Self-Supporting Through Our Own Contributions
Judy F., info@aascv.org
Isn’t it amazing how the Traditions build on each other – how Tradition Eight relies on the Seventh Tradition to support our service centers. I don’t think many A.A. members think beyond their immediate meeting when it comes to the Seventh Tradition and the meaning of “fully self-supporting.”
Fully Self-supporting... Bill W. wrote of the critical importance of self-support to the Fellowship and the special obligation this tradition asks of A.A. members in his article “A.A.’s Tradition of Self-Support.”
Every single A.A. service is designed to make more and better Twelfth Step work possible, whether it be a group meeting place, a central or intergroup office, or the world service Headquarters to maintain unity and effectiveness worldwide.
These service agencies are absolutely essential to our continued expansion – to our survival as a Fellowship. Their costs are a collective obligation that rests squarely upon all of us. Our support of services actually amounts to recognition on our part that A.A. must everywhere function in full strength – and that, under our Tradition of self-support, we are all go to foot the bill.”
The first meetings of A.A. were held in people’s homes, coffee was provided and the “wives baked cakes and cookies” for the few new members who attended. As AA started to outgrow the “parlors and living rooms” Bill and Bob had to start looking at other options for meeting halls. This meant passing the “hat” for contributions to pay rent on larger facilities and provide the coffee. This was the beginning of the 7th Tradition and they became self-supporting through their own contributions.
In 1948 it was estimated the AA General Service office expenses ran each A.A. member about $1.50 a year. New York asked groups for this sum twice a year because not all of the groups contributed. Even so, the sum per member was small. If there was an intergroup office he contributed about $5.00 annually. To pay the rent of his own group meeting place that served coffee the member might have dropped $25.00 a year in the hat. So the AA member who really met his group responsibilities probably contributed $5.00 a month on the average.
To try and bump up individual contributions to GSO the birthday plan was approved in 1955, under which some members of the Fellowship would send $1 or $2 or more for each year of sobriety. Others use $3.65, a penny a day, for each year. Another method to engage members into contributing to GSO was to challenge each member to contribute an amount equal to the cost of services per capita (typically $7 to $8).
Let’s jump forward to 2025 and the many services provided by our General Service Office in NY. From the 2026 – 2028 A.A. Service Manual, “the GSO performs many functions that groups, districts, areas and intergroup/central offices cannot easily handle, serving as a clearinghouse and exchange point for the wealth of A.A. experience accumulated over the years, coordinating a wide array of activities and services, and overseeing publication, translation and distribution of A.A. Conference-approved literature and service materials.”
In essence, the GSO’s primary focus is on helping the alcoholic who still suffers.
The service office responds to over 90,000 email inquiries and over 15,000 phone calls each year and yet A.A. as a whole is not supporting these necessary services, we are not “footing the bill.” In a message from NY in 2023 it was shared in great detail the challenges related to the financial health of Alcoholics Anonymous as well as the financial challenges that lay ahead. With very generous contributions at that time, GSO was lifted out of those financial difficulties and because of more frequent and incremental contributions 2024 saw some of the highest contributions on record. Unfortunately, contributions from 2024 did not sustain NY and all the services provided. With a decline in contributions in 2025 NY is once again faced with a financial crisis, which put the vital services our Fellowship depends on at risk.
With some 160 meetings just in Santa Clarita Central Office can count on maybe 20 groups/meetings that contribute regularly to its support. That means that of the 160 meetings only 20 are sending contributions regularly to NY. If you know your group does not support these vital services then make a personal contribution directly to NY. They would love to hear from you. We are all responsible to “foot the bill” even if our meetings don’t.