Agenda item B of the Conference Finance Committee for the
2008 General Service Conference. “Discuss the benefits and
liabilities, both spiritual and practical, of funding the
General Service Office of Alcoholics Anonymous solely by the
voluntary contributions of A.A. members and A.A. groups, and
that profits from literature sales will no longer be used to
fund our General Service Office. Further, consider a procedure
for gathering input from the Fellowship as a whole and prepare a
report on these discussions for the 2009 Conference.”
How often have you heard someone say “Wouldn’t it be nice if our
fellowship was fully self supporting through its voluntary
contributions and we could sell our literature at its actual
cost”? In fact a sub-committee of the Trustees Finance Committee
was formed in July 2006 to study self support, and in the
summation of their report, which was printed on page 48 of the
2007 Conference Report, they repeated that idea. They said “We
hope that the day will come when A.A. groups and members,
through their contributions, will be able to fund fully the
services provided by the General Service Office. If that is
achieved, revenues from literature sales will only be needed in
amounts necessary to cover the actual costs associated with
literature production and to maintain a Prudent Reserve Fund.”
The maker of this new motion says that this is yet another
implication that we A.A. members are not being financially
responsible because we continue to use literature profits to
help fund GSO. He goes on to state that if this is something we
should do, when are we going to do it. If it really is a problem
for A.A., then let’s solve it. “But first let’s decide if it
is a problem.”
Even Bill W. was somewhat conflicted about the use of literature
profits to supplement contributions. On one hand he lamented the
fact that “book money” had to foot the deficit in contribution
income. On the other hand, a few years later in his essay on
Concept 12, Warranty 2, he states his belief that the net income
from books is actually the sum of a great many contributions
which book buyers make to the general welfare of A.A.
If the Conference agrees with the motion, we will have the
opportunity to gather input from the Fellowship as a whole about
how we feel about using “book profits” to supplement the cost of
services that the Fellowship believes are important to carry the
message. In any event this will open a formal dialog about a
worthwhile, ongoing spiritual principle.
Your Forum contribution to this question will help our Delegate
carry the message from our Area to the 2008 General Service
Conference. |