The practice- and transfer-oriented research project Change in individual engagement and new and innovative organisational (re)forms is being carried out in co-operation with the Martin Luther University Halle-Wittenberg and funded by the German Foundation for Engagement and Volunteering (DSEE). It is dedicated to the change in individual commitment and the effects on processes and structures of the organisation of commitment under fundamentally changed social conditions. Specifically, it examines 1. how the change in individual volunteering affects the organisation(s) of volunteering, 2. what ideas, concepts and strategies practitioners have for coping with change and recruiting and retaining volunteers, and 3. what new and innovative organisational (re)forms are being developed in volunteering.
The research project aims to capture the range of engagement from informal to hierarchical organisational forms as well as the different age groups and milieus of volunteers in various fields of organised engagement (such as Sport and Movement Science, Culture and Music, Social Services, Accident and Emergency Services or Volunteer Fire Brigades, Politics and Political Advocacy).
The project began in spring 2025 with an (inter)national literature review on new and innovative forms of engagement, the identification of the study regions and the development of the survey instruments. One study region in western Germany and one in eastern Germany were selected based on the criteria "rural" and "economically relatively structurally weak". The survey phase began in September 2025 with initial guideline-based qualitative expert interviews and group discussions in the two study regions. In addition, a quantitative survey using an online survey is planned for the beginning of next year.
The survey and the evaluation of the empirical findings as well as the possible consequences for action resulting from this will be discussed intensively and in a results-oriented manner with the practice partners (Bundesarbeitsgemeinschaft der Freiwilligenagenturen e. V. and Stiftung Aktive Bürgerschaft).