Volunteering in Dresden

The easiest way is the platform ehrensache.jetzt of the Dresden community foundation. It started at the beginning of 2019, is funded by the city and places volunteers across Dresden. The team checks every listing for whether the organisation is charitable and whether it really is a volunteer role. Through contact forms you connect directly with the placement.

If you would rather talk first, the volunteer agency offers counselling from Monday to Friday between 9 am and 4 pm by prior appointment. The agency was founded in 2000 as “Treffpunkt Hilfsbereitschaft”.

Above all you need time, reliability and an interest in the task. For many roles no special knowledge is required, because the placements show you the ropes. Usually there is no set age, but some tasks have a minimum age, such as 16 or 18. It matters that you say honestly how much time you have, so that the task fits your everyday life.

If you work with children and young people, many organisations ask for an extended certificate of conduct. For roles in rescue services, hospice work or supporting people with dementia, there is often training before your first assignment. In Dresden, the volunteer agency ehrensache.jetzt clears up such questions with you in a counselling session.

Volunteering is unpaid in principle, but many placements reimburse expenses such as travel or pay an expense allowance. Since 1 January 2026, such an allowance is tax-free up to 960 euros a year; this is the volunteer allowance. If you work as a coach, carer, in an artistic role or in care, you can use the trainer allowance of up to 3,300 euros. The two allowances cannot be used for the same activity at the same time.

A fixed allowance exists, for example, for election duty. Dresden pays chairs 90 euros at a polling station and 75 euros for postal voting, and assessors 60 or 55 euros. For European and municipal elections there is a bonus of 50 euros.

Yes, Dresden takes part in the Saxon volunteer card. You can get it if you live or volunteer in Saxony and have volunteered for at least two years, on average at least three hours a week or 156 hours a year. The minimum age is 14 for the paper card, with parental consent, and 16 for an application through the app.

The current edition is valid from 1 January 2025 to 31 December 2027. The discounts are the same for every holder, wherever they live and whatever field they volunteer in. In Dresden you or your organisation apply to the municipality of your main residence.

Statutory accident insurance and the insurance of your organisation come first. According to the Free State, the main responsibility lies with the club, the municipality or the organisation. Ask at your first meeting how your placement handles this.

In addition, the Free State of Saxony has taken out group policies for accident and liability insurance. They mainly protect volunteers in groups without their own legal form or people who would otherwise have no cover, and they only apply on a secondary basis. If something does happen, the state website explains how to report the claim.

Yes. The 6th Dresden volunteering exchange takes place on 31 October 2026 from 10 am to 4 pm in the town hall, under the motto “Engagement trifft Nachbarschaft”. The year before, more than 2,500 visitors came to more than 70 stands. Clubs and initiatives present themselves sorted by district.

For long-standing volunteers, the city and the community foundation award the Dresden volunteer pass every year. You need to be at least 16, have been active in the organisation for at least six months and receive no flat expense allowance. It is presented at the Lord Mayor’s summer reception.