Treasurer’s report

The Goetheanum got off relatively lightly in the first year of the Coronavirus pandemic thanks to a combination of loans and legacies.

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Over the past year, a number of people expressed their commiseration with me for being treasurer at the Goetheanum. And right they were, one could think, given that the Goetheanum was closed for four months – from mid-March to the end of June and the weeks leading up to the end of 2020 – and during the remaining period it had to comply with extreme restrictions: no meetings, no international conferences and no artistic performances!

We had to be very frugal financially and even had to freeze investments – it was impossible to plan ahead. Up until June 2020 alone, we registered an income loss of CHF 670,000 with the local authorities as a result of the closures imposed by them. We basically missed out on one whole quarter worth of events and the Goetheanum consequently expected its income to go down by 25 per cent. We had to reduce working hours for many staff members whilst paying full salaries but were partly reimbursed for this.

Support from the members

You might say that we are relatively well off in Central Europe or in Switzerland, compared to other parts of the world: The Goetheanum received an immediate loan of CHF 500,000 from the local and national governments which is to be paid back interest-free over five years. We also received, spread across 2020, a compensation of CHF 382,000 for reduced working hours resulting from the official closures (compared to a total of CHF 9.4 million in salaries paid). Our application for compensation from a fund set up especially for cultural venues in Switzerland (which took half a year to put together due to its complexity) was in the end rejected because the Goetheanum’s cultural activity (as per official definition) does not exceed 50 per cent.

That we ended the financial year with almost the same ordinary income as in the previous year (CHF 13.9 million; plus 1.3 per cent) was surprising and was owed to the support received from the members worldwide on the one hand and to the Goetheanum staff on the other.

There is the fact that membership contributions from the 35 societies in the world and from individual members remained stable in 2020 even though many countries and members also suffered from the Coronavirus restrictions. In addition, an appeal sent out late in the year (just before Christmas 2020) – by letter to German-speaking countries and online to all members, with a short video message attached – brought in a total of CHF 1.5 million in donations from individual members and branches within a fortnight.

Over and above the financial support it is a heart-warming feeling for everyone working at the Goetheanum to experience this solidarity and the support in the form of smaller or greater donations for our common task.

Often no refund expected

What also helped was the wonderful flexibility of the Goetheanum staff, of the Sections of the School of Spiritual Science and the departments that allowed us to respond swiftly to any changes; the fact that the Faust festival in July and the additional performance in October 2020 were sold out (both with restrictions on audience numbers); that people who had booked events which were then cancelled did not insist on a refund; that basically all travel was impossible and there were no travel costs for lecturers at conferences, and much more. The financial result shows that around CHF 900,000 less were spent, while the income remained the same as in the previous year. As the extraordinary result shows, the gratefully received revenue of CHF 1.1 million – for instance from property etc. – was not enough to balance the books and so the year closes with a deficit of CHF 475,896. We will apply to the Canton for help from the emergency fund (which is possible after over 40 days of closure), but the success of this is uncertain.

Increase in assets

Last year we received a legacy that included a historical property in the Dornach Colony (built in 1921) which was entered in the books but then corrected to a nominal figure of CHF 1,000 because we do not sell these Dornach buildings. A further legacy via the affiliated Dotationsverein (a charitable association) had been assigned to the Goetheanum 20 years ago, but could only be used after the end of a certain period of time. It amounts to CHF 830,000 and is designated for a special task of the Goetheanum’s Documentation department (it has been entered under designated reserves).

We can therefore say that, despite the negative result, the Goetheanum has increased its assets. We need to bear in mind, however, that we are carrying a loss of CHF 1.1 million, which is only balanced because of the high figure in designated reserves and which we need to reduce as much as possible over the coming years.

My special thanks go to Oliver Conradt and his competent and hard-working team in the finance department, who have managed the finances brilliantly this year despite a change of staff and other challenges.

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