benevol

What benevol does

benevol Schweiz is the national umbrella organization for voluntary engagement in Switzerland, founded in 1999 and formally incorporated as a Verein in 2002. Headquartered in Bern, it coordinates a network of 15 regional cantonal volunteer centers, 2,000+ member organizations, and 15 national extraordinary members, acting as the recognized national interlocutor on volunteering policy, standards, and training. The organization serves both volunteers seeking opportunities and non-profit/public-interest organizations seeking to recruit and manage volunteers effectively across the Swiss German, French, and Italian-speaking regions.

The organization's core products are benevol-jobs.ch, an online matching platform that connects prospective volunteers with member organizations, and "Dossier freiwillig engagiert," a formal certification that documents structured volunteer engagement by individuals. Beyond these, benevol publishes national quality standards and guidelines for volunteer management and runs education and training programs targeted at volunteer coordinators and member organizations. The trilingual website (German, French, Italian) and partnerships with the regional networks Bénévolat Romandie and Volontariato Ticino provide full national linguistic coverage.

benevol operates as a non-profit funded by a mix of foundation grants (Ernst Göhner Stiftung, Beisheim Stiftung, Migros Kulturprozent, Sophie und Karl Binding Stiftung, Zangger-Weber Stiftung, Schweizerische Gemeinnützige Gesellschaft) and membership fees from affiliated organizations. All core services are offered free of charge to end users, so the go-to-market is institutional (foundations, public-interest funders) rather than transactional. Leadership is provided by President Sibylle Freudweiler-Haab and Director Sarah Girard, with a small national secretariat (1-10 employees) supported by the regional cantonal offices.

Name

benevol

Legal name

benevol Schweiz

Website

https://benevol.ch

Company type

Private

Founded year

1999

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

1–10 employees

Short description

benevol Schweiz is the national Swiss non-profit umbrella organization coordinating 15 regional volunteer centers and 2,000+ member organizations, providing the benevol-jobs.ch matching platform, the Dossier certification, and national quality standards for volunteer engagement.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Volunteer Coordination Services

NAICS

Civic and Social Organizations (813410), Religious, Grantmaking, Civic, Professional, and Similar Organizations (813), Professional Organizations (81392)

SIC

Services-Membership Organizations (8600), Services-Management Consulting Services (8742)

akta.pro primary industry

Donor Coordination, Monitoring & Evaluation (MEL) Programs (BPADABAN)

akta.pro secondary industry

International & Local Implementing NGOs (HLAJAKAD)

Keywords

• Volunteer management
• Volunteer matching
• Civic engagement
• Nonprofit coordination
• Volunteer certification

Headquarters

HQ city

Bern

HQ country

Switzerland

HQ region

Europe

Offices1 record

Markets served

GTM type

B2B and B2C

Offering type

Services

Cost components

Personnel, Operations, Technology or R&D, Marketing or Sales, Infrastructure

Revenue model

1. Donations and Sponsorship: benevol Schweiz receives financial support from various foundations and organizations including Ernst Göhner Stiftung, Beisheim Stiftung, Migros Kulturprozent, Sophie und Karl Binding Stiftung, Zangger-Weber Stiftung, and Schweizerische Gemeinnützige Gesellschaft. The organization actively solicits donations through its website.
2. Membership Fees: Cantonal and regional offices as well as national organizations pay membership fees to benevol Schweiz. Ordinary members include 15 cantonal offices; extraordinary members include national organizations like AFS Intercultural Programs, Jungwacht Blauring Schweiz, Procap, and others.

Go-to-market motion1 record

Distribution channels3 records

Marketing channels5 records

Core offering

benevol Schweiz is the national umbrella association coordinating Switzerland's volunteer infrastructure through a network of 15 regional cantonal offices. It operates benevol-jobs.ch, an online platform that matches volunteer-seeking organizations with individuals, and the Dossier freiwillig engagiert, a national quality label and portfolio system that documents and certifies volunteer engagement. The association also provides continuing education programs (e.g., Lehrgang Freiwilligenkoordination, CAS Freiwilligen-Management) and standardized volunteer management guidelines.

Product overview

benevol Schweiz operates as an umbrella organization for regional volunteer centers across Switzerland, offering two primary service platforms: benevol-jobs.ch (a job platform connecting volunteers with organizations) and Dossier freiwillig engagiert (a national quality label and portfolio system for documenting volunteer engagement). These services are supplemented by educational programs, standards and guidelines for volunteer work, and a network of 15 regional cantonal offices.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Brands

• benevol-jobs.ch: The job platform for voluntary engagement operated by benevol Schweiz, connecting organizations seeking volunteers with individuals looking to contribute.
• Dossier freiwillig engagiert

Products and services

• benevol-jobs.ch

Quantifiable outcome

• Rund ein Drittel der erwachsenen Bevölkerung in der Schweiz engagiert sich freiwillig

Named customers7 records

Segments3 records

Ideal customer profiles3 records

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Feature2 records

Partnerships

Three partnerships are on record, tiered core and minor.

• Bénévolat RomandiecoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerRegional network for volunteering in French-speaking Switzerland. benevol Schweiz collaborates with this network for coordination and knowledge sharing.
• Volontariato TicinocoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerSwiss Italian-speaking volunteer network. benevol Schweiz collaborates with Volontariato Ticino for cross-regional coordination.
• Bundesarbeitsgemeinschaft der Freiwilligenagenturen (bagfa)minorStrategic or Co-development PartnerGerman umbrella organization of volunteer agencies. benevol Schweiz is a member, enabling international networking and best practice exchange.

Scale indicators3 records

Recent moves8 records

Expansion highlights4 records

Regional players

• Freiwilligenzentrum Hamburg: Local volunteer center in Hamburg — analogous to one of benevol's 15 cantonal offices (e.g., benevol Aargau, benevol Luzern), providing city/region-level volunteer coordination in Germany rather than Switzerland.

Broad incumbents

• NCVO (National Council for Voluntary Organisations): UK umbrella body for the voluntary sector, providing infrastructure, research, and advocacy for civil society — comparable in umbrella/coordinating function to benevol's role in Switzerland, with broader sectoral scope.
• Points of Light: Largest US volunteer engagement organization with broader programming (corporate volunteering, civic engagement, disaster response) — overlaps with benevol's coordination and standards role but at much larger scale and with international reach.

Direct peers

• VolunteerMatch: Largest US online volunteer matching platform, directly comparable to benevol-jobs.ch in connecting volunteers with nonprofit opportunities. Same two-sided marketplace model with technology-mediated matching.
• Idealist: Global nonprofit job and volunteer matching platform — same two-sided marketplace model connecting individuals with social-impact opportunities across nonprofits and mission-driven organizations.
• Bundesarbeitsgemeinschaft der Freiwilligenagenturen (bagfa): German national umbrella organization of volunteer agencies — directly comparable structure to benevol Schweiz, coordinating regional volunteer centers in Germany. Already a partner of benevol.
• Volontariato Ticino: Italian-speaking Swiss volunteer network — directly comparable coordinating role for Italian-speaking Switzerland; benevol lists Volontariato Ticino as a cross-regional collaboration partner.
• Bénévolat Romandie: Regional Swiss volunteer network for French-speaking Switzerland — a parallel coordinating body in the same Swiss volunteer infrastructure ecosystem; benevol already collaborates with this organization.

Others

• Caritas Schweiz: Major Swiss humanitarian NGO with significant volunteer engagement — operates as a member organization of benevol and a user of benevol's volunteer infrastructure rather than a direct competitor, representing the customer/ecosystem relationship.

Emerging players

• Catchafire: Skills-based volunteer matching platform — operates in adjacent space of professional/skills volunteer matching, intersecting with benevol's domain but focused on a specific high-value subset of volunteer engagements.

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat4 records

Key risks6 records

Key highlights7 records

Customer concentration

• Facebookfacebook.com/benevol.ch
• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/benevol-schweiz

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles9 records

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about benevol