Abstract

The use of voluntary resources can be justified in different ways: economically by an improved supply via the complement of market and state by altruistic actions, socio- politically as an expression of the principle of subsidiarity and fiscally by the saving of national budget means. The estimated value of voluntary work, the work of people in the civilian alternative service as well as money donations amounts to roughly 14 bill. €, i.e. 70% of welfare aid expenses. Economically the use of scarcefree resources is not without difficulty. Therefore, the crisis of voluntary work is a crisis of welfare organisations as well, because their special role is endangered as this structural characteristic ceases to exist. A low productivity of voluntary work, difficulties in the cooperation with full-time employees as well as the risk of the valuecreating potential being exhausted by the higher salaries of full-time employees, inefficiencies or cross-subsidies: all of these are signs of crisis. The work of people in the civilian alternative service is comparable to a special tax and leads to high economic opportunity costs. The subsidies granted in this context are especially distortive in the areas of help for elder or handicapped people and adolescents, at the cost of private commercial firms. High donation-raising costs of 10-20% are the results of an aggravated competition at a stagnated level of total donations. Moreover, donation laws discriminate against private commercial institutions, donors with low income as well as voluntary work.