Rooms and insurance for volunteers

Starting question

Our initiative has so far been meeting in someone's living room and is planning a planting campaign in the park. Where can we find a room for meetings — and are we insured if someone gets hurt or something gets broken?

Up front: the State of Berlin has taken out group liability insurance and group accident insurance (Sammelversicherung) for volunteers, which apply on a secondary basis; “initiatives, groups or projects do not have to register separately for this” [1]. When looking for a room, the Stadtteilzentren (neighbourhood centres) funded by the State can be a point of contact [2].

Steps

Part A — Insurance

1. First check your existing insurance. According to the State of Berlin, volunteers “who do not hold a leading office in the association … are mostly protected by their private liability insurance”; volunteers “should ask their liability insurer or their respective organisation whether and to what extent insurance cover actually exists” [1].

2. Know about statutory accident insurance. According to the State of Berlin, certain voluntary roles are already covered by accident insurance under the Sozialgesetzbuch VII (Social Code, Book VII), for example classic public honorary offices, helpers in rescue organisations and volunteers in the health sector or in welfare work [1]. According to the same source, those not covered by statutory accident insurance include “favours among friends and mere acts of courtesy in the context of normal neighbourly help” [1].

3. The State of Berlin's group insurance policies. According to the State of Berlin (retrieved 3 October 2026; leaflet “as of: 2022”) [1]:

• Insured are volunteers “who are active voluntarily in Berlin or whose engagement originates from Berlin”.
• The group insurance policies are also meant to protect volunteers “in small citizens' initiatives that are not legally independent”; they apply on a secondary basis: “Benefits are only provided insofar as the liability or accident risk is not covered elsewhere.” The group liability insurance “does not replace business or association liability insurance”.
• The group accident insurance also applies subsidiarily to volunteers in legally independent organisations (Träger) if there is neither statutory cover nor accident insurance provided by the organisation.
• Not covered are, among others, visitors to events who are not themselves volunteering, people receiving care, acts of courtesy and help within the family.

4. In the event of a claim. According to the State of Berlin, damage is “to be reported in writing with a precise description of the voluntary activity”; forms for liability and accident claim notifications are on the source page, and the point of contact is the insurance service in charge named there [1].

5. Anyone founding an association should, according to the State of Berlin, clarify before taking on a responsible voluntary office whether it “is covered by liability insurance through the association” [1]; the State considers legally independent organisations “still responsible for providing insurance cover for their active members on their own” [1].

Part B — Rooms

6. Approach a Stadtteilzentrum in your district. According to the Senatsverwaltung (Senate department), Stadtteilzentren (neighbourhood centres; Nachbarschaftshäuser, neighbourhood houses) are “open to all, independent of party politics and religious denomination”; “New impulses and initiatives from residents and visitors are taken up” [2]. A map overview with the locations, operators and contact details of the funded centres is linked on the page [2]. Whether and on what terms a room can be used is decided by each centre itself — ask there.

Who is responsible

Next step

Read the State of Berlin's page “Informationen zum Versicherungsschutz im Ehrenamt” (information on insurance cover in voluntary work) — with the leaflet and claim forms: https://www.berlin.de/sen/kultgz/engagement/versicherung/ [1]

Sources

The sources are in German; quotations in the text are our translations.