The Finnish Vegan Association is run by volunteers
The purpose of The Finnish Vegan Association is to spread word about veganism and to make it more accepted and approachable, as well as to serve as a reliable expert organization representing vegans. We act for the good of animals, the environment, and people.
Our work includes providing information through publications, our website, and social media. We speak out on current issues and make expert, science-based nutritional information available for everyone free of charge. We take part in events as well as organize our own. We engage in public discussions and reach out to consumers, decision makers, and commercial entities.
Volunteers – regular people just like you – are the lifeblood of our organization. The Finnish Vegan Association would not exist without people dedicated to the cause.
The easiest way to get involved is to contact your nearest local group! You can find the contact information of our local groups here.
Below are listed some tasks for which we are specifically seeking volunteers.
To get involved, all you need is an interest in promoting the vegan way of life! Volunteer work in The Finnish Vegan Association is organized mainly around local groups, which form the heart of our organization.
Easiest ways to get involved include:
- Participating in the association’s gatherings and meetings
The local groups announce open meetings on social media. See the contact information for our local groups. - Contacting your local contact person
- Participating in events organized by The Finnish Vegan Association
- Going up to volunteers and expressing your interest
- Contacting our board (hallitus@vegaaniliitto.fi) if you are interested in administrative roles in our organization
The executive committee
Are you interested in getting more deeply acquainted with the work of an association? Become a member of The Finnish Vegan Association’s executive committee and help us ensure the continuation of our important work!
As a member of the executive committee, you could choose to focus on a specific area of our administration and help develop it further. Of course, the most important thing is adhering to the obligations set by the Finnish Associations Act, but there are plenty of other interesting things to do, too! We encourage you to take on commitments and responsibilities while always ensuring that everyone’s workload stays manageable.
The executive committee for each one-year term is elected at the annual autumn meeting, to which members of the association receive a separate invitation. Members of the executive committee must be members of The Finnish Vegan Association.
Depending on your specific responsibilities, serving as a member of the executive committee will require approximately 5 to 10 hours of your time each month.
Contact the executive committee: hallitus@vegaaniliitto.fi
Volunteer officers
In addition to our executive committee, The Finnish Vegan Association also has volunteer officers with clearly defined roles and responsibilities, such as taking care of finances, volunteer coordination, business partnerships or IT. These roles require a certain level of commitment and expertise on the specific subject.
If you are interested in becoming a volunteer officer, contact us at hallitus@vegaaniliitto.fi
Local groups
The work of our local groups includes any activities that our local activists wish to take part in. The groups are independent and can decide their own forms of activism.
The contact information of our local groups can be found here.
If there is no contact person near you, you can become one! The association’s other activists, as well as the executive committee, employees, and volunteer officers, will help and support you.
Local activities can include rallying other activists, organizing an information session about plant-based eating, distributing informational flyers at e.g. libraries, finding and sharing information about your local vegan-friendly services or writing opinion pieces for your local newspaper.
Sharing information is an easy way of promoting veganism. The Finnish Vegan Association has info tables at different events and locations, such as city centers, festivals, concerts and events related to plant-based eating. Volunteers running the info tables hand out flyers and answer people’s questions about the vegan lifestyle. The Finnish Vegan Association’s materials are sometimes also shared at other associations’ info tables.
Events where plant-based food is served, as well as tasting events, are a positive form of action whose purpose is to serve delicious vegan food and introduce people to different vegan options. These events have amassed hundreds of participants and garnered a lot of positive feedback. There are several different tasks and skills involved in organizing a tasting event: cooking delicious food, taking care of logistics, setting up an enticing-looking serving table, finding a suitable venue, talking with participants and answering their questions, as well as promoting the event through suitable channels.
What else can I do?
If you have expertise on nutrition, the environment, animal philosophy or legislation, you can offer your expertise to The Finnish Vegan Association.
If you have skills in graphic design, illustration, or publishing, you can help with the production of our materials and publications.
The Finnish Vegan Association has many tasks related to maintaining our website. Among other things, we list vegan-friendly restaurants and cafes as well as blogs and articles related to veganism. We also maintain the website Vegaanituotteet.net together with Vegaanihaaste.
If any of the above interests you, contact us at hallitus@vegaaniliitto.fi
You can order our materials by emailing info@vegaaniliitto.fi and share them with your acquaintances, or bring them to vegan-friendly businesses, libraries, schools, or other public locations.
You can discuss the vegan lifestyle with friends, acquaintances, strangers, other vegans or anyone else both face to face and online. You should always approach discussions with an open mind. On the internet, there is always ongoing discourse about all things related to the vegan lifestyle. There are many Finnish Facebook groups about veganism, some of which are listed on our website. Animal rights and plant-based eating are common topics online, for example in articles and news items, and there is often lively discussion in the comment section.
You should recommend Vegaanihaaste (Vegan Challenge) to your Finnish friends and acquaintances! It’s a fun and easy way to try plant-based food for a month. The challenge is free and available all year round.