About this Event
Suggested Donation to cover costs:-
Daytime workshop by registration: $100 (evenings included; with overpayment welcome!)
Evening only attendance: $15 per evening.
Programme See full details here
Finance at our Fingertips
A Treasurers’ Working Research Conference
An in-depth seminar and working meeting on the finances of the Anthroposophical Society, offered by Christopher Houghton Budd.
29-31 May 2026 | 307 Sussex Street, Sydney, NSW
Intended for treasurers, committee members and interested members, the purpose of this meeting is to deep dive into the financial genius of Rudolf Steiner as the inspiration for the financing of the Anthroposophical Society.[2]
Can the Society in Australia turn a new page for the Anthroposophical Society worldwide?
A working research seminar to explore the finances of the Australian Society might evolve, as one of the (now 37) Country Societies working in support of one another and the General Anthroposophical Society at the Goetheanum. It will consider how this can be localised at the branch level, doing so not only in terms of the Anthroposophical Society in Australia in its own right, but as a potential model for other Country Societies, especially where the membership is numerous and the country is large.
Following three recent such seminars in the US[3] and centred on the work of the Circle of Treasurers these past seven years, the seminar will explore how the branches and groups could adopt and contribute to the evolution of the Treasurers' Guidelines[4] and Chart of Accounts. It will also consider how they could carry the budget of the Australian Society, thereby replicating the wider experience of the Country Societies together carrying the budget of the General Society.
The seminar will run alongside the current debates in the Society in Australia, as also the Convent discussions at the Goetheanum, not commenting on or interfering with the status quo, but exploring how financial cooperation can contribute to a stronger, more unified Society by including Rudolf Steiner's approach to financing.[5] Combined with Guenter Wachsmuth having declined to establish a Section for Economics (where, surely, finance would have its natural home), the absence of Steiner's insights has resulted in most constitutional debates being conducted without enough clear thought about their financial counterparts or the implications of 'the grid' drawn by Steiner at the Christmas Conference, and the body/soul story that underpins the relationship between the Society and the School of Spiritual Science.
This has direct and significant consequences concerning the incorporation and taxation status of many groups/branches, which are often not-for-profit associations, seeking tax exemption, but for uncertain reasons.
Finally, especially relevant in the case of property owning, is the whole question of whether, why and how real assets should be held and owned. This is linked to the karma of the Bau Verein > Goetheanum Association > General Anthroposophical Society, a riddle still calling for comprehension.
Format
Mindful of material circulated and recent treasurers' zoom sessions, the workshop will be an in-person event, with priority given to being on a specific spot of the earth, so that the gods have something they can see and, hopefully, take part in. The idea is a simple one: to bring active treasurers into the one room to explore and work through the thinking and practicalities of the work being undertaken among treasurers. And to do so as if an enlarged committee meeting, that often overlooked two-way working expectation on Steiner's part.
Participation
The evenings are open to members of the Society and the public at large, but the daytimes are for working treasurers and interested members of the Society only.
Finances
Daytime workshop by registration: $100 (evenings included; with overpayment welcome!)
Evening only attendance: $15 per evening.
Food and lodging to one's own account.
[1] Christopher Houghton Budd is an economic and monetary historian with a special focus on financial literacy. A life-long member of the Anthroposophical Society and student of Rudolf Steiner’s socio-economic work, he has a doctorate in finance and banking, is treasurer of the Society in Ecuador, a participant in the Circle of Treasurers and board member of the Goetheanum Fund Worldwide.
[2] Included in this document: https://economics.goetheanum.org/fileadmin/economics/Articles_and_Papers/EC_Paper_2021_CHB_Hibernia_Currency.pdf
[3] https://economics.goetheanum.org/fileadmin/economics/Various_pdfs/EGA_Treasurers_Research_Meeting_report.pdf
[4] https://economics.goetheanum.org/fileadmin/economics/Various_pdfs/Guidelines__en_.pdf
[5] https://economics.goetheanum.org/fileadmin/economics/Towards_2023/CHB_Fingertip_Finances.pdf
Event Venue & Nearby Stays
Rudolf Steiner House, 307 Sussex Street, Sydney, Australia
AUD 0.00
