Charity Events and Fundraisers

Charity events in Germany are one of the easiest and warmest ways to feel part of your new community, whether you show up as a guest at a gala, lace up for a fundraising run, or simply drop a few euros into a well-run collection. This chapter explains how a foreigner engages with charity events and fundraisers here: what the big campaigns are, which events you can attend or help run, how fundraising works and what the rules are, and how to give in a way that is both safe and tax-smart. For the wider question of volunteering itself, and the legal and financial framework around the Ehrenamt (honorary, unpaid civic work), see our chapter on volunteering opportunities; for the organisations behind the causes, see social impact organisations. Here we stay with the events and the giving.

Germany’s culture of giving

Germany has a deep and steady Spendenkultur, a culture of donating. In 2025 private individuals gave around 4.65 billion euros to charitable causes, according to the “Bilanz des Helfens” study published by the Deutscher Spendenrat (the German Donations Council) together with the polling firm YouGov. Giving dips and rises from year to year, and the number of people who donate has been slowly falling while the average gift has grown, but the overall picture is of a country where charitable giving is a normal, expected part of civic life. December is by far the strongest month, when Advent, Christmas and the year-end tax deadline all push people to give.

It is worth saying early that giving in Germany is not only about money. A Sachspende is a donation in kind, such as clothes left at a Kleiderkammer (clothing bank) or food for a Tafel (a charity that redistributes surplus food), and a Zeitspende is a gift of time, which shades into volunteering. Charity events sit at the meeting point of all three: you might buy a ticket, donate a cake for the sale, and spend the afternoon helping at the stall, all in one day. That mix is exactly what makes these events such an easy and rewarding way to contribute, whatever your budget or your German.

Much of this giving is channelled through very visible national campaigns, and you will meet them on television long before you meet them on the street. The RTL Spendenmarathon, running since 1996, is the longest charity broadcast on German television and raises money for children in Germany and abroad. “Ein Herz für Kinder” (A Heart for Children), founded in 1978 by the newspaper Bild and broadcast as a star-studded gala on ZDF each December, is one of the most successful appeals in the country. The churches run their own long-established appeals: Brot für die Welt (Bread for the World), the Protestant development agency, and Misereor, its Catholic counterpart, both launch national collections in the Advent and Lent seasons through the ARD and local congregations.

Two other institutions are worth knowing because they sit somewhere between a charity and a lottery. Aktion Mensch, which grew out of the older “Aktion Sorgenkind”, is a social organisation funded largely by a lottery and is one of the biggest private backers of social projects in Germany. The Deutsche Fernsehlotterie works on a similar principle: you buy a lottery ticket, you might win, and the proceeds fund social causes. Neither is a place you need to seek out, but seeing their logos on a project is a reasonable sign that it sits inside the established, regulated charity landscape rather than at its fringes.

Charity events you can attend and join

The most enjoyable way into all of this is simply to attend an event, and the German calendar is full of them. The classic format is the Benefiz event, from the German “Benefiz” meaning “for charity”. A Benefizkonzert is a charity concert, a Benefizgala a charity gala, and a Benefizdinner a charity dinner. These range from a small evening of chamber music in a church, where the collection at the door goes to a local cause, up to formal galas with tickets, live auctions and a dress code. You do not need connections or fluent German to go to most of them: you buy a ticket like any other event, and a share of the price, or the whole of it, supports the named cause. Cultural institutions, orchestras, theatres and even sports clubs regularly dedicate a performance or a match to a charity, so watch their programmes for the word “Benefiz”.

Charity runs are the other great entry point, and they are especially welcoming to newcomers because you take part with your body rather than your language. The general term is Spendenlauf (literally “donation run”) or Charity-Run: you register, you run or walk a set distance, and either you pay an entry fee that goes to the cause or you collect pledges from friends and colleagues per kilometre. Many city marathons let runners raise money for a charity as part of their entry, and there are dedicated charity runs organised around specific causes throughout the year. A related format is the corporate team run, of which B2Run is the best-known series, staged in many German cities: companies enter teams for an evening run that is more about team spirit than competition, and firms often attach a fundraising or matched-giving element to it. If you are unsure whether a particular run is primarily a fundraiser or simply a fun event, check the organiser’s page before you assume where the money goes.

Closer to the ground, and often more fun, are the small community events. The Flohmarkt (flea market) is a German institution, and many are run for charity, with stall fees or a share of takings going to a cause. Schools, churches and kindergartens hold a Basar or Kuchenbasar (a charity sale, often with a bake sale of home-made cakes), where the proceeds fund a class trip, a playground or a partner project abroad. In late November and December the Adventsbasar or Weihnachtsbasar appears, a small Christmas market run for charity with handicrafts, mulled wine and baked goods. At almost any German fair or club festival you will also find a Tombola, a raffle where you buy numbered tickets for a chance at donated prizes, with the takings going to the organiser’s cause. And increasingly popular are sponsored challenges, where someone commits to a physical or personal feat and asks their circle to pledge money for it.

A few seasonal traditions bring charity right to your door, and it helps to recognise them rather than be startled by a knock. In the first days of January you may meet the Sternsinger, children dressed as the Three Kings who take part in the Aktion Dreikönigssingen (the Epiphany singing campaign), described as the world’s largest aid action by children for children and organised by the Catholic Kindermissionswerk “Die Sternsinger” and the youth federation BDKJ. Around 300,000 children go from house to house singing, collecting for disadvantaged children abroad, and marking a blessing in chalk above the door. A small donation is customary and welcome, but never obligatory. In November, around St. Martin’s Day, children in many towns walk with paper lanterns in Martinsumzüge (lantern processions), some of which also collect for good causes. These are gentle, well-organised traditions, not the pressured collecting you should be wary of, and taking part is a lovely way to share in local life.

Finding these events is mostly a matter of paying attention locally. Your city’s event listings, the notice boards in Rathaus (town hall), church and community centre, the local newspaper, and neighbourhood groups on Facebook or nebenan.de all carry them, especially in the run-up to Christmas. If you would rather help run an event than only attend it, the route is through the organising club or charity: most welcome helpers to staff a cake stall, hand out water at a run or sell Tombola tickets, and it is one of the friendliest ways to meet people. That kind of hands-on helping shades into volunteering proper, which our volunteering chapter covers in full.

Fundraising and how it works

Fundraising, in German often just “Fundraising” or Spendensammeln (collecting donations), takes a few recognisable forms in Germany, and it helps to know them so you can tell a well-run appeal from a pushy one. The most modern is the online Spendenaktion (donation campaign) or crowdfunding, where a project or a private person sets up a page and asks their network to give. The largest German platform is betterplace.org, itself a non-profit based in Berlin, which hosts tens of thousands of charitable projects and lets you attach a personal fundraiser to an occasion such as a birthday, a wedding or a marathon. International platforms such as GoFundMe are also widely used, more often for individual hardship cases than for registered charities. These platforms are transparent and convenient, but the responsibility to check who is behind a campaign still rests with you, which the next section covers.

A more traditional commitment is the Fördermitgliedschaft, becoming a supporting or sustaining member of an organisation with a regular monthly or annual contribution. This is a genuine and valuable way to back a cause you trust, and most reputable charities offer it. The important thing to understand is that it is a recurring financial commitment, not a one-off gift, so it is worth reading the terms and choosing to sign up in your own time rather than on the spot.

That warning matters most on the street. You will encounter the Straßensammlung and door-to-door collectors: people, often young and in branded jackets, who approach you in pedestrian zones or at your door on behalf of a charity. Many are entirely legitimate, and a genuine collector will carry visible identification and be able to explain exactly which organisation they represent and where the money goes. But this field also attracts commercial recruitment teams, sometimes called Drückerkolonnen, who are paid on commission and use high-pressure tactics to sign passers-by up to membership subscriptions rather than take a simple donation. Consumer advice centres, the Verbraucherzentrale, warn about them regularly. Their key advice is sensible and easy to follow: never feel obliged to decide on the spot, take an information leaflet, and make up your mind at home. Be especially wary of anyone pushing you to sign a recurring Fördermitgliedschaft on the street, and remember that the usual right of withdrawal that protects you when buying goods does not apply to donations in the same way, so caution up front is your best protection.

Giving through work is a gentler and growing route. Many German employers run a Spendenaktion after a disaster, organise matched-giving schemes that double what staff contribute, or grant paid days for employees to help at a charity. If your company offers any of this, it is an easy, low-risk way to give, because the employer has usually vetted the recipient. Finally, you may want to run your own fundraiser, for a cause close to you or in your home country. On a small, informal scale, for a named person or a one-off need, that is straightforward through a crowdfunding page. If you want donors to be able to claim their gifts against tax, though, the money has to flow through an organisation with charitable status, the German gemeinnützig (recognised as serving the public benefit) status granted by the tax office, which only a registered body such as a Verein (association) can hold. Setting that up is a project in itself and is covered from the organisation’s side in social impact organisations; a common shortcut is to raise money under the umbrella of an existing charity rather than found your own.

Donating wisely: tax and trust

Two practical things turn a good intention into a smart gift: the tax side and the trust side. On tax, donations to recognised charitable (gemeinnützige) organisations are deductible from your income in Germany, which means the state effectively shares the cost of your generosity. You can claim donations as Sonderausgaben (special expenses) in your annual tax return up to a limit of 20 percent of your total income (the Gesamtbetrag der Einkünfte), and anything above that limit in a very generous year can be carried forward to future years. This is not tax advice and the details depend on your situation, so for the actual how-to of claiming it, see our chapters on tax benefits and exemptions and understanding German taxes.

To claim a deduction you normally need proof. For larger gifts the charity issues a Spendenquittung, more formally a Zuwendungsbestätigung (donation receipt or confirmation of contribution), on an official template, and you keep it in case the Finanzamt (tax office) asks. For small donations the rules are much simpler: for gifts up to 300 euros, the vereinfachter Zuwendungsnachweis (simplified proof of donation) applies, and you do not need a formal receipt at all. Your bank statement or the online-banking record showing the transfer, together with the charity’s own booking confirmation, is enough. This 300-euro threshold covers the everyday giving most people do, so for a typical online donation you simply keep the bank record and move on.

The trust side is just as important, because a receipt is only worth having if the charity is genuine. The single most useful signal in Germany is the DZI Spenden-Siegel, the donation seal awarded by the Deutsches Zentralinstitut für soziale Fragen (German Central Institute for Social Issues) in Berlin. Introduced in 1992, the seal is granted for one year at a time only to established organisations that pass an annual review of how transparently and economically they handle donations, from their financial reporting to the honesty of their advertising. If a nationally active charity carries the DZI Spenden-Siegel, you can give with a high degree of confidence; the DZI also publishes assessments and warnings, and its website lets you look an organisation up. Not every worthy small local Verein will have the seal, because the review has a cost and a size threshold, so its absence is not proof of anything, but its presence is a strong positive sign.

Beyond the seal, a few simple checks protect you. A serious charity is transparent about who runs it and where the money goes, publishes an annual report or at least clear figures, has a proper legal form and address, and never pressures you to give immediately. Be cautious with emotional cold approaches, with anyone who resists telling you the exact name of the organisation, and with campaigns that appear suddenly after a disaster with no track record behind them. When in doubt, give instead to an established organisation working on the same cause; the money reaches the need just as surely, and you keep the receipt that makes it deductible.

Getting involved as a newcomer

If you take one thing from this chapter, let it be that charity events are one of the most natural bridges into German life. You do not need perfect German, a big income or a network to start. Buy a ticket to a local Benefizkonzert and you have spent an evening supporting a cause and met people around you. Sign up for a Spendenlauf or a corporate team run and you have combined exercise, company and giving in a single afternoon. Wander into a Weihnachtsbasar or a school Kuchenbasar, buy a slice of cake and a raffle ticket, and you have quietly funded something good in your own neighbourhood. Each of these is a low-commitment, high-reward way to feel at home.

When it comes to the money itself, give in a way you will feel good about later. Favour organisations you can check, look for the DZI Spenden-Siegel on nationally active charities, keep the bank record for any gift up to 300 euros and ask for a Zuwendungsbestätigung for larger ones so you can claim the deduction. On the street, take the leaflet, not the pressure, and decide at home; a genuine cause will still be there tomorrow. And if you want to do more than attend and give, the step from helping at a fundraiser to volunteering regularly is a short one: our chapter on volunteering opportunities walks through how to find a role and what the Ehrenamt involves, and social impact organisations introduces the charities themselves. However you begin, contributing to a cause here is a warm and genuinely social way to put down roots.