Pocket money for aid workers – The cabinet wants to strengthen volunteer work with a package of measures

“Austria is the land of volunteerism, of non-profit status,” Chancellor Karl Nehammer (ÖVP) said at a press conference in Vienna. According to Nehammer, 3.7 million Austrians are voluntary, they are “the heart and soul of our state”. Prior to the media event, Nehammer, Vice Chancellor Werner Kogler (Greens), Social Affairs Minister Johannes Rauch (Greens) and the two State Secretaries Claudia Plakolm (ÖVP) and Andrea Mayer (Greens) held a volunteer summit with the heads of non-governmental profit and voluntary organizations. They then called for the swift implementation of the announced measures.

More pocket money for social year
The agreed measures would now be cast in a new voluntary law. This is intended to upgrade the voluntary social year, “it needs more recognition,” said Nehammer, announcing the increase in pocket money to the marginal income limit. This is currently 500.91 euros. There will also be more financial support for participants in memorial, peace and social services abroad. The volunteers also receive a free climate map in the same way as basic and civil servants. Rescue services and civil protection organizations will also receive additional funding for equipment and infrastructure. There will be a framework so that voluntary organizations can “use their energy to find more volunteers”. These provide a “service to society, to fellow human beings” and are priceless in the truest sense of the word. Vice Chancellor Kogler spoke of the “pillars that support our community” and the great “economic importance” of volunteering.

The gift deduction will be expanded
It is also the intention to expand the deductibility of donations to non-profit organizations and to grant non-profit organizations an energy cost subsidy to absorb the high energy costs. That should be worked out in the coming weeks. In the autumn, “the first funds should flow here”, says Kogler. A new state award for volunteering will also be awarded annually in the future. Strengthening honorary positions and volunteerism “can and should also be an antidote to this charged mood, to hatred and hatred,” Kogler stressed. “Because all kinds of collaborations can counteract this phenomenon.”

According to the government, the main concern of the organizations is to expand and modernize the deductibility of donations to non-profit organizations. In the future, this should also include organizations from the arts, culture, sport and education. The application and recognition procedure will also be simplified, it has been announced.

Austrian volunteers every second
The volunteers work 24 million hours a week, reports Minister Rauch of Social Affairs. Every year, about 1,500 people would complete the voluntary social year, “about 75 percent opt ​​for a job in the social and health sector,” says Rauch. In total, an additional ten million euros will be spent on the measures in the future, the minister reports. The law will be sent for review on Thursday and passed before the summer. Already this year, the volunteers should “enjoy the extra incentives”. The State Prize for Volunteer Work will be awarded for the first time on December 4, Rauch announced. “We need solidarity and a minimum of cohesion like a bite of bread to meet the challenges of the future,” said the Minister of Health.

Every second person in Austria is a volunteer, Plakolm said. In addition to advice, the new national service point will also offer networking. While many organizations register a good inflow of members, it is often difficult to find people who take their responsibility in clubs. “That is also because many cases are becoming increasingly complex from a legal point of view. With the nationwide volunteer service point, we create a solid and reliable pillar on which the many volunteers can fall back – even when their hat is on.”