There certainly are things out there that money can’t buy, just like the Beatles once sang. However, you might agree with us that money can do good (things), if managed appropriately.

With the company anniversary in mind we at Xceptance sought to combine both the good deeds and a great company gift. That’s how we found out about the idea of a ‘Wortpatenschaft‘ (engl.: “word sponsorship”), a campaign dedicated to the preservation and promotion of the German language (in cooperation with the German nonprofit association Deutsche Sprache e.V., Dortmund).

People interested in the German language can visit their website to look up their favorite word and, this is the best part, sign up to “adopt” it. For a fixed donation you get to be the sponsor of a word (provided that nobody else has claimed it already), you receive a certificate for the sponsorship via mail and you can also have your name listed on the website next to your word. Their database not only consists of common German vocabulary but also rather quaint expressions or idioms like ‘Kokolores’ (engl.: gibberish) or ‘Mutschekiepchen’ (engl.: ladybug). The library is constantly growing since the platform accepts new suggestions, as long as they are valid German words or sufficiently Germanized expressions. Thankfully we did not have to propose our favorite word, and it also wasn’t taken!

As a QA company we did not have to think twice about which word to choose, it just had to be a term that means a lot to us, that describes our passion best and reflects what we’re good at. In one word: Testen (engl.: testing)! Now we are the proud owners of a pretty certificate, neatly framed and hung up in the hallway of our German office. A link to our company homepage next to the sponsored word also tells people how to find out more about the sponsor.