How does Give A Day works for volunteers

Here you'll find a step-by-step guide on how to get started with Give a Day.

Organize all your volunteer work in one place. From signing up as a candidate, managing your schedule, handling paperwork, to managing your expense reimbursements. Everything is organized, always secure, which ensures greater impact. If your address, email, or phone number changes, simply update your profile, and all your organizations will automatically receive the new information.

Through the following 10 steps, you'll get to know the platform better.

Attention! When you register, your profile will automatically be set to public and is visible to organizations.They won't be able to see your personal details, but they can find you in the volunteer database and can reach out to you. Check step 10 to learn how to set your profile to private so that only your organizations can contact you.

Important! A volunteer organization always has the right to manage your data in a CRM system like Give a Day. When you're added, your profile is set to private by default. This means no one else can contact you except for your own organizations. If you want to search for additional volunteer opportunities and allow new organizations to contact you, set your profile to public. Check step 10 for instructions.

Tip: You didn’t receive the email to reset your password?

Make sure to check your spam folder. If you want to prevent these emails from going to spam in the future, mark the email as ‘Not Spam’. This way, future emails will appear directly in your inbox.

Note: Only the organizations where you are actively volunteering can see your personal information and assist you in updating it. When you respond to an active vacancy, the organization will be able to see your contact details so they can get in touch with you

Note: If it takes a long time for the organization to respond, go to step 3b. On the organization's profile, you'll also find a phone number to call them. You can also contact them directly through their profile page.

Note: You can always manage your registrations or unregister from events by following step 6.

Important! Make sure all your administration is up to date. This means that in each task block, the number should be 0, and there should be no outstanding tasks.

Note: If not all the organizations where you're active as a volunteer are listed in the table, contact your organization and ask them to add you to their Give a Day volunteer list. If they don't have a profile yet, they can create one using this link .

You want to unsubscribe? If you are no longer available for a task or training you’ve signed up for, unsubscribe yourself. This can be done in two ways: 1) Go to the "Registrations" tab, select the task, and then click "Unsubscribe". 2) Go to the first tab ("list"), select the "No" button to indicate you're unavailable.

The organization will be automatically notified so they can find a replacement. If your organization uses the planning module to generate expense reports, make sure to check that your scheduled days match the days you were actually volunteering.

What is a flat-rate reimbursement?

A flat-rate reimbursement allows you to reimburse volunteers for their expenses without requiring supporting documentation. However, you cannot exceed the maximum amounts set per year and per day. This can be combined with transportation reimbursements, such as a mileage allowance, limited to 2,000 km per year—unless you are a transport-specific volunteer.

What is a real expense reimbursement?

A real expense reimbursement allows you to reimburse volunteers for actual costs incurred. For this, you need to provide proof, such as receipts and clear information about the travel undertaken.

Important: Do not combine real and flat-rate reimbursements as a volunteer

You cannot submit receipts for real expense reimbursement with one organization and receive a flat-rate reimbursement with another. Within one tax year, you must choose only one reimbursement system. This is separate from, for example, purchases made for your organization, which you may cover in advance. In such cases, always make the purchase on an invoice in your organization's name. This can be directly processed in the accounting and does not need to go through an expense report.

The obligation to inform

Since the Law on Volunteer Work of 2005 , every volunteer organization (optional for informal associations) is required to provide certain information to you at the start of your volunteer work. This can be done verbally, but the organization must be able to prove that this information has been given to you. Therefore, organizations often choose to provide an informational note or a volunteer agreement, which is signed by both parties.

Insurance Obligation

Every volunteer organization is required to insure its volunteers (this is optional for informal associations). The minimum coverage is Liability Insurance for volunteers, but this can be supplemented with other types of insurance such as accident insurance, legal assistance, equipment insurance, and vehicle insurance, among others.

Privacy Statement

Since 2018, the GDPR (General Data Protection Regulation) has been in effect. The organization is obligated to have you sign a privacy statement, as it processes your personal data either on paper or digitally.

What is Included in the Informational Note or Volunteer Agreement?

Often, the information obligation and privacy statement are combined into one document, which you sign. Through the Give a Day platform, volunteer organizations can easily generate such volunteer agreements using an automatically fillable template. This template typically includes the following information:

• Contact details of the volunteer
• Contact details of the organization
• The purpose of the organization
• The organizational structure (e.g., non-profit, local government, etc.)
• Confidentiality obligation and, if applicable, a non-disclosure agreement
• Reimbursement policy or absence of reimbursement (organization’s choice)
• Insurance coverage for the volunteer
• Approval and a link to the privacy statement (online, e.g., via a website)

You can sign the agreement via SMS or in the traditional way (download, print, sign manually, and upload the signed version).

Flemish Volunteer Act

Volunteer organizations that are recognized or structurally subsidized by the Flemish Department of Welfare, Public Health, and Family have additional obligations. These include more comprehensive insurance coverage, mutual signature requirements, and additional elements to be included in the volunteer agreement. Here you find more information on the Flemish Volunteer Decree.

Note: Only time registrations from the past year are displayed. You can also retrieve older entries by adjusting the date range using the calendar icon at the top of the table.