Volunteer Resource Site

Germany No-Refund & Cancellation Policy

Charity Status

Global Brigades Germany is registered with the Charity Commissioner of Germany and has been granted tax relief under the tax relief on income and property of charities. Global Brigades Germany’s registered charity number is VR 200439. Confirmation of Global Brigades Germany’s registered charity status can be found here.

Brigade Cancellations

Please refer to the details to the right for policies regarding different types of cancellations. If you have any questions, please contact your Program Associate. If you’re unsure who your Program Associate is, please contact admin@globalbrigades.org.

Individual Cancellations

A volunteer must communicate the cancellation of their brigade participation to their Brigade Leader and the Program Associate assigned to their brigade.

Global Brigades strongly encourages volunteers who wish to cancel their brigade participation to find a replacement volunteer so their original commitment to the program implementation may be fulfilled. Within 1 month* after their cancellation, the volunteer must email their Program Associate if they plan to apply the funds raised toward their Donation Goal for a future brigade, which will be reserved for a future brigade for up to 12 months** upon the time of cancellation.

If a volunteer cancels their participation within 14 days of the brigade start date, the funds available for application toward a future brigade will be reduced by £ amount determined based on contribution (Not applicable to TeleBrigades). This amount will be utilized to cover the costs already expended to prepare for their brigade participation which was canceled on short notice.

*If the volunteer doesn’t email their Program Associate within the 1 month period, the funds raised toward the volunteer’s  Donation Goal will be utilized to further Global Brigades’ mission and no longer available to meet a future Donation Goal.
**If the volunteer reserves the funds raised for a future brigade, but does not sign-up for a new brigade within 12 months, the funds raised toward the volunteer’s Donation Goal will be utilized to further Global Brigades’ mission
Chapter Cancellations

A chapter may have to cancel your Brigade for various reasons. Examples include not meeting the volunteer group minimum, or not having university support to travel abroad. When a chapter cancels their scheduled brigade, ideally they work with their volunteers to schedule a new brigade that works for everyone.

In some cases, the new scheduled brigade may no longer work for an individual volunteer and they may have to cancel their brigade participation. If this happens to you, please contact our Program Associate to find out if we can add you to another brigade that is scheduled for dates that work better for your schedule.

If you are unable to sign-up for a new brigade, you can email your Program Associate to reserve the funds raised toward your current Donation Goal for a future brigade’s Donation Goal for up to 12 months upon the time of cancellation.*

*If the volunteer reserves the funds raised for a future brigade, but does not sign-up for a new brigade within 12 months, the funds raised toward the volunteer’s Donation Goal will be utilized to further Global Brigades’ mission
Cancellations made by Global Brigades

Global Brigades’ number one priority is volunteer safety. In rare scenarios, Global Brigades may have to cancel brigades in a country due to events beyond our control, which may include, but are not limited to natural disasters, endemic and pandemic disease, and political unrest.

If your brigade is canceled by Global Brigades, we will do our best to help reschedule your brigade to possibly a new date and/or different country. If you are unable to participate in the rescheduled brigade, you can elect to reserve the funds raised toward your Donation Goal for a future brigade.*

*If the volunteer decides to not utilize the funds raised toward the volunteer’s Donation Goal for a future brigade, the funds will be utilized to further Global Brigades’ mission.

No-Refund Policy

Donations that have been transferred directly to the GBG e.V. account are generally only refundable if the donation receipt (official form) for the donated amount has not yet been issued. If a donation receipt has already been issued, the matter must be dealt with according to the civil law.
GBG e.V. is not responsible for donations made via crowdfunding platforms such as www.betterplace.org or other comparable platforms in support of projects organized by Global Brigades Germany. No reimbursement of such donations is to be arranged via GBG e.v.
Refund Requests
In the event that brigade participation cannot proceed and a refund of the donation goal is requested, the Chapter Advisor (to be obtained by the Chapter Leader) must be contacted immediately. All refund requests must be submitted no later than two weeks after publication of the affected brigade period.
Note: The submission of such a claim does not guarantee the reimbursement will be given. For further information contact GB Germany e.V.
Matching Donations
Donations that were a base for matching donations can only be refunded with the approval of the matching donor, and, therefore, must be handled on a case-by-case basis. Please contact the appropriate Program Associate for assistance in this situation.
Last Updated  December 2021