The voluntary welfare associations in Germany: An overview

• Voluntary work is still a relevant resource.

• Generally the organizations are expecting an increasing relevance of the Third
Sector for the future.

1.2 Framework Conditions

The following framework conditions are relevant for the Third Sector and in particular
the voluntary welfare associations in Germany:

• the legal framework surrounding voluntary social services and welfare.

• the development within the EU, in particular with regard to the competition rules.

• the fundamental economic and societal changes the Welfare State is facing.

According to the Basic Law Germany is a social state. This principle is a fundamental
decision on basic values in society. The creation of a fair social order involves the ef-
forts of the voluntary welfare.

Partnership and cooperation between public and voluntary welfare agencies is governed
by the Social Code and the special legal arrangements for the area of child and youth
welfare and welfare assistance. This cooperation follows the subsidiarity principle
which assigns priority to private non-profit provision over public provision of welfare
and social services linked with a general state guarantee of financial support.⁷

Typical of the legal framework surrounding voluntary social services in Germany are:

• a pluralistic offer of social services and a person`s right to choose a social service
(„Wunsch- und Wahlrecht“),

• cooperation as partners with public funding agencies, in particular municipali-
ties, states and social security,

• respecting the autonomy as to objectives and implementation of social assistance
before the background of a public service obligation,

• the conditional preference given to private voluntary providers vis-a-vis public
bodies, with any commercial providers being put more and more on an equal
footing with voluntary providers,

• provision of social services on the basis of agreements on service types, remu-
neration and monitoring between the providers of social services and the public
funding agencies,

• the recipients' right to choose among the contractually bound establishments by
entering into an own contract with the service provider,

⁷ Dahme/Schütter/Wohlfahrt 2008:79-81.

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