You should be aware that you cannot always do unpaid work without this being offset against your unemployment benefit. The voluntary work must be for an organisation, association or the like, and there are four criteria that the organisation or association must meet: • It must be based on a voluntary initiative • Its primary purpose must not be to generate profits• The board must work voluntarily• Membership of the organisation or association must be voluntary This means that you cannot do voluntary unpaid work for public institutions without this being deducted from your unemployment benefit from the first hour. The law divides voluntary work into two categories: 1) Activities: You may freely perform any tasks that would not be offered as ordinary paid work. This might include work in community centres and shelters, participation in fundraising events, association work or work as a service assistant in charity shops. This also applies to various forms of telephone counselling that do not require specific training. 2) Work: For up to 44 hours a month, you can perform unpaid tasks that require or presuppose special training and which could be offered as paid work, without this affecting your unemployment benefit. An example might be telephone counselling that requires or presupposes specific training. Please note, however, that there must be no salaried employees in the association or organisation with the relevant job category. Contact FTFa It is important that you contact FTFa if you wish to do voluntary unpaid work, so that we can advise you on whether the work or activity can be combined with being on unemployment benefit. As described above, it is essential that the voluntary work takes place in an organisation or enterprise that does not have a profit-making objective.