European Volunteer Centre  The European Volunteer Centre (CEV) is a European network of currently over 80 mainly national and regional volunteer centres and volunteer development agencies across Europe and beyond that together work to support and promote voluntary activity. CEV channels the collective priorities and concerns of its member organisations to the institutions of the European Union. It also acts as a central forum for the exchange of policy, practice and information on volunteering. CEV's origins lie in an initiative by 7 volunteer centres, Association pour le Volontariat (Belgium), Centre National du Volontariat (France), the National Centre for Volunteering (UK), Centro Nazionale per il Volontariato (Italy), Landelijk Steunpunt Vrijwilligerswerk (Netherlands) and Plataforma para la Promoción del Voluntariado en España (Spain). These organisations convened at a meeting organised in Lucca, Italy, in 1989, for the representatives of National and Regional Volunteer Centres from seven European countries. The outcome of the meeting was a joint declaration for increased European cooperation. CEV was founded in February 1990 on the basis of this declaration and in 1992 was officially granted the status of “international non-profit organisation" registered under Belgian law. The Vlaams Steunpunt Vrijwilligerswerk, Flemish Volunteer Centre, was granted the responsibility to put in place the new organisation. On 5 December 1995, CEV organised the first ever "European Day for Volunteering in the European Parliament", Brussels, Belgium, with the active support of the European Parliament, the European Commission, the Council of the European Union and UNESCO. Between 1994 and 2002 CEV administered as Technical Assistance Office over 13 contracts of the European Commission’s PHARE and TACIS-LIEN Programme in Central and Eastern Europe and the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) and released a series of publications within these programmes. CEV full members are national and regional support centres for volunteering and organisations exercising the role of a national or regional support centre for volunteering in European countries. Full members must be not-for profit and non-governmental organisations. Associate members are volunteer involving organisations or organisations that promote and develop volunteering in specialised field or a specific type of volunteering. Associate members act on local, regional, national or international level. CEV is supported in its work by a Board and by a Secretariat team based in Brussels. Partnership with CEV is open to any stakeholder that is willing to support CEV and its mission to contribute to the creation of an enabling political, social and economic environment for volunteering in Europe and where the full potential of volunteering can be realised.