Volunteering in Düsseldorf

The city names five places where you can find a role: the AWO’s “Initiative Ehrenamt”, the Caritas volunteer agency impuls, MachMit, the Diakonie’s volunteer centre, Duesseldorf-aktiv.net and the Catholic social service for women and men. You get in touch there, receive advice and are suggested suitable placements.

There is no city portal yet; the city’s digital volunteering map is due to go online at the beginning of November 2026. The Office for Social Affairs and Youth also looks for volunteers itself, for example as stand-in grandparents, as playground sponsors or for its programme for older people.

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 Düsseldorf, each of the five contact points 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.

This matters for the NRW volunteer card: the city states that an allowance may not exceed 960 euros a year, or 3,300 euros for trainers. Up to these limits you can get the card despite an allowance.

Yes, Düsseldorf is one of the municipalities that issue the NRW volunteer card; the office for civic engagement in the Lord Mayor’s office is responsible. The state sets an average of at least four hours a week or 200 hours a year as the requirement. How long you must have volunteered and how long the card is valid is set by each municipality, so ask the city for the current rules.

An expense allowance is allowed as long as it does not exceed the tax-free allowances of 960 or 3,300 euros. The card gives you discounts across the state; according to the state government these include reduced entry to museums, swimming pools and other public leisure venues, and lower prices for adult education courses, cinemas and theatres.

Statutory accident insurance and the insurance of your organisation come first, for example when you work in social welfare or on behalf of the city. Ask at your first meeting how your placement handles this.

For everyone else, the State of North Rhine-Westphalia has taken out group liability insurance. It also applies when your volunteering starts from NRW and takes place in another state or abroad, and also when you receive an expense allowance. There is also accident cover from the state, which applies on a secondary basis if there is neither statutory accident insurance nor insurance from your organisation.

Yes. The civic engagement office in the Lord Mayor’s office organises the Düsseldorf volunteering fair every two years, along with thank-you events for volunteers. The city publishes the date of the next fair on its volunteering page.

There is a chance before that: from 19 November to 22 December 2026, a different club or organisation presents its work every day in the volunteering Christmas hut opposite the town hall entrance.