Volunteering in Berlin

01Where can I find volunteering in Berlin?

The quickest way to find volunteering in Berlin is through a volunteer agency in your district. LAGFA Berlin is the network of these agencies, volunteer centres and volunteering offices and presents its members on its website. According to LAGFA, anyone looking for a role should contact the member agencies directly. There you get personal advice and are placed with associations, initiatives and institutions.

If you are looking for a role in a church or Protestant welfare setting, Freiwilligenagentur Charisma is the right address. It belongs to the Diakonisches Werk Berlin-Brandenburg-schlesische Oberlausitz and runs its own opportunities database. You can browse online or get in touch directly and arrange a personal advice session. For people who need simple texts, the site is also available in Easy Read German.

The Landesfreiwilligenagentur Berlin works differently, as it mainly advises organisations, companies and volunteer coordinators. For you as an individual, its most important offer is the Berlin volunteering fair, which it has held every spring since 2008. Initiatives, associations and federations present their opportunities at stands there. If you are still undecided, you get a broad overview in a single day.

02Which areas are there?

The areas range from neighbourhood work and integration through environment and climate to education, social services and civil protection. LAGFA Berlin has its own working groups on diversity, on climate and environment and on youth engagement. This shows you which topics the Berlin agencies are currently focusing on. Under “Engagiere Dich!” the network bundles the entry point for volunteers.

Many roles are tied to local neighbourhoods. The project “Lebendige Nachbarschaften” run by the Landesfreiwilligenagentur supports professionals in neighbourhood centres, volunteer agencies and other civil society organisations across the city. For you, this means that neighbourhood houses and community centres often have tasks close to your everyday life. Ask your district agency specifically about such places.

Freiwilligenagentur Charisma places volunteers in church and Protestant welfare institutions. It also focuses on inclusive volunteering so that people with disabilities can find a suitable role too. Companies can use Charisma to organise a social day or longer-term engagement for their staff. If you want to start through your employer, it is worth asking whether such a partnership already exists.

03How can I get involved in peace and understanding?

You work for understanding most directly where people of different backgrounds and opinions come together. The Landesfreiwilligenagentur Berlin runs the Beratungsforum Engagement, which trains and connects volunteer coordinators in accommodation for refugees. In these places, tasks arise that centre on encounter. Ask your district agency which accommodation near you is looking for volunteers.

Democracy lived out in everyday life is also peace work on a small scale. LAGFA Berlin takes part in the festival for the Berlin Democracy Day, and the Landesfreiwilligenagentur offers hands-on sessions on getting along when opinions differ. It also runs a working group on openness to diversity that helps organisations welcome a wider range of volunteers. Formats like these are a good place to meet people who care about cohesion in the city.

If you have a project of your own, you can create it as a peace mission on W3ltfrieden or support an existing mission. A mission describes what you plan to do, who is responsible and how progress is documented. You can see in the mission overview whether there are already suitable missions in Berlin. People, not a bot, decide on publication.

04How much time do I need to bring?

How much time you need depends entirely on the role you choose. There are fixed tasks with weekly appointments and one-off assignments at festivals, action days or exercises. One example is the civil protection exercise of the Berlin fire brigade, for which LAGFA Berlin called on volunteers to take part. Dates like these are a good way to try out a field before you commit.

Be open in the advice session about how many hours you can realistically set aside. The agencies know what organisations expect and can judge what fits your everyday life. At Charisma, the volunteer-type quiz helps you sort out your own ideas in advance. That way you avoid overcommitting right at the start.

Alongside the actual task, allow some time for induction and training. Charisma offers its own training for volunteers, and many institutions introduce new volunteers before they work alone. If you accompany people, you also need time to coordinate with the team. These hours are part of volunteering and make the task easier in the long run.

If you only have a little time, the Berlin volunteering fair and the action days of the agencies are a good way in. You get to know organisations there without having to make a firm commitment straight away. Many contacts start with exactly these conversations at a stand. Afterwards you can decide calmly whether and how often to come back.