[Businessmtg] Excess funds over Prudent Reserve

[logmark at comcast.net]

Biz-Pals, 

  

If I recall on the first go-around trying to get this particular 

question resolved [some years ago!] we were discussing disbursal 

of excess funds at the end of each quarter. 

  

As many of you know from past discussions I am in favor of doing just 

that: all excess funds not budgeted for immediate or near-term needs 

would be sent to the WSO at the end each quarter. A portion of the 

Business Meeting members from the past meeting favored sending half 

to WSO and holding half of the excess funds [in practice making the 

PR = 1-1/2 year's expenses] for other, future projects. 

  

Having had a month to ponder how to get a consensus on any one position, 

I settled on the thought that we may need to first create a budget for 

the coming year which would give us a glimpse of how much money we are 

going to need. Rather than basing our Prudent Reserve on past expenses, 

we would set it at the amount budgeted for the coming year's known 

expenses. 

   

So I think a rough budget for current and approved expenses for 2013 

would look something like this: 

  

  $1300 general expenses (+/- for one year) 

    500 approved incorporation expense (+/-) 

    300 approved newcomer's packets (+/-) 

  $2100 = an approximate Prudent Reserve figure (2013) 

  

Our balance at the end of 2012 was $2037. That means to me that we had 

something just short of our One Year's Expenses in our account at that 

point and therefore we had no excess in PR funds to donate. Current 

donations look as though they're likely to supply sufficient funds to 

provide for 2014 by this year's end. So we are self-supporting, but 

are not supporting of Al-Anon as a whole through our WSO. 

  

So the question for me is this: Should we be taking on any new expenses 

(and thereby raising our PR) when we are falling short of our obligation 

to support our WSO? Any simple reading of the Service Manual makes it 

clear that supporting the WSO is an obligation we take on when we become 

an Al-Anon meeting. I'd like to make the case that we therefore do not have 

the funds to support incorporation or even the beginner's packet program. 

Not a popular position I suspect, but if the money for our basic obligations 

aren't there I can't see where adding to our expenses is appropriate.   

  

So I propose that we agree on a set amount for WSO donations each year 

and create a line item for that amount which takes priority over new, 

non-basic expenses. I think something on the order of $50 per month 

wouldn't be unreasonable. Yes that would seem to limit the money we have 

on hand for new things. However, my 5-years' experience as ASP's Treasurer 

assures me that our members will up their donations for any new projects 

if we just let them know what we're doing and why their added donations 

are needed. 

  

I've witnessed our members' generosity first hand year after year after year. 

I trust them to continue providing as long as we as a group also provide. 

  

Hug$$$, 

Jerry 

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