If your company offers an on-site training, you will want to check the list of available trainings to see if your company session is posted online, in which case you can sign up for that training session. If you have questions, please contact the Ladder Up liaison at your company or call the Ladder Up office at (312) 466-0771.

If you need to cancel a training or volunteer session for which you have signed up, please remove the session from your personal schedule by logging in to the Ladder Up website and clicking on "My Schedule". Next to each session, you will see a "Remove" button; simply press that button to have that session taken off your schedule. If you're canceling less than 24 hours before the session, please also send an email to volunteers@goladderup.org, so we know not to expect you.

If you still have a question regarding volunteering, training, or signing up, please don't hesitate to contact the Ladder Up office at (312) 466-0771.

On a Saturday, the length of the session generally depends on how busy the sites are. We try to have the buses leave the sites and arrive back at Harris Bank (111 W. Monroe, Chicago) by 1:30 PM. If you need to leave a session before then and have access to transportation, please contact our volunteer coordinator at (312) 466-0771 several days before you're scheduled to volunteer to discuss your situation.

Tax training sessions are hands-on workshops intended to familiarize you with tax law basics and how to use Intuit ProSeries software to complete client tax returns. In-person training lasts approximately 2.5-3.5 hours. Tax training is available most Fridays during the tax season at Chapman & Cutler (111 W. Monroe St., Chicago). Trainings are also available during the week and on select Saturdays at the Ladder Up office in Willis Tower (233 S. Wacker Dr., Chicago). Additionally, Ladder Up offers some suburban trainings and may provide an on-site training at your company. You can view available training sessions by logging in to the website and clicking Add Training.

In general, we ask that all volunteers that choose to volunteer at a site within the city of Chicago meet at Harris Bank (111 W. Monroe St., Chicago) so that we can get an accurate count of the number of volunteers for any given Saturday. That count enables us to appropriately distribute volunteers to each of our Tax Assistance Program sites. NEW for the 2012 season - certain Chicago sites will also offer drive-myself options, which you can select as you add volunteer sessions to your schedule.

For the same reason that we do not offer site selection within the city of Chicago on our website, we generally ask that volunteers not drive directly to city sites and that they instead meet us at Harris Bank (111 W. Monroe St., Chicago) on Saturday mornings. This enables us to accurately gauge how many volunteers we have for any given Saturday, which then allows us to properly distribute resources to all of our sites. We provide transportation to and from all of our Chicago sites from Harris Bank on Saturday mornings. If you need to drive to a site for a particular reason, please contact the Ladder Up office at (312) 466-0771 and ask for the volunteer coordinator. If you contact us at least several days before you're scheduled to volunteer to discuss your situation, we may be able to make arrangements with you. NEW for the 2012 season - certain Chicago sites will offer drive-myself options, which you can select as you add volunteer sessions to your schedule.

No prior tax or finance experience is needed to volunteer! Ladder Up provides tax and software training so all volunteers are prepared to help clients when they arrive at one of our free tax sites.

Yes! We need many different volunteer roles filled to run a successful site. They include Greeter/Screener, Site Assistant, Translator, and Technology Assistant. Contact us to find out more about these non-tax roles.

We ask that all volunteers participate in 3 or more tax sessions over the course of the season. Each session lasts about 4 hours. Volunteer opportunities occur on Saturdays and at select sites on Monday through Thursday evenings.

If you're a new tax preparer, sign up for training at the "Basic" level. Returning preparers can sign up for "Refresher-Basic" training. Checkers should attend a session marked for the "Intermediate" level. For other roles, check the corresponding FAQ.

Yes, every volunteer must complete Volunteer Standards of Conduct training. Greeters/Screeners can complete this during the 1-hour mandatory training session. Other volunteers (Site Assistant, Translator, Technology Assistant) should contact us to arrange completion of the course.

The Greeter / Screener is the first person a client meets when they come in for service. This volunteer has the client sign in, gives them forms to fill out, and looks over their documents to make sure they're eligible for our program. We'll show you how to do this and what to look for during a 1-hour training session. You can sign up for training by logging into our website and clicking the "Add Training" button.

Yes. Many of our sites need Spanish-speaking translators. A limited number of sites also serve Polish-speaking clients. Since the need for Polish translation is not as great, we recommend volunteers sign up for one of the other volunteer roles and contact our office to be directed to sites where their language skills can also help. No formal training is required, once the Volunteer Standards of Conduct course is completed. Contact our office to learn more.

Site Assistants help with a variety of needs like signing in and out volunteers, collecting forms, making photocopies, organizing site supplies, and more. No formal training is required, once the Volunteer Standards of Conduct course is completed. Contact our office to learn more.

A few of our sites can use Technology Assistant volunteers to troubleshoot in the event any issues arise with the network, printers, or computers. Willingness to train and volunteer as a Tax Preparer is recommended as well, since technical support isn't required during every session.

You can volunteer as a Site Assistant or Translator without attending in-person training. Greeter/Screener training can be offered on a more flexible schedule, and select companies sometimes allow non-employees to sit in for their on-site tax training, if space allows. Contact our office to discuss any of these options.

Study Halls are optional sessions which provide access and time to use our laptops loaded with ProSeries software. They are an opportunity for additional software practice or extra time to complete the certification exam(s). These sessions do not have any formal or structured teaching time, and are not a substitute for training.

Yes! Our system currently has a limitation which prevents you from selecting more than one session on the same day, but we would love to have you participate in this way. Just sign up for the morning shift, then contact the volunteer coordinator to let us know that you'll be staying for the afternoon as well. You can call us at (312) 466-0771 or use the Contact form on our website.