[Businessmtg] #1 - Prudent Reserve

[logmark at comcast.net]

Biz-Pals,

I think the 12 month reserve is unnecessarily high. As treasurer I see
the donations coming in every month, and they almost always exceed
our expenses. Those rare times that they fall short it is by just a few dollars.

So, from my position, I see we are holding on to $1,280.00 in our treasury
in perpetuity when some of the membership's donations could be supporting
Al-Anon as a whole. Supporting Al-Anon as a whole is part of a group being
self-supporting. If we set our prudent reserve unnecessarily high we are
assuring that we minimize group support for Al-Anon.

A prudent reserve of six months expenses would keep ASP just as secure
as the current twelve months, and would permit us to make donations to
Al-Anon of more than $50.00 per month on average. Pretty good stuff.

Another way of looking at this is that say members donations decline
by 50%. Were that the case, a six month prudent reserve would keep
ASP up and running for a full year - more than enough time to remedy
any situation. A full year's expenses in our prudent reserve would last
two years under these circumstances. I see no evidence that ASP would
need two years to solve any financial problem. 

The membership has continuously shown that it is willing to support ASP
and I have no reason to doubt that our Higher Powers will see to it that
this regular trend will continue. Al-Anon suggests an ample reserve. Ample
to me would be enough to provide security. We would be completely secure
with six months expenses ($640.00) as our prudent reserve.

Hug$,
Jerry in Michigan