VOLUNTEERING INFRASTRUCTURE

traditional German associations with their history dating back to the 19th Century. Thetraditional associations have certain needs for support: they have difficulties in recruiting newvoluntary trustees and board members and they face funding problems. In order to take a closerlook at this phenomenon the Robert Bosch Foundation aims to start a new research programme;it is planned that volunteer centres will support traditional associations in organisationaldevelopment and in the search for suitable candidates for board members.Cross-cutting networks for civic engagementIn Germany cross-communication and cooperation structures of the different types ofinfrastructure are not very pronounced yet. There are some networks at state level, such as theNetwork for civic engagement in Bavaria 30 . Their members are volunteer agencies, senior officesand self-help agencies. In order to prevent overlapping fields of work as well as competition infund-raising and in the allocation of public resources, an improvement of cross-cooperationforms is urgently needed. However, at the local level there are some networks where all localtypes of infrastructure are involved. These include the Network for Civic Engagement in Berlin 31 ,the network Aktivoli Hamburg 32 , Förderung von Bürgerschaftlichem Engagement (FöBE 33 ) or theRound Table Civic Engagement Nürnberg.In June 2002 the National Network for Civil Society (Bundesnetzwerk BürgerschaftlichesEngagement, BBE 34 ) was founded. BBE acts as national network-structure for all organisationsinvolved in the promotion of volunteering, linking associations from the Third Sector,business and work life and federal and community institutions. BBE consists of 230 memberorganisations including the Churches, unions, corporations, foundations and governmentalinstitutions as well as the full scope of the German civil society associations on national level(most of them being sectoral umbrella organisations representing millions of members) aswell as the infrastructure associations. Its different working groups formulate and publishstatements and advisory opinions. They address topics like education and civic engagement,local engagement policy, corporate volunteering and civic engagement policies in Europe. Overthe past two years the BBE has organised the consultation process to develop the NationalStrategy for Volunteering recently published by the German government.5. Other stakeholdersPublic institutionsWithin the federal government the Federal Ministry for Family Affairs, Senior Citizens, Womenand Youth (BMFSFJ) is responsible for matters concerning civic engagement and volunteering.Within the ministry, there is a subdivision, Civic Engagement, having over 30 employees. Inrecent years the big model project of multigenerational homes was of major importance for thepromotion of infrastructure of civic engagement especially. Moreover the BMFSFJ promoteslarge and small pilot projects and public campaigns. Significant financial contribution isrequired, however, in the near future for the construction of the federal voluntary services.The BMFSFJ also funded image campaigns for civic engagement, such as in 2009, the publiccampaign “Geben gibt”. The Ministry also supports the “Week of Civic Engagement” organisedby the BBE that takes place every year in September.30. www.wir-für-uns.de31. www.berlin.de/buergeraktiv/be/wissen/berlinerlandesnetzwerk.html32. www.aktivoli.de33.34. www.b-b-e.de158 Volunteering infrastructure in Europe 11 Germany