Why is every one upset about disney ending their GAD promotion?

[Indiana Rose Lee]

I misuderstood, then, and I apologize. I hadn't realized you had a child in your group. My mistake.

 

[luvsJack]

So, what is this year's theme now?

And what is a Y.E.S. class?

 

[FireDancer]

So, what is this year's theme now?

It is still Give a Day, Get a Day. The "give" part is past and those that did now have the rest of the year to do the "get" part.

It will probably be replaced with the 40th anniversary of WDW whenever they decide to start that.

 

[disneyjunkie]

I misuderstood, then, and I apologize. I hadn't realized you had a child in your group. My mistake.

No need to apologize.
When we started planning (when I posted on the YES thread), it was an adult only trip. Since then my cousin has decided to join us.

 

[allison443]

I don't understand why the one million person limit. This seems to be a GREAT way to encourage volunteerism and for Disney is a great "loss-leader". Everyone knows you spend money IN the parks, not getting in. I can't fathom why they would pull the plug on it. It is obviously popular and with the state of the world...Haiti, Chile...we need volunteers more than ever.

I can see them setting a limit....but actually it could be great publicity for disney if they advertised how they got one million already and are extending it for one million more, or something like that!

 

[FireDancer]

I can see them setting a limit....but actually it could be great publicity for disney if they advertised how they got one million already and are extending it for one million more, or something like that!

I think that tax law may have limited what they were willing to give away. The cost of the tickets can probably be written off as a charitable contribution. Maybe they limited it to one million because that is the closest round number to the maximum value they can write off. I write off all of the monetary donations I give.

Disney is a publicly traded company and has fiduciary responsibility to their shareholders. They are philanthropic but I don't begrudge them only giving up to the amount they can deduct as a way to offset the cost to their shareholders.

Of course I am not a tax lawyer and don't know for sure, I am just making an educated guess.

 

[Lisa loves Pooh]

I think that tax law may have limited what they were willing to give away. The cost of the tickets can probably be written off as a charitable contribution. Maybe they limited it to one million because that is the closest round number to the maximum value they can write off. I write off all of the monetary donations I give.

Disney is a publicly traded company and has fiduciary responsibility to their shareholders. They are philanthropic but I don't begrudge them only giving up to the amount they can deduct as a way to offset the cost to their shareholders.

Of course I am not a tax lawyer and don't know for sure, I am just making an educated guess.

Valid points!

I do wonder how many tickets they gave away last year though for the Birthday Celebration.

 

[Metsfan520]

Valid points!

I do wonder how many tickets they gave away last year though for the Birthday Celebration.

Probably a lot more, and that may be another reason they limited the GAD, GAD program.

 

[Mickeypooh99]

I don't think that the Disney people projected Hands On Network filling so many volunteer positions so quickly. Many Summer events were approved for the program but were not able to accept volunteers until 60 days out. Reading about the food drive in NC, how were they going to be able to give 4 vouchers for a donated bag of food? Yes,the Disney ticket was a nice incentive to encourage folks who do not volunteer, I just don't understand the inequity in time and efforts invested. Exactly what level of volunteerism is it to bake 2 dozen cookies and donate them? We spend 5 to 6 months planning a 1 week day camp for 200 scouts. What I see is the same people who volunteer as leaders also volunteer to plan and then run activities at the camp. We were hoping to use the GAD program as an incentive to motivate people who would otherwise not volunteer. I think it is a wasted effort to tell charities NOT to sign up volunteers. Perhaps even if all of the million vouchers were accounted for, there could have been a certificate of appreciation from the big mouse himself? If GAD was generating so much interest, it just appears to waste the opportunity to get volunteer activites front and center.

Thank you so much for that. I'm always amazed at the planning that goes into those camps. I'm a leader, and my DH helps out at camp. We are always looking for ways to get other parents to help. We had thought of using this promotion also to get people interested. (I didn't do the promotion myself since we aren't going this year, and I never thought about donating it!) It is so annoying to hear people say they don't have time to volunteer. I don't have time either, but I still do it. Our committee chair person says we are suffering from STP. Same ten people doing everything.

 

[eliza61]

Thank you so much for that. I'm always amazed at the planning that goes into those camps. I'm a leader, and my DH helps out at camp. We are always looking for ways to get other parents to help. We had thought of using this promotion also to get people interested. (I didn't do the promotion myself since we aren't going this year, and I never thought about donating it!) It is so annoying to hear people say they don't have time to volunteer. I don't have time either, but I still do it. Our committee chair person says we are suffering from STP. Same ten people doing everything.

That's always frustrating. You see the same thing at school activities. but the problem with "paying" volunteers (and let's face it GAD was a payout) is that once they got their voucher you'd be back at square one. So you'd get them there, half interested for 4 hours but after that those same people are back to " I don't have time"

 

[bicker]

I don't understand why the one million person limit.

The same reason that you personally put a limit on the number of days you visit WDW.

 

[bicker]

Disney needs to come up with a theme that does not include give aways. People just go crazy when they think they are missing out on something.

It won't make a difference --- if they did as you suggest, then people would complain about that.

 

[LuvCuteBoys]

What you are implying is a grievous distortion of what Disney promised.

The idea was very explicitly to encourage one million people to volunteer, and they did do a great job.

That's not what I meant. Someone above me compared it to free dining, etc. My point was that those kind of promotions have a different kind of deadline. It's easy to see "between such-and-such a date" and know that you have to do something between those dates.

You know that if you try to do it three days after the deadline, you aren't going to get the promotion. With the million people target, nobody knows where they stand with the cutoff.

I think it's great that they got a million people to volunteer. And I also think that they are entitled to do whatever they want. They could have set the cutoff to ten people, they could have made it an unlimited number of volunteers, or they could have not done it at all.

Regardless of any of that, I can understand people's disappointment and I'm not so quick to just automatically judge someone as being greedy.

 

[bicker]

I think practically all allegations of "being greedy" that people make these days are utterly ridiculous. Claiming someone or some company is greedy is trendy and hip, and typically utterly self-serving and vacuous.

I made no such accusations about anyone, earlier in this thread. That was other folks I suppose.

With regard to the issue of people not knowing where they stand with the cut-off, that's immaterial. If you read about the offer and you are interested in it, do what you have to register yourself for it. If you don't complete your obligations in this regard in time, then that's on you. I can understand people's disappointment, just as you, but I don't think people's disappointment at missing out translates into anything other than something disappointing. Trying to project it as something Disney did wrong is ludicrous. Why can't people just accept that sometimes things don't work out, without having to try to find someone else to blame about it?

 

[Aisling]

Valid points!

I do wonder how many tickets they gave away last year though for the Birthday Celebration.

They gave one away to me!

 

[englishteacha]

I do lots of volunteer work. I plan and lead a week of overnight camp, I run our church youth group, I volunteer at food pantries, benefit concerts and dinners, Operation Santa Claus, etc. None of the organizations I volunteer with participated in the GAD program. I mentioned it to 2 of them, and neither were interested in signing up. Like a PP said, it would be an excellent way to get more folks to volunteer. I spend 8 months preparing for camp. I'd love help, even if it were only for a few hours!!

And, yes, I did an "easy" GAD activity to get a ticket. It was for an organization to help new mothers. I didn't know they existed before GAD came out, and now I'm pleased to help them again in the future. I'm not upset the promotion is over, but I am disappointed that a) people may not volunteer for events later in the year and b) that some folks who regularly volunteer won't get something back for their hard work (and those folks will still volunteer anyway, even without a Disney ticket!).

 

[LuvCuteBoys]

I think practically all allegations of "being greedy" that people make these days are utterly ridiculous. Claiming someone or some company is greedy is trendy and hip, and typically utterly self-serving and vacuous.

I made no such accusations about anyone, earlier in this thread. That was other folks I suppose.

With regard to the issue of people not knowing where they stand with the cut-off, that's immaterial. If you read about the offer and you are interested in it, do what you have to register yourself for it. If you don't complete your obligations in this regard in time, then that's on you. I can understand people's disappointment, just as you, but I don't think people's disappointment at missing out translates into anything other than something disappointing. Trying to project it as something Disney did wrong is ludicrous. Why can't people just accept that sometimes things don't work out, without having to try to find someone else to blame about it?

Yes, it was others who used the "greedy" label and did it rather snarkily... I was just offering up a potential explanation for the disappointment and why the promotion itself was different from other promotions. I wasn't blaming Disney... and I think people can just be disappointed without it being someone's "fault".

I think it's possible that there's some other thread that I haven't seen or something. If people are blaming Disney that seems silly. But my reaction when I heard that it was over was "Oh, wow... that was quick. Oh well."

I wholeheartedly support volunteering... and I'm sure the organizations that benefitted from the promotion are thrilled with the results. Ultimately, that's all that matters to me

 

[bballmom56]

I was disappointed because I found an opportunity that I would absolutely love doing - right up my alley. I hadn't even signed up for the promotion, but reading threads about it here, I thought I would investigate. When I saw this request, I signed up right away. They responded that due to a large response they would be setting up an orientation for the end of March. I got an email a couple of days ago that said due to the large volume of GAD, they are unable to accept any more volunteers at this time. So I will email them back and say that when they need additional volunteers, to please contact me even though it won't qualify for GAD. It is something I would like to do.

I have been an active volunteer for several organizations in the past. At least the GAD promotion gave me another opportunity that I wasn't aware existed. It will be interesting to see if I hear back from them.

 

[Art 1]

I'm glad to see it over with.

 

[Laugh O. Grams]

I'm glad to see it over with.

I'm with you! Last thing I want to see when I'm at Disney is a bunch of free loading, namby-pamby do-gooders!!