Doing voluntary work in the Netherlands
Voluntary work is work that you are not paid to do and not required to do, for others or for society. Do you want to do voluntary work? If so, ask about voluntary work at your municipality, at a volunteer centre or at an organisation for which you want to start working.
Last updated on 31 October 2023
Conditions for voluntary work
The following conditions apply. The voluntary work is:
- of general interest or of a certain societal interest;
- not for profit;
- does not replace any paid jobs in the labour market.
Ask at the organisation where you are working as a volunteer whether what you do is indeed voluntary work.
Looking for voluntary work
Voluntary work through the municipality
Municipalities are responsible for how they organise voluntary work.
Your municipality might have a job bank for volunteers. Ask your municipality about this.
Volunteer centre
To find voluntary work near to you, you can contact the volunteer centre. There are volunteer centres in almost all municipalities.
Contact your municipality to find out more about a volunteer centre near you.
Approaching organisations directly for voluntary work
Do you already know what type of voluntary work you want to do? Then you can contact the organisation for which you want to work.
Laws and regulations (in Dutch)
Regeling vrijwilligerswerk in de WW, artikel 2