Due to Danish tax and immigration policy, we can only offer free room and board for volunteers, who are EU citizens or have a working holiday visa.
Several of the positions require good English skills and a long term commitment. Volunteering for less than 2 months is only accepted in situations where Avnø needs special skills or has other special needs.
Avnø Oasis is always open to new volunteers with entrepreneurial spirits, who are highly motivated and ready to dedicate their energy and skills to realise the vision with practical work and communal involvement.
Our days take many colourful forms and are filled with a broad variety of activities (and unexpected events). Realizing a project of this size requires commitment, a variety of skills, practical work and communal involvement. It also offers rich possibilities for development of personal, practical, organisational, social and communal skills.
If you are eager to put your body, mind & soul in an intense combination of social interaction, research, experiment, design, practical tasks and the creation of a more sustainable model of life, we invite you to read the information below. Here you will also find a form to apply to be our volunteer. Please read the information on this page carefully before filling the application.
A communication circle leader or member — with a background in marketing
A technical circle leader or member
A hosting circle leader or member, who enjoys to make people feel welcome
A kitchen chef (3-4 people with this role ideally)
A volunteer mentor & coordinator
A person attracting and managing our business partnerships
A person responsible for our economy — bookkeeping, economy overview, wages
A person responsible for the local plan development and connections with authorities
A person responsible for the yard and garden
An administrative assistant (a secretary — ideally a Danish person)
A person working with grants/fundings (Erasmus+, ESC, CISU etc.)
An event coordinator (Erasmus, ESC, CISU etc)
Great if you have skills, but we can also train you. Some areas we manage quite well – others somewhat inadequately due to lack of skills or lack of time (double or tripple roles).
Our work is organized in working groups, where each member takes responsibility for a smaller or larger part of the work that needs to be done.
As a temporary member of our community, you are invited to take part in essential community activities such as morning–, opening–, closing–, sharing circles, community meetings etc. We kindly ask to not bring work related subjects up during these activities.
You will be invited to take responsibility for smaller or larger tasks and/or areas within one or more of our working groups according to your experience, skills and interest. In most working groups you have the possibility to grow through improving practical skills, learning organizational skills or by taking on the challenge of developing a new role or area within the group. Initiatives are welcome.
1. Technical group assistent
For you, who are particularly interested in using or developing skills in regards to maintaining and upgrading large existing buildings to be more sustainable and/or IT.
2. Land group assistent
For you, who are particularly interested in developing skills in regards to gardening, yardwork & permaculture design of areas and projects.
3. Hosting group assistant
For you who like to create an environment where people feel welcome, while you develop your organizational skills and people skills. The area includes decorating, cleaning, event hosting, organising spaces, receiving guests, students and volunteers and caring for community members. There are several roles to choose between.
4. Communication group assistant
For you who like to be part of our communication team. The area includes graphic design, promotion, SoMe, website, article writing, creation of flyers etc. There are several roles to choose between.
5. Kitchen assistant
For you, who like to spend time in the kitchen and learn more about holistic green cooking. For those particularly interested in diving deeper and developing their skills as a holistic green chef, and who are able to commit for a full year, we offer a one year (full or part time) volunteer position in our kitchen team. It includes the course Cooking for Health and Happiness where you will learn about holistic nutrition and various ways to cook healthy and delicious food as well as planning menus for different purposes and groups. After the course you will be invited to be a chef to practice what you have learned. Through meal evaluations your cooking skills will gradually improve. As a chef, you will gain experience in planning workflows in regards to cooking, cleaning and complying with official standards for hygiene and food safety in a commercial kitchen as well as instructing less experienced volunteers and students, who are in the kitchen with you. Please don’t apply if you can’t commit for a full year. It really takes all seasons to learn this skill properly.
6. Education assistant
For you, who have skills to teach related subjects or would like to support in coordinating students and courses here at Avnø.
7. Economy and administration assistant
For you, who are interested in developing skills needed to manage a large enterprise. Only people who commit for a year or more will be accepted in this position as there is quite a bit of training involved. However you will also learn about economy, applications for various permissions etc. A Danish speaking person is preferred for this position.
8. Event assistant
For you, who are interested in learning how to run larger events and/or create funding for them. Only people who commit to be here for a year or more will be accepted in this position as it takes time to set up events and run them and learn from the experience. You will increase your skills in event organization and applications for funding etc.
Full time volunteer: At least 2 months stay. An average of 35 hours volunteer service per week. Free room and board. We welcome all ages – preference is given to volunteers who stay for 6-12 months. Full time volunteers are able to participate for free in one of our 12 week courses after a full year of volunteering. For shorter stays each month gives a discount.
ESC volunteer: Only for 18-30 years old. Our 3 spots will primarily be given to people, who are interested in community life and intend to be here long term (6-12 months.).
Part time volunteer: At least 2 months stay. 25 hours volunteer service per week. 3500 DKK/470 € per month towards room and board.
Volunteer camps: in connection with events and courses at Avnø Højskole gives you an option for cheaper participation in events and courses: Soon to come. The volunteer camps will be aimed at people who are looking to be here for a short stay and participate in a course and pay less.
With the general understanding that work is love in action, we usually don’t count hours rigidly. However the question about how many hours keeps being raised. The guideline of ESC (European Solidarity Corps) is that a full-time volunteer works approximately 35 hours per week.
Your days in Avnø Oasis can be filled with a variety of activities. We try as much as possible to include you in a working group where the majority of the daily tasks are aligned with your skills and interests, so we all can enjoy what we do. Then we hope you also will do the tasks that just have to be done with joy.
We aim to work from a place of inspiration where the general attitude is that work is love in action.
To support this aim we have flexible hours, so we all as much as possible can adjust work, rest and social time according to our individual needs. This freedom requires a high level of personal integrity, flexibility, peer support and clear communication.
However it also supports us to learn to find our individual balance between taking care of a project and our personal and social needs. In the beginning people often find it quite challenging to find this balance, as it often requires a change of mindset. We track our hours, so that we have a measure on when we have fulfilled our obligations.
While you volunteer here, we expect that you treat Avnø Oasis as your home and contribute with engagement, inspiration and commitment. Many of us work long hours, because it gives us energy to see the project move forward. Focusing on tasks that inspire us and give us energy makes us able to handle the less inspiring tasks with joy.
We aim to find a healthy balance between work, social life and withdrawing to connect with ourselves or nature.
We’re in a nature reserve area, so we strongly recommend taking walks or bikerides in the area!
As a community, we sometimes sing, play games, watch a movie, sit by the fireplace or do other social activities. Other days we take time on our own. In your free time it is often possible to participate in some of Avnø højskole’s activities.
With the intention to co-create a more sustainable lifestyle, Avnø Oasis is a melting pot of people with different cultural backgrounds and skills ranging from ecovillage-design, permaculture, holistic nutrition, personal and spiritual development to entrepreneurship and sociocracy.
With 7 to 11 different nationalities around the table we mostly speak English.
Our community kitchen serves 3 daily meals prepared using macrobiotic principles. Recreational use of drugs and alcohol doesn’t align with our values, therefore everyone is kindly asked not to bring or consume them at Avnø Oasis.
All bedrooms have private bathrooms.
When a new volunteer arrives they get another volunteer as their buddy to help them understand their place and make sure they get connected with us.
The general volunteer mentor
There are weekly wellbeing-at-work meetings, where we share how our work week went and discuss if any adjustments are needed in tasks, responsibilities, attitudes or system.
Special focus is on inspiration and a healthy balance between volunteer service, social time and alone time.
There are weekly team building for volunteer meetings held by the social volunteer mentor with the purpose to support all volunteers to thrive in the community.
The social volunteer mentor is also available for individual talks and may every now and then take initiative to a chat.
The working group mentor is also the coordinator of the working group. They are the go-to person with all work related questions or issues. Their role is to make sure you understand the purpose of the working group, integrate you in the working group and support you in choosing tasks that are appropriate for you, i.e they contribute to your growth, but are not too challenging.
It is our intention to create an inspiring and synergetic relationship where we all experience a gain. But we are all human and sometimes our chemistry just doesn’t work, or things are different from what we expected – no matter how much we try to clarify expectations before arrival.
If that happens we at Avnø will do our best to help resolve issues and find solutions that work for everybody.
Special notes for ESC volunteers: Only in special cases can a volunteering agreement be terminated early, as it also is a contract with the EU. We will do our best to support you in finding solutions that work for all of us while you stay – and we expect you to do the same.
After we receive your application, we will base the selection process:
For shorter stays, prior experience and skills or willingness to do routine work count more than for longer stays.
We generally prefer volunteers, who have the intention to stay here for 3-12 months; but if we are in need, we also accept people for a shorter time.
How to become a volunteer
We want to ensure that Avnø Oasis is right for you and that you can find your right place here.
The steps that works for most people are:
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