- ATD Fourth World

The decision that all full-time volunteers should receive the same basic wage is a unique choice which was made at the very beginning of the ATD Fourth World’s existence, and which is very important to the volunteers. It means that there is no hierarchy in terms of salary. The wage is calculated in terms of the minimum wage in the country where the volunteers are working.

In France, Belgium, the Netherlands and Luxembourg, for example, full-time volunteers receive a monthly wage of €550, plus between €75 and €165 per child, a contribution towards housing cost, as well as the social protection in the particular country. This basic but regular wage, gives the volunteers the freedom which is necessary to fully undertake their responsibilities. The fact that the wage is low is both related to the limited resources we have available, and the desire of the ful-time volunteers to live modestly.

The wages are paid by the volunteers’ association, which distributes the resource to volunteers (chiefly volunteers’ salaries paid for by subsidies from public or private funds, and donations from individuals specifically dedicated to the volunteers).

There are already hundreds of people who want to make a strong commitment to the work of the volunteers and who have chosen to donate a percentage of their salary (or pension, etc.) to the volunteers’ association. Peoples’ donations vary from 5% to 10% of their salary, or even more, which is transferred to the volunteers’ association, guaranteeing it a regular income. There are, naturally, many reasons for making such a choice. For some people, it’s because they spent several years of their life in the International Volunteer Corps and had to leave for personal reasons, but want to remain in solidarity. Others would have liked to become volunteers, but were not free to do so because of family or professional ties. For them, contributing to the volunteers’ salaries is another way of putting their wish into practice. Most people ask to be kept informed about the work of the volunteers that they support through their donation. This is done on a regular basis by letters and by publications by ATD Fourth World.

Do you want to support the full-time volunteers? Make a donation, or better still, give a percentage of your salary or pension every month to the "Fondation ATD Quart Monde", stating "for the volunteer corps".