Vienna volunteer fair brings more than 100 organisations to City Hall

More than 100 non-profit organisations are taking part in Vienna’s 14th Volunteer Fair, which opens at the city hall on Friday, ORF reports. The event offers information on volunteering in fields including environmental protection, social services and civil protection.

The programme begins with the Young Volunteers fair, known as YOVO26, on Friday from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. It is aimed mainly at upper-secondary school pupils and students. Around 40 organisations will explain how people can volunteer alongside their studies. The event is being held for the third time.

The main Volunteer Fair, under the motto “Because it matters,” runs on Saturday and Sunday, October 17 and 18, from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Participating organisations include Caritas, the Austrian Federation of the Blind and Partially Sighted, Amnesty International, the Vienna Red Cross, Johanniter and the Vienna Samaritan Association. Entry is free.

About 3.7 million people in Austria volunteer, according to the latest Austrian Volunteering Report, equal to 48.2 percent of the population. Around 24 percent are active through organisations and associations, while about 39 percent volunteer informally or help in their neighbourhoods.

Vienna has the country’s lowest volunteering rate, at 42.4 percent, while Upper Austria has the highest, at 52.3 percent. “Austria and Vienna would not function without volunteers,” Michael Walk, managing director of the Volunteer Fairs Association, told Radio Wien.