Policy and campaigns > Towards a European Year of Volunteering 2011

Towards a European Year of Volunteering 2011

Please find on this web page the relevant documents related to the European Year of Volunteering 2011, as well as the main steps of the campaign and preparations towards the Year until August 2010. As the EYV 2011 Alliance Secretariat was established in July 2010, all the information from that date is accessible on the EYV 2011 Alliance website:

Relevant Documents:

List of National Coordinating Bodies (March 2010)
EYV2011 Alliance - list of member organisations (updated April 2011)
Council Decision of 27 November 2009 on the European Year of Voluntary Activities Promoting Active Citizenship (2011) [EN]
Here you can access the Decision in all EU official languages
CEV calls for involvement of all stakeholders in the EYV 2011 and play an active role in making the Year a success with long-lasting impacts: find how civil society organisations, businesses, and regional governments can get involved.

11th August 2010

The European Commission has released today the final version of the European Year of Volunteering 2011's logo, after some graphich adaptations.

Here you can find the Commission guidelines for the good use of the logo. The guiding principle is that the logo is free to be used in the context of volunteering, but it must not be altered. The versions of the logo in the 23 official EU languages are available for download on the website of the EYV 2011 Alliance.

5th July 2010

The Secretariat of the Alliance for the European Year of Volunteering 2011 has been established on 5th July 2010, at the CEV office. It is composed of a Project Manager, Gabriella Civico, and a Project Officer, Céline Barlet. The Secretariat will be in charge of the operational execution of the work programme of the EYV 2011 Alliance and will serve as a contact point of the Alliance for internal and external queries regarding the European Year 2011.

Find more about Gabriella and Céline on the Staff page.

31st March 2010

The European Commission has selected the official logo and slogan for the European Year of Volunteering 2011!

The 20 short-listed logos and slogans from the Let's Slogo competition had been submitted in November to the European Commission, which, with the help of a high level panel composed of representatives of European institutions, civil society and media professionals, did the final selection.

The official logo will take Image No.463 as a basis, and the slogan will be 'Volunteer! Make a difference'. Both will be graphically/linguistically adapted before dissemination to a wider public in relation to the promotion of the Year.

The winners will be invited to the official Media Launch of the European Year 2011 in Brussels at the beginning of December 2010.

27th November 2009

The final step towards the Year has been taken on 27 November 2009. The Council of the European Union adopted the Decision on the European Year of Voluntary Activities Promoting Active Citizenship (2011). The decision enters into force on the day following its publication in the Official Journal of the European Union. The decision (2010/37/EC) was published in the Official Journal of the European Union, L 17, Volume 53 on 22 January 2010.

30th October 2009

“Let's Slogo” – the official competition for a logo and slogan for the European Year of Volunteering: The public selected their favourite logos and slogans for the European Year of Volunteering 2011

1259 logo and slogan entries have been sent. More than 17,000 individuals have visited ww.eyv2011.eu between August, 6 and October 27. 3500 people have cast their vote over the two weeks of the Public Online Voting. You can now see the most voted entries on www.eyv2011.eu.

The 20 short-listed logos and slogans have been submitted to the European Commission, which will choose the winning logo and slogan that will become the official logo and slogan of the European Year of Volunteering 2011. A high level jury convoked by the European Commission with representatives of European institutions, civil society and media professionals will do the final selection. The finalists will be informed by the end of November 2009 and invited to come to Brussels for an award ceremony, which will take place on 16 December 2009.

6th August 2009

The Official competition for a logo and a slogan for the European Year of Volunteering 2011 is launched

The European Commission has entrusted civil society organisations to run the competition to choose the official logo and slogan for the upcoming European Year of Volunteering 2011. An Alliance of 21 European networks active in volunteering welcomes this opportunity to mobilize citizens and to shape the visual identity of the Year 2011 and will run the competition. The European Commission has committed itself to use the winning proposals for the European Year’s communication activities.

The Alliance has launched on 6 August the “Let’s Slogo!” competition on www.eyv2011.eu to call for proposals for logos and slogans. This website is available in 19 EU languages.

20 proposals for logos and 20 proposals for slogans will be pre-selected and sent to an official jury organized by the European Commission in November 2009. The winners will be announced on December 16 at a conference organized by the European Commission in Brussels. Proposals for logos and slogans can be sent between 17 August until 18 September 2009. The general public as well as an online volunteers’ jury composed of volunteers active in the 21 networks will be able to vote on this website for the best proposals.

This is the first time citizens can shape the visual identity of a European Year – a great opportunity to be seized by participating in the competition.

3rd June 2009

The European Commission has officially adopted the proposal for the European Year of Volunteering 2011. The European Year of Volunteering Alliance welcomes the European Commission's proposal - read here the Joint Press Release.

18th February 2009

European Year of Volunteering 2011 – Commission to prepare proposal

We are there! After two and a half years of intensive campaign from CEV, our members, and all the organisations of the “EYV 2011 Alliance” the European Commission has now started to prepare its proposal for the Year. This was announced on 18 February 2009 in a meeting at DG Education and Culture, responsible for the preparation of EYV 2011. We will be involved as a main stakeholder in the preparation, implementation and follow-up of the Year and we are ready to support the Commission in its efforts to organise and deliver a meaningful and successful Year that has an impact at every level.

Please read here the Joint Press Release of the EYV 2011 Alliance involved in the campaign following the European Commission's decision to prepare the proposal.

3rd December 2008

On the 3rd December, CEV participated in and chaired the strategic meeting of the EYV 2011 alliance

involved in the campaign Towards a European Year of Volunteering 2011 (EYV2011) organised in the European Youth Forum premises in Brussels. The meeting was convened in order to prepare the Alliance’s input for a consultation process, which was unofficially started by the European Commission, Directorate General of Education and Culture (DG EAC) in view to prepare a proposal of the decision for EYV2011. During the meeting, the organisations discussed the objectives, desired outcomes of the EYV2011, its target groups, focus, activities, as well as a role of different stakeholders within the EYV2011.

In the second part of the meeting, Mr Risto Raivio, Head of the Unit Citizenship Policy from DG EAC which (would be in charge of the EYV2011) participated in the meeting together with some assistants of the European Deputies. The aim was to exchange views on the possible inputs, timetable and feasibility of the EYV2011.

11th November 2008

CEV and delegates from the Social Platform, Solidar, the Scouts and the European Youth Forum have been invited to meet

Commissioner Špidla on 11 November 08. He pledge his full support to the campaign underlining the crucial value of volunteering in social policies, for which he is responsible. His Directorate General for Employment and Social Affairs is planning to organise the European Years 2010 (Combatting Poverty and Social Exclusion) and have plans for 2012 (Active Ageing and Intergenerational Solidarity) – 2011 would fit neatly into these plans. He promised to raise the issue with his colleague Commissioner Figeľ, who is responsible for the volunteering portfolio.

16th July 2008

Following the adoption of the Written Declaration, a press conference was convoked by the MEPs that have launched the Written Declaration. CEV President Marijke Steenbergen was invited to speak on behalf of the NGO European networks alliance.

"I very much welcome the adoption of the EP Written Declaration on declaring 2011 the European Year of Volunteering with 454 signatures. I am delighted to see that the representatives of the only directly elected European institution take the voice of citizens seriously - this campaign is a truly bottom-up one, supported by the 17 major civil society networks in Europe and instigated by the European Volunteer Centre (CEV) in 2006 with the Manifesto for Volunteering in Europe. 4 institutions have now called for the Year to be organised - the ball is now in the European Commission's court", Marijke said.

Please find here the Joint Press Release of the NGO Europeannetworks involved in the campaign.

9 April - 15 July 2008

CEV and all the 17 partner NGO European networks in the Year Alliance have mobilised their member organisations to invite MEPs to sign – with great success: 454 MEPs have signed the declaration by the deadline of 15th July, only two other declarations of this kind have received more support in the current legislature of the Parliament.

9th April 2008

Following these kick-off steps, 5 MEPs (M.Harkin (EIR / ALDE), G.Kallenbach (D/GREENS), E.Angelakas (GR/EPP), J. Hasse Ferreira
(P/PES) and M.Janowski (PL / UEN) have launched a Written Declaration of the European Parliament supporting the call for 2011 as the EYV.

A written declaration is a text of a maximum of 200 words on a matter falling within the European Union’s sphere of activities. Written declarations are printed in all the official languages, distributed and entered in a register. MEPs can use written declarations to launch or relaunch a debate on a subject that comes within the EU’s remit. For more information on written declarations and what they entail, visit this page.

13 February 2008

The Towards a European Year of Volunteering 2011 Position Paper was launched on 13th February in the European Parliament at a meeting of the Interest Group on Volunteering. This event was attended by MEPs and NGO representatives, as well as representatives of the Slovenian Presidency and the French Presidency of the Council of the European Union.

For more information, view the presentation made by CEV director Markus Held on 13th February here.

5th December 2007

On 5th December (International Volunteers Day), an alliance of major NGO European networks with a particular interest in volunteering met at CEV's offices to begin developing a strategy towards having 2011 declared the European Year of Volunteering. The Alliance agreed a rationale for a European Year, including what they hope such a year might achieve. The result of this meeting was translated in a position paper.

28th March 2006

The 2006 Manifesto for Volunteering in Europe was launched in 28th March 2006 in the premises of the European Parliament. During this event, CEV called upon the European institutions to announce a European Year of Volunteering. To read about the launch event, please visit this page.