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TOPIC FORM - GENERAL SERVICE CONFERENCE 2009

THEME:  IS YOUR GROUP IN THE LOOP?

CLOSING DATE FOR SUBMISSION OF TOPICS IS FRIDAY 26^th JUNE 2009

TOPIC: 1. The formula used to calculate the Prudent Reserve Amount should be published in the current Conference Financial Report in the appropriate place.

2. The Prudent Reserve Amount that was calculated from last year’s budget should always be shown on the current conference financial report as well as this year’s calculated prudent reserve so Fellowship, Fiancé Committee and Conference can see if we have exceeded Prudent Reserve.

3. “Where the funds available to the General Service Board exceed the Prudent Reserve, a proposal for how the excess funds should be spent is to be formulated by the GSB and approved by the Delegate body at the following General Service Conference.”

WHAT IS THE BACKGROUND OR REASON FOR THE TOPIC?:

Topic with Explanation.

In AA there is no need for rush decisions to be made, this Topic allows time for consideration, planning and checks to be put in place, thus allowing for an informed Group Conscious Decision. 

1. “The formula used to calculate the Prudent Reserve Amount should be published in the current Conference Financial Report in the appropriate place.”

All the fellowship should know this formula and the easiest way for that to happen is by publishing it as part of the current year’s financial report.

2. “The Prudent Reserve Amount that was calculated from last year’s budget should always be shown on the current Conference Financial Report as well as this year’s calculated prudent reserve so as the Fellowship, Fiancé Committee and Conference can see if we have exceeded Prudent Reserve.”

As a fellowship it is our responsibility to be transparent and accountable in our financial dealings, so the first step to this is publishing in each year’s financial report what our prudent reserve for this year must not exceed.   

3. “Where the funds available to the General Service Board exceed the Prudent Reserve, a proposal for how the excess funds should be spent is to be formulated by the GSB and approved by the Delegate body at the following General Service Conference.”

The proposal the board comes up with to use the excess funds is then brought to conference to be accepted or rejected by conference, if rejected the board then comes up with a new proposal that can be accepted or rejected by phone poll between conferences. In emergencies a phone poll can be used to allow excess Prudent Reserve Fund money to be spent immediately. If when the next financial year’s report is produced, the prudent reserve is not reached then the previous year’s excess or part of the previous year’s excess can be written off against it to bring it up to the prudent reserve limit.  

Background

These Concepts extracts support part 3

CONCEPT I

The final responsibility and the ultimate authority for AA world services should always reside in the collective conscience of our whole Fellowship.

Page 139 Paragraph 1

The AA groups today hold ultimate responsibility and final authority for our world services – those special elements of over-all service activity which make it possible for our Society to function as a whole.

Page 140 Paragraph 1.

Among the Trustees themselves, a sharp division of opinion was developed. For a long time most of them had strongly opposed calling together a representative conference of AA delegates, to whom they would become accountable.

Page 140 Paragraph 4,5,6

There were other reasons for this basic shift of ultimate responsibility and authority to AA as a whole. These reasons centre around Tradition Two, which declares, “For our group purpose, there is but one ultimate authority - a loving God as He may express Himself in our Group Conscience. Our leaders are but trusted servants; they do not govern.”

Tradition Two, like all the AA Traditions, is the voice of experience, based upon the trials of

thousands of groups in our pioneering time. The main principles of Tradition Two are crystal clear: the AA groups are to be the final authority; their leaders are to be entrusted with delegated responsibilities only.

Tradition Two had been written in 1945, and our Trustees had then authorised its publication. But it was not until 1951 that the first experimental General Service Conference was called to see whether Tradition Two could be successfully applied to AA as a whole, including its Trustees and founders. It had to be found out whether the AA groups, by virtue of this Conference, could and would assume the ultimate responsibility for their world service operation. It took five years more for all of us to be convinced that Tradition Two was for everybody. But at St. Louis in 1955, we knew that our General Service Conference - truly representing the conscience of AA world-wide - was going to work and work permanently.

CONCEPT II

When, in 1955, the AA groups confirmed the permanent charter for their

General Service Conference, they thereby delegated to the Conference

complete authority for the active maintenance of our world services and

thereby made the Conference - excepting for any change in the Twelve

Traditions or in Article 12 of the Conference Charter - the actual voice and the

effective conscience for our whole Society.

Page 143 Paragraph 1.

Nearly all the income from the AA book was then needed to finance the overall service office that we had set up for AA. The Trustees, therefore, presently took over the primary management of office operation, because they were now responsible for the funds upon which its support depended. Consequently, so far as financial decisions were concerned, I became an adviser only. Another sizeable chunk of my original authority was thus delegated. When, in 1941, the AA groups began to send contributions to The Alcoholic Foundation for support of our over-all service office, the Trustees’ control of our world service monies became complete.

Page 143 Last Paragraph first part page 144

But the groups’ acceptance of ultimate service authority and responsibility was not enough. No matter what authority the groups had, they could not meet their new responsibilities until they had actually delegated most of the active ones. It was precisely in order to meet this need that the General Service Conference of Alcoholics Anonymous was given the general responsibility for the maintenance of AA’s world services and so became the service conscience for AA as a whole. Exactly as Dr. Bob and I earlier had found it necessary to delegate a large part of our active authority to the Trustees, so have the AA groups since found it necessary to delegate these same powers to their General Service Conference. The final say - the ultimate sanction in matters of large importance - has not been given to the Trustees alone. By the Conference Charter, confirmed at St. Louis, this authority is now delegated to the AA groups and thence to their Conference, a body which is a representative cross section of our entire Fello

Waranty One: “The Conference shall never become the seat of perilous

wealth or power.”

What is meant by “perilous wealth or power”? Does it mean that the Conference should have virtually no money and no authority? Obviously not. Such a condition would be dangerous and absurd. Nothing but an ineffective anarchy could result from it. We must use some money, and there must be some authority to serve. But how much? How and where should we draw these lines?

The principal protection against the accumulation of too much money and too much authority in Conference hands is to be found in the AA Tradition itself. So long as our General Service Board refuses to take outside contributions and holds each individual’s gift to AA’s world services at a modest figure, we may be sure that we shall not become wealthy in any perilous sense. No great excess of group contributions over legitimate operating expenses is ever likely to be seen. Fortunately the AA Groups have a healthy reluctance about the creation of unneeded services which might lead to an expensive bureaucracy in our midst. Indeed, it seems that the chief difficulty will continue to be that of effectively informing the AA groups as to what the financial needs of their world service actually are. Since it is certain therefore that we shall never become too wealthy through group contributions, we need only to avoid the temptation of taking money from the outside world.

In the matter of giving Delegates, Trustees, and staff enough authority, there can be little risk, either. Long experience, now codified in these Twelve Concepts, suggests that we are unlikely to encounter problems of too much service authority. On the contrary, it appears that our difficulty will be how to maintain enough of it. We must recall that we are protected from the calamities of too much authority by rotation, by voting participation, and by careful chartering.

Nevertheless, we do hear warnings about the future rise of a dictator in the Conference or at the Headquarters. To my mind this is an unnecessary worry. Our setup being what it is, such an aspirant couldn’t last a year. And in the brief time he did last, what would he use for money? Our Delegates, directly representing the groups control the ultimate supply of our service funds. Therefore they constitute a direct check upon the rise of too much personal authority. Taken all together, these factors seem to be reliable safeguards against too much money and too much authority.

We have seen why the Conference can never have any dangerous degree of human power, but we must not overlook the fact that there is another sort of authority and power which it cannot be without: the spiritual power which flows from the activities and attitudes of truly humble, unselfish, and dedicated AA servants. This is the real power that causes our Conference to function. It has been well said of our servants, “They do not drive us by mandate; they lead us by example.” While we have made abundantly sure that they will never drive us, I am confident that they will afford us an ever-greater inspiration as they continue to lead by example.

Warranty Two: “Sufficient operating funds, plus an ample reserve, should be

its prudent financial principle.”

HOW WILL THE FELLOWSHIP OF ALCOHOLICS ANONYMOUS BENEFIT FROM THIS SUGGESTION?  

WHAT ARE THE ESTIMATED COSTS OF IMPLEMENTING THIS SUGGESTION

HAVE YOU ASKED YOUR GROUP, DISTRICT OR AREA TO MAKE A DECISION ABOUT THIS TOPIC AND, IF SO, WHAT WAS THE OUTCOME? (Note: A full consultative process is recommended, but any Member or unstructured Group has the right to submit direct to National Office.)