2020 Annual Report
The Anne Frank Stichting was founded on 3 May 1957, with Otto Frank as one of the founders. It had the dual aim of preserving Anne Frank’s hiding place and opening it up to the public, and of drawing worldwide attention to Anne’s life story.
The Anne Frank Stichting is an independent organisation that manages the place where Anne Frank lived in hiding during the Second World War, and where she wrote her diary. The organisation aims to achieve global awareness of Anne Frank’s life story and her work in an effort to encourage people to reflect on the dangers of antisemitism, racism, and discrimination, and the importance of freedom, equal rights, and democracy.
‘The organisation’s work is not limited to managing the House. It was set up to increase awareness of the events of the dark years of the Second World War and the persecution of the Jews and to fight discrimination, prejudice, and oppression in the world today.’
The corona pandemic has had significant implications for the Anne Frank House. The Anne Frank House depends on the revenues from museum visits and does not receive ongoing government funding. As a result, it could not avoid making organisational adjustments.
Ronald Leopold, executive director of the Anne Frank House: ‘The world is faced with a major crisis. Like many other organisations, we are going through a rough patch and cannot avoid taking drastic measures. Since the museum opened in 1960, visitors from all over the world have come to Amsterdam to visit the Anne Frank House. Entrance fees form the financial basis for managing and opening Anne Frank’s hiding place and for carrying out our educational projects around the globe. The absence of visitors resulted in a collapse in revenues, which put severe pressure on our finances. We are grateful to the government for the support we have received. Nevertheless, we are still dealing with substantial deficits. No one can say for sure how the pandemic will develop and what the long-term consequences will be. We need to adapt our organisation to the reduced revenues while ensuring that the essence of our museum and educational mission is upheld.’
The Anne Frank House implemented cost savings and started looking for additional income. In addition, it needed to draw on its reserves. The cost savings were realised in part by reorganising the workforce.
‘We are having to let go a number of dedicated colleagues who have been with the organisation for many years. The process is painful. We will carry out the reorganisation with the utmost care. A good social plan has been put in place for those who are made redundant.’
The Anne Frank House adheres to the Governance Code for the Cultural Sector. The Governance Code for the Cultural Sector provides guidelines for the proper, responsible, and transparent governance of and by cultural institutions as well as guidelines for supervision of their governance. The code applies to all Dutch subsidised cultural institutions. Please refer to the appendix for a more detailed explanation of the way in which the Anne Frank House complies with the eight principles of the Governance Code for the Cultural Sector.
The museum is managed according to a Supervisory Board model, in which the Executive Board is responsible for managing the Anne Frank House. The Executive Board is appointed by the Supervisory Council. The Supervisory Council supervises the Executive Board’s course of action and provides advice.
The Supervisory Council supervises all aspects of the organisation. The report of the Supervisory Board on the way the Board fulfilled its role in 2020, as well as the items that were on the agenda for the Supervisory Board meeting, can be found on the website.
The Executive Board is responsible for managing the Anne Frank House. Ronald Leopold has been the House’s executive director since 2011. Garance Reus-Deelder, who became the House’s managing director in 2012, stepped down on 1 June 2020 to become Plan Nederland’s executive director. Ronald Leopold has taken over her duties.
The Anne Frank House has its own terms and conditions of employment and, for the most part, observes the Museum CAO. The Executive Board is paid in conformity with the Governance Code for the Cultural Sector. The members of the Supervisory Council and the Advisory Council are not paid.
The Anne Frank House values proper compliance with the GDPR. In our collaborations with other parties, for instance, we invariably use a so-called processing agreement drawn up in accordance with GDPR guidelines. Our compliance is periodically assessed by an external party. The Supervisory Board also receives a report about our compliance with the GDPR.
The Anne Frank House adheres to the Code Cultural Diversity. In view of the objects clause contained in the articles of association of the Anne Frank House and the House’s history, diversity and inclusion are essential values. Our recruitment policy was set up to secure a diverse workforce.
The Works Council represents the interests of the organisation and the employees of the Anne Frank Stichting and participates in discussions about proposed organisational developments. New elections were held in 2020. Nine AFS employees ran for office, seven of whom were elected. In 2020, several topics were covered, the most important of which was the reorganisation of the Anne Frank Stichting.
The Anne Frank House collaborates with long-standing partner organisations in Argentina, Germany, Great Britain, Austria, and the United States. They host the travelling Anne Frank exhibitions and organise the accompanying educational activities in their countries.
The Anne Frank House does not receive ongoing government funding for the museum and largely depends on the revenues from the entrance fees.
For the funding of major museum renovations and educational projects, the organisation depends on charity funds, donations, and subsidisers such as the European Union and the Dutch government.
Since 2007, the Anne Frank House has been an annual beneficiary of the BankGiro Loterij. The Stichting receives a fixed annual amount of € 200,000. In 2020, we received an additional amount of € 90,959, thanks to the BGL participants who indicated that they wanted to play for the Anne Frank House.