Türchen goes Charity: Stiftung Frauenkirche Dresden - A Musical Fundraiser

Every year, numerous Türchen-calendars are created by non-profit organizations for fundraising campaigns or other good causes. The Stiftung Frauenkirche Dresden (Foundation Frauenkirche Dresden) has launched a Türchen project that has been successful for years. Time to take a closer look and ask. Read the interview with Grit Jandura from Stiftung Frauenkirche Dresden.

What exactly does your enterprise do?

On the one hand, the Stiftung Frauenkirche Dresden is responsible for the preservation of the building, and on the other hand, for organizing the numerous and diverse offerings: Visits, guided tours, church services and devotions, concerts, lectures, etc. This constellation of foundations makes us unique - we are not part of a state church, but are self-supporting. That's why donations are a big issue for us, because it's the only way we can do everything that makes the Frauenkirche a place of encounter.

How did your special calendar come about?

In the midst of the Corona pandemic, our cantor came up with the crazy idea of creating a "Sound Advent Calendar". We had some experience with self-produced video clips, but to produce 24 films in a short period of time, and then to do it under strict health regulations, was a real challenge! One must not forget: We did (and still do) it all ourselves without an agency or production company.

But nothing ventured, nothing gained. On 30.11.2020 we went online with a short announcement clip and from 1.12. day by day little doors opened. What we could not know during production: At that time, all concerts were canceled again, there was no singing in the church service. So our offer was obviously refreshing for many people.

How did you come to Türchen.com?

Producing the video clips was one thing, but presenting them beautifully was no less important. So I did some research and soon came across Türchen.com. I didn't have to think about it for long:

The tool is easy to use, the look can be adapted to the CI of our foundation and the price is discounted for non-profit institutions like ours. You can integrate the calendar into your own website and thus make it easily accessible to your own circle of interested parties. A special bonus is the nice team behind it. Service requests are answered quickly and reliably. Great praise!

For what purpose have you used the calendar so far?

The Sounding Advent Calendar was actually born out of the idea of bringing music to people when they can't experience it live due to a pandemic. That was in 2020, but it quickly became clear that we wanted to take it further. Because the digital calendar makes it possible to reach people in all parts of Germany and even far beyond.

That's a perfect fit for us, because the Frauenkirche congregation can't be defined regionally. Above all, the idea is to use the calendar to guide people through Advent in terms of church music.

Many people know Advent songs, some sing in the choir themselves, others are organ fans or like instrumental pieces. We present the variety of music to all of them - as small sounding gifts. Of course, this is also connected with the idea that people will become curious and perhaps, during a visit to Dresden, will also feel like coming to a concert or spiritual format in the Frauenkirche. And if some decide to make a donation after a particularly nice clip or at the end on Christmas Eve, all the better.

How has the calendar been received?

We were and are overwhelmed by the response. Now, it's not clear how many people we reach through the door tool and how many originally through Youtube - but we've managed a total of over 1.4 million clicks with the three calendars so far. When we get the statistics for our website hits in January, where we have integrated the calendar tool, it blows up the scale due to the high hits. But what makes me personally particularly happy are direct reactions from people.

A daughter reports that she opens the digital door for her mother in a care facility every day. A professor emeritus calls to ask where he can find the calendar, which he discovered late last year, because he doesn't want to miss a single door this time. Parents tell us that their children demand that the doors be opened every day. We have received feedback from Poland, Switzerland, Spain, Mexico, Indonesia... in other words, from all over the world. Who would have thought that?

Have you been fundraising and has Türchen been able to support you?

We are very grateful for the possibility to link to our donation pages via the button in the calendar tool. It's super easy to set up and convenient for users. Admittedly, we are so far "only" click millionaires through the calendar, but not donation millionaires - in our perception, there is still a great reluctance to donate online - but tools like the one from Türchen.com help to establish the topic in people's awareness.