Thank you from the treasurer
The donations received reflect the members’ active will to generously support the work of the Goetheanum even during the Coronavirus pandemic.
While the final touches are being put to the annual accounts, the treasurer can already express his thanks for the donations received in the past year: even though the appeal for donations only reached the members late due to delays in the postal service, donations from members in 2020 came to around CHF 1,500,000: a 50 percent increase compared to the CHF 950,000 received in 2019. A very warm thank you for this crucial support!
It was noticeable that more members donated money in addition to their usual contribution and often twice as much as before. Several larger donations added to the overall result.
A special gesture was reported by the Goetheanum Reception which was facing special challenges last year. Rebekka Frischknecht’s Reception team and the financial team around Ileana Toma had to cancel thousands of bookings for the performances of Faust and the Mystery Dramas and for conferences that could not take place. Here alone, CHF 71,077 were donated to the Goetheanum rather than requested back from those who had booked tickets.
That the Goetheanum is carried by the members in this way during the pandemic is crucial and has made it possible for us to continue working.
Just before Christmas we received a brief notice that we were not entitled to the financial compensation announced by the state and canton for the officially imposed closure – resulting in the loss of CHF 670,000 in July 2020 alone. The reason stated was that not more than 50 percent of the Goetheanum’s activities were in the sphere of culture.