VOLUNTEER FAQS

Our mission is simple and sweet, and we want to make sure your experience is, too! You probably have a lot of questions, and we’re here to answer them.

INITIAL VOLUNTEERING

  • We’re in a lot of places! Check out our Chapter List to see all the states and counties we’re open in, and going to open in as well - yours might be next! If you’d like your city to be considered, submit for consideration. At this time, we are not opening new chapters - but keep checking in!

  • We’re a one-on-one org, otherwise there are just too many cooks in the kitchen! Each cake is special, and we’d like volunteers to keep it that way. Plus, all baking is done in the volunteer’s own kitchen, and cakes are requested as they’re needed — so we can’t facilitate a corporate/group event.

  • Nope! You’re welcome to bake whenever the mood strikes and your schedule allows. You choose the cakes (dates and delivery locations included) that work best for you. We’d love for you to bake about 1-2 times a year, if possible.

    To help prevent burnout and make sure all volunteers have a chance to bake, we ask that bakers limit how many cakes they take on per month. We don’t want anyone to spread their frosting too thin! Some chapters have their specific own limits based on cake request volume and volunteer demand. If any limits apply, your Chapter Stewards will let you know.

    For chapter-specific guidelines, please check in with your Chapter Stewards by reaching out through the Volunteer Portal.

  • You, our volunteer, must be at least 18 years old. If you’re under 18, your parent or guardian must be the volunteer in good standing. We love our little bakers, we just ask that they are supervised with an adult (the volunteer in good standing) at all times to prevent any accidents. This is for liability/insurance issues. 

  • You are able to choose the bakes based on your own schedule and capability. Those bakes are in the Volunteer Portal and provide all the information as to flavor, delivery date and window of time, plus address -- all before you sign up.

  • Yes! In order to become a volunteer, you must take the online orientation - this is non-negotiable. The orientation has two parts: How We Work and Food Safety. If you have a Food Handler’s License, the Food Safety quiz should be a breeze, and you’ll get to learn how we work!

  • The orientation takes approximately 20-40 minutes, and we ask that you do both modules at the same time.

  • The auto policy and driver’s license info is for legalities as you would be driving the cake for deliveries, and we need you to show proof of a valid license & that you're insured. Every so often you'll receive a reminder to update your insurance info in the Volunteer Portal as it expires.

    We have a robust security policy and the chief of security with the company who created our software also created encryption security for the government.

    Don’t drive? Then you don’t need to check the box that asks if you have a driver’s license. We’re looking at you, NYC!

  • We don’t have a physical location - all baking is done in your home. Part of your donation is also the donation of purchased ingredients. At the end of the year, we send out an “in-kind donation” receipt for all bakes made that year. For all tax deduction-specific questions, please reach out to your tax attorney. We are not legally able to answer any tax-specific questions.

  • Agencies are typically located where the need is greatest in your city or region, which can be widespread! Our Chapter Leaders work hard to partner with agencies in various areas, but sometimes they may still be far from some volunteers.

  • Yes! Each cake is worth three (3) hours of community service credit for 1 cake per week (12 hours per month). Cake assignments are not guaranteed. We cannot sign off for cakes that you have not yet delivered (even if you signed up for them), and you cannot sign up for multiple cakes in one day to check off your community service hours. Otherwise, we’re more than happy to accommodate a sign off - you should be recognized for the good you do in your community! Reach out to your Chapter Stewards (via the Volunteer Portal) with a photo of your finished bake and they can help with the paperwork.

  • Of course! Please don’t give away the name of the agency it’s going to. First name and age of the recipient isokay to show!

    Please tag us in any related posts for the following social media platforms:

    Facebook: facebook.com/forgoodnesscakesinc/
    Instagram: instagram.com/forgoodnesscakeshq

    We also have Chapter Instagram accounts - check them out on the Find A Chapter page!

  • If Picasso, Jackson Pollock, and three identical unicorns all decorated the same cake, what do you think it would look like?

    Yeah, that creative.

  • Of course! No one ever started out piping perfect flowers, everything is practiced. Let us help you practice by baking some cakes for some deserving children. All we ask is that you use a recipe you’re familiar with (i.e., taste tested and confirmed delicious), or a box mix/can of frosting. Check out some of these awesome YouTube videos for basic decorating techniques! When you join our Sprinkle Squad, you’ll get access to our baking technique classes over Zoom :)

    Icing a cake upside down for that super pro look! by Food & Wine
    Cake by Courtney: lots of great tips on decorating!

  • Unfortunately, we legally cannot take videos or photos of the cake’s recipients except in super rare circumstances. But rest assured, your cake was thoroughly enjoyed!

  • Yes you can - with a couple rules/considerations:

    1. Your parent or guardian must be the active volunteer and must pass the orientation themselves. When you take the orientation your own account will not be active until you turn 18.

    2. Yes, you can get community service credit even though the bakes are through your parent or guardian’s profile. Just reach out to your Chapter Stewards (via the Volunteer Portal) to sign off on your hours. Note that you must submit a picture of the bake, first.

    3. Community service hours are limited to 1x/week, up to four (4) per month. Each bake is considered 3 hours.

  • Due to the dangers and liabilities of “if it goes wrong,” we don't take allergen requests from agencies.

    You're welcome to bake allergen-friendly if that's what your home requires, but the taste and texture should still be delicious and in line with what the kids expect and are used to.

    Every now & then we get a dietary-friendly request that is not allergen related but "preference only," so you can watch for those as well.

  • We do not offer any reimbursement to volunteers. For all tax deduction-specific questions, please reach out to your tax attorney. We are not legally able to answer any tax-specific questions.

  • Yes you can! You're welcome to use TaskRabbit (here's a first-time coupon!) or Uber to deliver on your behalf, or have a friend/family member deliver as long as they have a current and valid license and auto insurance.

  • We totally understand! Reach out and join whenever you’re ready for a fun afternoon of good feels.

ACTIVE VOLUNTEERS- GENERAL/CAKE QUESTIONS

  • Yes there are!

    Size Requirements:
    1. 8” or 9” double layered cake OR a single layer 9”x"13” rectangle cake - these are the minimum serving requirements for cake, zero exceptions
    2. Minimum of one (2) dozen regular sized cupcakes, or two (3) dozen mini cupcakes, zero exceptions.

    Flavor Requirements:
    1. Flavor(s) requested MUST be met, zero exceptions. Decorating requests are less strict - do the best you can! But we’d love it if you stuck to the general theme of what they’re requesting.
    2. Requests are labeled as “Birthday” or “Graduation,” with the occasional holiday or special request mixed in, so please decorate accordingly.

    SUPER IMPORTANT: DO NOT CONTACT THE AGENCY FOR CAKE QUESTIONS, PLEASE ASK YOUR CHAPTER STEWARDS (via the Volunteer Portal) FOR FURTHER SUPPORT.

  • You are allowed to post the cake itself in all its beautiful glory - but please don’t give away the name of the agency it’s going to. First name and age of the recipient is okay to show!

    Here is where you can post/tag us:

    Facebook: facebook.com/forgoodnesscakesinc/
    Instagram: instagram.com/forgoodnesscakeshq

    Check out our individual Chapter Instagrams too! Find them here.

  • If you’re sick, please do not bake and do not deliver—even a store-bought cake. The agencies we serve need to stay healthy, too. Cancel your cake request as soon as possible via the Volunteer Portal, and we’ll reassign it to another volunteer.

    If an emergency comes up, you’re welcome to purchase a cake instead, but please let your Chapter Stewards know first. We appreciate your donation! If you need to cancel altogether, submit a cancellation request through the Volunteer Portal. Purchased cakes should still meet our orientation requirements: they must say “Happy Birthday [name]” and match the requested flavor; it is not required to match the theme, since it will likely be purchased last-minute, but it is encouraged wherever possible.

  • We’re glad you asked! If you’re not familiar with baking cakes from scratch, we highly encourage using box mix and canned frosting. Baking is a science, and cakes are no exception. Ask our Executive Director some time about the 10 years of red velvet cake recipes she had a disastrous time with before FINALLY finding a good one (seriously - it took 10 years). 

    One more thing: we love our fellow pro chefs, but please know that cookbooks don’t always taste how you’ve experienced the recipes if you have gone to their restaurant/bakery. There are a lot of reasons behind this: food made in large volumes are always measured a bit differently, you may be using other brands (and yes, some brands are more suited for the recipe than others), and pro chefs have years of experience and commercial equipment. We highly encourage you to test, test, test all recipes, learn from mistakes/failures, and be mindful about the season. Humidity/heat/cold in your kitchen affect more than you know!

    That being said, here’s a list of our favorite recipes, food blogs, and cookbooks we’ve had great results with:

    Recipes:Best Chocolate Cake Ever
    Best Vanilla Cake Ever
    Tres Leches Cake
    Vibrant and Flavorful Fruit Frostings

    Food Blogs:Sally’s Baking Addiction
    Smitten Kitchen
    Serious Eats

    Cookbooks:The Violet Bakery by Claire Ptak

  • This can be super frustrating, but there are a few reasons why this is happening:

    (1) You live in a higher income area: nonprofits who help underserved youth/young adults cannot pay for the higher rents the way for-profit businesses can (because majority of revenues need to go toward the program!), and the number of building owners willing to donate space drop dramatically the higher the rents they can fetch, so there may be one or two agencies who work with the city for subsidized rent. Overwhelmingly, though, agencies are located in areas that suit their budgets. This may be a bit farther away.

    (2) The agencies that are in your area may request a smaller number of cakes a month, so you have to be more vigilant about checking the calendar. Agencies are reminded around the end of the month to submit their cake requests for the next month, so check around then!

    (3) There aren’t enough volunteers in your area, so we don’t partner with more agencies until there are. This is where you can help - post about your experience on social media and help us find more volunteers! They can take our online orientation and join our Sprinkle Squad quickly, and we’ll notice where there’s an uptick. 

  • We’re happy to help! Click the “Contact Your Chapter Stewards” button at the top of the Volunteer Portal, and they’ll provide the information you need. Please do not reach out to the agency to seek clarification on flavors or themes. 

  • We understand why that might add some helpful context.

    Here’s a paper copy of the request form that agencies use.

  • That’s intentional! To reduce confusion for both agencies submitting requests and volunteers interpreting them, we recently removed the “filling” field for agencies. That doesn’t mean you should leave the cake layers bare! For the filling, we recommend keeping it simple—using the same frosting that’s on the outside is what we recommend. You can also use any tried-and-true filling with a similar flavor profile. For example, vanilla pudding on a vanilla cake with vanilla buttercream is great, but please avoid adding other flavors or fruits unless the request specifically mentions them.

  • “Baker’s Choice” for cake flavor, frosting type, or frosting flavor means you can pick whichever option you like for that category. We recommend choosing something classic that kids will enjoy.

    If a bake is listed as Baker’s Choice, you get to decide everything—flavor, frosting, design, piping, colors, theme—anything! Have fun and get creative. The only rule: if it’s a birthday cake, be sure to include “Happy Birthday” somewhere on the cake.

    If the cake is for an academic graduation, it will be clearly noted in the request.

  • Yep, that’s intentional! We’ve been cutting down on emails to avoid overwhelming our volunteers. The 72-hour reminder is just a little nudge to make sure you’re ready to start baking soon. 

    If you want to double-check your sign-up, head over to the “My Bakes” section of the Volunteer Portal. There, you’ll see all your past and upcoming bakes.

  • That’s totally up to you! Here are just some examples of what our creative volunteers are capable of —

    image|my image|#

    This is where you get to shine! First off, see our volunteer-baked gallery on Instagram for more inspiration.

    Specified Name
    You might be provided a first name, age, and theme of the cake – these can look any way you’d like! Please include the name somewhere on the cake via frosting or cake topper AND write it on the outside of the cake box (in pen, not frosting :P), so the agency knows whose amazing cake it is!

    Baker’s Choice
    Sometimes agencies request cakes without names to celebrate an entire group of people or for other reasons, and that ends up being Baker’s Choice! Many times volunteers have just made a really fun-looking cake with nothing written or “Happy Birthday” with no first name. You might also get a graduation cake that’s for a group of grads instead of a specific person, so you can go with “Congratulations Grads!” or something similar. Go with your heart’s content!

    Cupcakes
    Cupcakes are where our volunteers can get even more creative (is that possible?), adding the same festive birthday fun to cupcakes that you would to cakes and alternating patterns or designs inside a cupcake box. We ask that you provide their name (if given) in some form whether it’s piped or as a toothpick topper – and please be sure to write it on the box. So cute!!

    We also designed cake labels if you have a printer and sticker paper – ask your Chapter Stewards through the “Contact Your Chapter Stewards” via the Volunteer Portal!

    As our Chief Cake Officer, Kim Roberts, says, “It’s not about perfection, it’s about effort!”
    If the cake is covered in frosting and looks like you spent time on it, then it’ll be perfect and the kiddos will love it!

  • As a small decoration tool, sure! Here are our requirements:

    (1) Be age-appropriate – do NOT put small choke-hazard toys on a toddler’s cake - or ANY cake.

    (2) If you are to use anything that can be mistaken for food (like Lego’s), please make them edible Lego candies and note on the cake box that they are edible. BUT! Please do not put edible Lego candies on a cake for a child younger than 6 years old. They are still a choking hazard regardless if they’re edible!

    (3) Wash the toys thoroughly before placing them on the cake and, if need be, wrap the bottom in plastic to prevent the toy from getting damaged.

    (4) Be cautious about how you position the toys, we don’t want a Barbie’s hair getting frosting all up in it :)

  • You are so thoughtful, but unfortunately, fresh flowers/florals are a big no-no. There are many toxic flowers and greenery out there, as well as the pesticides they are covered in. To be safe, we don't use fresh flowers, even if they’re from your garden! To be even more safe, we have super fun Volunteer Training videos about how to make frosting flowers within our Vimeo account, which you can get access to after registering upon request :)

  • This one is a tricky answer! So, here we go:

    (1) Cut up fruit on the top of the cake - No, the color of the fruit bleeds into the frosting and it is not a good look - trust us. Cut fruit is also prone to bacteria growth.

    (2) Whole fruit on the top of the cake - Yes! Chocolate dipped strawberries for imaginary bonus brownie points

    Please be sure the fruit is age appropriate and not a choking hazard – No cherries with pits, or small blueberries for kiddos under 6.

  • Nope! Candles are nice, but what we and the recipients appreciate the most is that you made the effort to bake them a cake in the first place!

  • Birthday cards are ok, but your cake IS the gift - please don't buy any additional gifts.

  • Yes! Someone else may deliver the cake for you, on the condition that they have an active driver’s license and active proof of insurance. You can also hire a Task Rabbit to pickup and deliver your cake for you - we have a code that gives you $10 off! Uber also has a courier service available within their app.

  • There should be an agency contact name and number on the request. If you are having an issue and cannot get a hold of the contact, leave a voicemail and get in touch with your Chapter Stewards. Your Chapter Stewards can be reached via the “Contact Your Chapter Stewards” link at the top of the Volunteer Portal.

  • We do not - but Task Rabbit and Uber do :) Here’s a first time user coupon for TaskRabbit if you need it!

  • Please, do not do this. The agency requested this date for a reason, and we’d appreciate you honoring that request. Is this an emergency? Shoot an email to your Chapter Stewards, but please don’t make it a habit or it will incur a volunteer review.

  • Accidents happen! Store-bought cakes are okay in the case of an emergency or ruined cake. Please let your Chapter Stewards know if you run into any issues like this–even if the issue appears resolved because you dropped off a purchased cake. We just like to stay in the loop and aware of any issues!

  • Great question! Come join our Facebook Group, ONLY for registered, active Sprinkle Squad members!

  • Awesome! Send them this link and let them know to fill out the form, and the Agency Chapter Steward will get in touch!

VOLUNTEER PORTAL

  • The Volunteer Portal was designed for ease of use, but we do have a great how-to video to show you around! Check it out!

  • Uh-oh! Click the “Forgot my password” at the very bottom underneath the Submit button. If that still doesn’t work, reach out to us at info@forgoodnesscakes.org.

  • Does it say something about updating your auto insurance? Then read on!

    On the dark green vertical banner to the left, you will need to click Update It Now to update your auto insurance policy information as it is out of date. Once you update the policy information and click Submit at the bottom, the full menu - including Available Bakes - will show. Until this is done, you will not have access to the Available Bakes.

  • If Available Bakes for your chapter is empty, it just means all the cakes that have been requested are signed up for. Check again in a few days, as our agencies are always adding more requests.

    If Available Bakes doesn’t have any cakes in your area often, it could mean one of two reasons: 

    (1) there aren’t enough volunteers in your particular area that allows us to add an agency nearby just yet, so you may have to travel a bit in the meantime while we get more volunteers;

    (2) an agency nearby doesn’t request as many cakes as another one in an area farther away from you - so you may have to check back more often to catch a cake before someone else does!

  • Send an email and let us know!