-
Welcome to the WDWMAGIC.COM Forums!
Please take a look around, and feel free to sign up and join the community.
When money is tight.......
- Thread starter NickMaio
- Start date
Thank you........
donaldtoo
Well-Known Member
Looks like a nice bonus is in order for them.
Most likely........
PR means little to this crew.
I just love their wording.....in the spirit of volunteerism we are no longer giving free park tickets to volunteers..........what?
lazyboy97o
Well-Known Member
And there are definitely no tax issues with compensating volunteers?
While I know of nothing that has changed from last year to this that would affect any such considerations, there are actually both tax and labor issues that theoretically could come into play. I doubt any such concerns are behind the change, but these are issues that somebody no doubt thought through at one point.
On the tax side, cash paid to a volunteer in excess of amounts to cover expenses is technically taxable to the volunteer, and non-cash gifts are typically treated like cash if they have a known fair value (e.g., if you perform services in exchange for a car, you should declare the value of the car). There are a myriad of exclusions and nuanced applications, of course, but in principle, it is a potential issue.
On the labor side, if a "volunteer" is given gifts or stipends that approximate what a normal wage might be for the services performed, the DOL might consider the person an employee or contract service provider, rather than a volunteer, which has some liability issues, at least. If a marathon volunteer works for 7 hours and gets a ticket worth north of $100 in return, that could be an issue.
As I noted, I don't think anything has changed with these laws or regulations, so I don't believe that's what is behind the change, but there are possibilities.
The people who drafted that portion of the release should be fired. And the people responsible for reviewing the release before it was released should also be fired.
The spirit of volunteerism........ha
Tha Realest
Well-Known Member
I wonder if the price increases (both for day and after hours events) have affected the taxable aspect of things?
AndyS2992
Well-Known Member
As per the press release, these RunDisney events raise money for Florida charities, therefore by volunteering, you’re helping to raise money for these charities and should be doing it for that reason, not to personally gain from it. If you’re doing it just for free tickets, then you’re doing it for the wrong reasons. Volunteers who are passionate about these charities will come and do a good job, whereas people just there for the tickets will probably not, hence why it’s been removed. Yeah it sucks that multi billion company doesn’t want to give out perks as a thank you but it is what it is, don’t volunteer if you don’t like it lol
Last edited:
DisneyNorthFan
Active Member
I volunteer at lots of events because I care about the cause, enjoy the people I'll be with, and/or because it's a fun atmosphere. The idea of volunteering is not to get a payment. I'm not sure I'd volunteer for this event, although I'm sure for many it is a great time. The optics of removing free tickets may be bad, at least in the short-term (so I understand where some of the negativity is coming in), but I don't really see free tickets as being something required, since no one is required to volunteer. No one is forcing you to volunteer, so if you think it's a bad deal to do so without free tickets, then just skip it. If they can't get enough people to do it, then the market will have spoken, and they may need to revisit.
