The only significant action that you will take in the VOP is to verify volunteer attendance.

36. How often is data updated between the Volunteer Opportunity Portal (http://vop.handsonnetwork.org) and govolunteer.ca?
Changes to your opportunity database are pulled once a day. Any new opportunities or expired opportunities will be updated in the search results on DisneyParks.ca within 24 hours of your entering the information in govolunteer.ca.

General Technical Questions

37. I can't remember my username or password for govolunteer.ca. What do I do?
Please try to retrieve this information using the govolunteer.ca "forgot password" function. If this does not work, please email the govolunteer.ca support team and we can provide you with that information.

38. I posted a position ongovolunteer.ca, but it hasn't appeared in the search. Why not?
"Give a Day. Get a Disney Day." positions will not appear on govolunteer.ca or DisneyParks.ca until January 1, 2010. In addition, each position is reviewed and manually approved by the govolunteer.ca support team, which typically takes up to 24 hours.

39. When I tried to register my organization I got error messages saying my organization name "has already been taken" or my email address "has already been registered by an organization." What do I do?
No two users or organizations can have the same email address in the system. The email address you have entered has already been registered by someone. This probably means your organization has already been registered for the program. Please check with other members of your organization before entering another email address to avoid creating a duplicate organizational account. If you feel someone has used your email address by error, please scroll to the bottom of this page for help.

40. Where will my organization's volunteer roles appear?
By registering for this program and posting positions on govolunteer.ca, your organization's contact information and volunteer roles will automatically be posted to and viewed by volunteers searching in the following locations:
- govolunteer.ca
- HandOn Network's Volunteer Opportunities Portal (accessible through DisneyParks.ca)
However, organizations will manage their contact information and volunteer postings only through govolunteer.ca. Organizations will verify their volunteers' service through the HandsOn Network's Volunteer Opportunities Portal.

41. What if more than one person in my organization needs to access the system to verify volunteer attendance and/or post opportunities?
Once your account is activated and approved, you'll have the opportunity to create additional user accounts for others in your organization. Each user will have their own log-in and password associated with your organization.

42. I never got the email to 'validate my account'. What do I do?
Check your spam or junk mail folder. Emails will come from do-not-reply@vop.handsonnetwork.org. We urge you to add this email to your address book so your email client does not treat emails from us as spam.

If you go not receive a validation email still, click here and enter the e-mail address with which you registered. Another e-mail will be sent to you with a link that will allow you to reset your password and activate your account.

43. How will I know how to use the Volunteer Opportunity Portal to verify volunteers?
The VOP is easy to use for verifying volunteer service. If you have questions, please scroll to the bottom of this page for the HandsOn Network support team contact information.

44. What about opportunities that are not on a specific date and time, or that require more than a one-day commitment?
Though the focus of the "Give a Day. Get a Disney Day." program is to encourage people to commit to serve one volunteer day, there will be many ongoing opportunities listed. Some date- and time-specific opportunities will be available, and others will be flexibly scheduled, or require some screening. In these cases, volunteers will contact the organization directly to inquire about the opportunity, and to work out the details. When the volunteer has been scheduled for a specific time and date to begin their volunteer engagement, they will return to DisneyParks.ca, register their commitment, and record their scheduled date of service. The verifying organization will receive an email notifying them that the volunteer has registered themselves for the opportunity on that specific date.

45. When I log into my account, why can't I find a place to post opportunities?
Canadian organizations will not have the option to post volunteer opportunities on the HandsOn Network Volunteer Opportunity Portal. You must post and edit all opportunities through govolunteer.ca.

46. I am a representative of a national organization with several local chapters (or a school district with several schools). Should I register once as a national organization or should I have each of our local chapters register separately?
The choice is yours. If the national organization wants to take on the responsibility of verifying attendance for all of the opportunities that the chapters post, then you only need to register once. Multiple user accounts can be created under each organization so that each chapter can have their own log-in information to verify hours. However, if the national organization wants to assign this responsibility to the individual chapter, then each chapter should register separately.

For more information

Need help or have a question that wasn't answered above? Read the below, and identify the most appropriate contact for your question:

For general "Give a Day. Get a Disney Day." program questions:
Click here to contact Volunteer Canada

For technical support regarding govolunteer.ca registration and posting process:
Click here to contact the govolunteer.ca Support Team

For technical support regarding the validation process:
Click here to contact the HandsOn Network Support Team

For questions or support regarding volunteer registration or participation:
Visit www.DisneyParks.ca