We have answers for:
Day of Caring® & Tours Q&A
Day of Caring® matches your group with an agency that can use your help, and are a great way to team up and get involved in your community. These volunteer opportunities boost morale, promote team-building and promote your company’s visibility in the community.
Day of Caring® strongly supports the needs of local agencies and their clients. By volunteering with these projects, you are helping agencies to focus more time and resources directly on their client’s needs and fulfills a gap in the community.
The opportunities listed are set by the agency’s needs, scheduling availability, and required resources. If an opportunity is set for a specific time or day, it is because the agency needs additional support at those times. Specific dates and times cannot be moved to accommodate a volunteer group, as the agency is meeting the needs of their clients.
Yes, however there are limited opportunities.
Depending on the opportunity, a budget may be required for materials. By covering the cost of materials, the agency can re-allocate their budget to providing more resources and support to their clients. Opportunities that require a budget requirement are specified within the Day of Caring® details.
- Painting
- Sponsoring, preparing, and serving meals
- Special evnt assistance
- Donation Sorting
- Outdoor gardening or landscaping
- Touring an agency
Search and view more volunteer opportunities here.
This depends on the opportunity and will be outlined by the agency before you arrive to volunteer.
Each project has a specific time commitment, but generally a minimum of two hours, up to eight hours, depending on the project.
Some projects may span multiple days, depending on their complexity.
Day of Caring® opportunities can accommodate as low as five, and up to 45 volunteers. We can work with you to book multiple opportunities to accommodate large groups.
Yes. Most opportunities are located at the agency or other site locations depending on the project.
If you cannot visit an agency, there are a few opportunities available to prepare sandwiches, soup, and cookies in house, or run a collection drive within your office.
Yes, but please inquire with the agency you will be volunteering with on what donations they need.
Workshops & Facilitated Activities Q&A
A workshop or facilitated activity is group exercise led by a United Way team member, where participants learn about a specific segment of United Way’s work through an engaging, hands on activity. Areas of focus include mental health, successful kids, poverty, community, and Indigenous awareness.
While most of our workshops and facilitated activities adhere to a set time, the Community Games activity can be a more flexible engagement as games can be left out for people to play at their convenience, or played as a timed race facilitated by someone at your workplace. Depending on requests, this activity can be booked for two days to allow for flexible participation.
Speaker Q&A
A United Way speaker is a member of our community who has a personal and/or client story to share. These speakers join you in your workplace to help educate your team about issues in the community and inspire people to get involved. Our speakers come from a variety of backgrounds, each with a story unique to them. Some speakers share personal stories, others are subject matter experts and thought leaders.
If you are interested in hosting a speaker, you need a minimum of 15 minutes and a minimum of 15 participants. Depending on size of room and audience size, a microphone may be required to ensure everyone can hear.
A panel features a United Way staff moderator, who hosts two to four speakers for a discussion on a specific topic with pre-determined questions, with the possibility of a question and answer period afterwards with the audience. This requires a 60 minute minimum time commitment, and a minimum of 50 participants.
A budget is not required to host a speaker.
Since we try to book a speaker that would best resonate with your team, we require a minimum of three weeks’ notice in order to book a speaker.
In the application process, we ask a variety of questions to help determine which speaker would work best for your group. While you cannot specifically choose a speaker or topic, we do our best to schedule a speaker that best fits what you outlined in the application process. As schedules of our speakers vary, we require flexibility when fulfilling your request.
United Way offers a variety of speech lengths and add-ons to suit your workplace. In the application, you can choose between 10 minutes, 15 minutes, 15 minutes + Q&A, and a 1 hour panel.
Depending on the availability of our speakers, one can certainly join you at the location of a volunteer project or agency tour. This may require extra time to book, so please give us as much notice as possible.
Speakers and a member of our United Way team will meet you approximately 10 minutes before the speech is scheduled to start. Before the speaker begins, we will do a brief introduction of the speaker. When the speaker concludes their talk there may be opportunity for a Q&A or you can thank the speaker and UW representative and continue with your event. The speaker will not stay after they have given their speech as this is volunteer time.