[Businessmtg] Excess Funds over Prudent Reserve

[logmark at comcast.net]

Biz-Pals, 

  

Our Prudent Reserve has been set by group conscience at 

one year's expenses. That level was specified as [~$1,300] 

at the time and remains the same as our expenses have not 

risen. During my five years as Treasurer and continuing 

through the end of January of this year as posted on the 

member website we have consistently carried well over our 

stated Prudent Reserve in our account. 

  

Currently we hold (again by the Jan report) close to $1000 

above the $1300 we agreed upon. There are no current plans 

which require this excess (and this business meeting is not about 

creating new plans to use it in the future.) By all Al-Anon principle 

we are obligated have this money from our membership go to further 

Al-Anon's work. 

  

There is a catch which makes this difficult for some - we do not 

get a great deal of support in the traditional sense from the WSO. 

In the past there was an entity called the OLA which was independent 

of the WSO (and outside the WSO and WSC's purview ) which did offer 

support to on line groups. Ah, but was it an Al-Anon service arm? 

No. Since then the OLA has been absorbed into the WSO umbrella, 

but since groups are not permitted to earmark WSO donations to 

particular WSO committees, but only to the general fund we have 

little choice. 

  

One things is certain. For five years as Treasurer and trusted servant 

I asked this group's members to support this group and Al-Anon through 

donations to our basket which I regularly passed. It quickly became 

evident that the business arm of our meeting was NOT going to donate 

to the WSO preferring other organizations or none at all. There wasn't 

a moment that I didn't feel the guilt of asking for donations from folks 

who in their f2f meetings knew that excess funds were in some way 

proportioned between the various official Al-Anon service arms available 

to them. When I once followed this simple principle and made a donation 

to the WSO I got an unofficial reaming. 

  

Here on line we have but one service arm to which we can properly give 

the group's Al-Anon funds: the WSO. I request that any other proposed 

destination for our Al-Anon money be first carefully researched and found 

to be an Al-Anon entity, and that direct donations to them is permitted 

according to our WSC's stated decisions as expressed in Al-Anon's 

Guidelines before any monies can be released to them. 

  

Should we as a group devise plans or events in the future which require 

money, then would be the time to adjust our Prudent Reserve level to 

fit our annual outlay. Until such time as this happens I believe that 

sitting on a thousand dollars (and sometimes much more) of our members' 

donations is counter to Al-Anon's ethic. We should donate our treasury's 

excess over our set Prudent Reserve at the end of each quarter to the WSO 

without delay starting with our excess as of the end of December, 2012. 

  

Jerry 

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