English
Humanitas is one of the main social services and community building organisations of the Netherlands. Humanitas is a nonprofit association which aims to support people who, for a range of different reasons, temporarily can not manage on their own.
The organisation was founded on May 31, 1945 directly after the Second World War to provide support to the impoverished population of the Netherlands. It has since grown to an organisation of 78 local chapters, divided over 5 districts all over the Netherlands. The National Office is based in Amsterdam.
Activities
Annually Humanitas supports tens of thousands people who are in need of a helping hand. Humanitas offers a broad spectrum of activities, ranging from buddy projects for immigrants and for people who feel lonely to parenting support and support for people dealing with grief and loss. The Humanitas services are free of charge and available to anyone, irrespective of age, ethnicity, lifestyle and sexual orientation.
The core of Humanitas’ services are provided by volunteers. Our well trained volunteers are active in more than 700 projects. They are supported by a professional staff of just over 300 people.
Each volunteer receives a comprehensive training as well as continuous personal guidance. The training and educational services are organized by the Humanitas Academy. The governance of the association is in the hands of the central board and the memberscouncil. Managing director is Jerzy Soetekouw, who reports to the central board.
Humanist values
Humanitas advocates humanist values such as: equality (of volunteer and client), responsibility (for yourself and others in society) and independence (the activities are geared towards ensuring that the clients can once more take control of their lives).
Various local, provincial, and national government grants enable the volunteers to do their work, as do the substantial contributions from the charity lotteries in the Netherlands, such as Vriendenloterij and Nationale Postcode Loterij. Additional funding comes from members, private foundations and other donors.
Humanitas is a member of several social organizations such as the Netwerk Humanisme (Humanism Network), Solidar (a European umbrella organization of civil society organizations) and the Sociale Alliantie (against poverty and social exclusion).
Humanitas is listed as a ‘public benefit organisation’ at the Dutch tax department and holds a ‘seal of approval’ from the Central Bureau on Fundraising (CBF).
Want to know more?
Please contact our National Office:
Visiting address Baarsjesweg 224, 1058 AA Amsterdam
Post adress: P. O. box 71 1000 AB Amsterdam
Phone: 003120 - 52 31 100
E-mail: info@humanitas.nl
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