Amsterdam Volunteer Insurance

The Amsterdam Volunteer Insurance (AVV) is a secondary liability and accident insurance for volunteers, informal caregivers, and social interns in Amsterdam. The insurance is valid during volunteer work, informal care, and social internships, as well as during commuting. The costs for this insurance are fully covered by the municipality of Amsterdam. From January 1, 2023, board liability is also included under the AVV.

Who is insured?

Volunteers

• Volunteers are individuals who perform work for the benefit of others and/or society in an organizational context, voluntarily and without pay, serving a social interest.
• People who are active within citizen initiatives, working groups, committees, resident groups, and church communities.
• Refugees, including those without status who are staying in emergency shelters, provided they are doing volunteer work.
• In exceptional cases: volunteers at a sole proprietorship, provided there is a social interest and there is no profit motive.

Informal caregivers

• Informal caregivers are individuals who provide long-term and unpaid care to a chronically ill, disabled, or needy partner, parent, child, family member, friend, or acquaintance.

Social interns

• A social intern is a student from secondary education who gets acquainted with taking responsibility for social interests through an internship. This is not vocational training, but character-building. 

Who are not insured?

• Volunteers from outside the EU who are staying here as tourists.
• Volunteer fire department and police (they have their own insurance).
• Professional staff (the insurance only applies to volunteers).

Coverage and conditions in brief

1. The liability insurance is a secondary insurance. This means:

• The organization’s or volunteer’s own insurance always takes precedence.
• If this insurance does not exist or does not cover, the AVV comes into effect.
• You can never be doubly insured.

2. The accident insurance is a primary insurance. It can be directly invoked. 

Where does the insurance apply?

• Volunteers, informal caregivers, and social interns are insured as long as they carry out their activities for an Amsterdam volunteer organization, regardless of where they live.
• As volunteers/interns from an Amsterdam organization carry out activities elsewhere in the Netherlands, they are also insured.

In all other cases, the potential volunteer insurance from the other municipality takes precedence.

What is covered?

✅ Liability of volunteers and informal caregivers.
✅ Accidents.
✅ Damage to personal belongings (e.g. clothing, bicycle).
✅ Traffic liability (damage while participating in traffic).
✅ Legal assistance for volunteers.
✅ Board liability.

What is not covered?

❌ Liability for third parties (for example, damage caused by visitors/participants at an event).
❌ Accidents involving third parties.

If an organization has its own directors’ liability insurance, we recommend comparing these policy conditions with the policy conditions of the AVV. If the AVV is sufficient, the personal insurance may possibly be terminated.

Supplementary insurances

Some organizations need additional insurances, such as:

• Business liability
• Asset liability
• Data/cybercrime liability

Download the information sheet: Are we well insured?

City

You will not receive a policy.

• Volunteers, informal caregivers, and social interns do not need to register: the insurance applies automatically.
• Organizations must keep track of who is active as a volunteer or social intern, in case a damage claim is filed.

Questions? Report damage?

For detailed information about the coverage, please contact Arjen Verhoef – AVerhoef@vga.amsterdam.nl / 085-0811900.
For reporting damage, you can contact the municipality VGA Insurance: 085-0811900 | zv@vga.amsterdam.nl of Use it digital damage claim form.