[Businessmtg] FW: Treasurer's Report

Sat Jan 4 15:52:42 PST 2020

Hi Veronica,

Thanks for asking! FYI, I received Veronica’s questions privately, the answers really belongs to the entire Business Meeting, so here they are. 

Veronica, it might make more sense if I answer your questions out of order. 

Question #2. How can one make a donation?

Members of ASP can make donations two ways.

A.	PayPal: Send a donation to  <mailto:tradition7 at asp-afg.org> tradition7 at asp-afg.org via PayPal. 

If you use PayPal, we prefer that you send it as a gift instead as a payment for goods or services. 

PayPal does not charge a fee for sending money as a gift,

OTOH PayPal charges ASP about 4.4% for money sent as payment.

B.	Check: Send a check to:

A SERENITY PLACE

PO BOX 1672

SEQUIM WA 98382-4328

Please note that banks charge outrageous “foreign transaction fees” for checks received from the United States. Believe it or not, the fee for receiving a check from another country can be nearly $100 US. PayPal’s fees are cheap by comparison. 

Accountability. However, you chose to send your donation, we will include a bit of identifying information in the financial report so that you can confirm that YOUR donation was received and accounted for. This is either a PayPal transaction number, or your check number and your postal code. Either way, only the donor and the Treasurer know the identity of the member. 

Question #1. What’s the difference between the PayPal Account and the Bank Account?

ASP has one brick and mortar Bank Account, and one separate, but connected, online PayPal Account. 

A.	Funds received by check sent to the PO Box are periodically deposited into the regular bank account. All bills are paid with the Bank Account.
B.	Funds sent via PayPal are automatically deposited in the PayPal account. PayPal automatically deducts applicable transaction fees when donations are received as payment for goods or services. Periodically, funds are transferred from the PayPal account to the Bank Account. 

Question #3: I see that there was a PayPal balance in Dec, but it goes to $0 in Jan. Is that normal?

We did not receive any PayPal donations near the end of the calendar year, so the balance in the PayPal account was $0.00 because nothing snuck in between the last time I had transferred funds from the PayPal Account to the Bank Account. This year, we received donations from 4 members on December 30th and 31st, so those funds showed up as a $114.80 balance in the PayPal account. FWIW, we received another $20 PayPal donation on January 2nd that does not show up in the 2019 report, of course. 

Similarly, funds received at the PO Box are not recorded until we actually deposit them in the Bank Account. FWIW, I checked the PO Box on December 30th and nothing was there.

As for “is this normal”?  It all depends on the timing of donations. I try to check the PO Box and PayPal a day or so before the end of the reporting period, so the report is as timely as possible, but I also need a day or so to prepare the report which means that some donations might sneak in, especially in the PayPal account. 

As a reminder, we have a web page dedicated to the Seventh Tradition at http://asp-afg.org/members/tradition-7/ that explains most of this.

I hope I’ve answered your questions and the answers make sense. If not, please don’t be bashful and ask away.

Love and SERENITY,

Steve

From: Veronica Porras 
Sent: Saturday, January 4, 2020 8:28 AM
To: Steve Rankin <steve at serenitysys.com>
Cc: ASP Business <businessmtg at asp-afg.org>
Subject: Re: [Businessmtg] FW: Treasurer's Report

Thank you Steve for your service and report. I have some questions. I want to get a better understanding of our financials. 

1. What’s the difference between the PayPal Account and the Bank Account?

2. How can one make a donation?

3. I see that there was a PayPal balance in Dec, but it goes to $0 in Jan. Is that normal?

-Veronica 

On Wed, Jan 1, 2020 at 5:27 PM Steve Rankin <steve at serenitysys.com <mailto:steve at serenitysys.com> > wrote:

Hi ASPers,

Thank you, Beverly!

Here is the annual Treasurer's Report for 2019. 

Bank Account Balance Jan 1, 2019                           $  1,508.21

PayPal Account Balance Jan 1, 2019                        $         0.00

Donations 2019:                                                            $     477.23

Expenses 2019:                                                              $ 1,188.88

Bank Account Balance Dec 31, 2019                        $     796.56

PayPal Account Balance Dec 31, 2019                     $     114.80 

Total Balance                                                                 $     911.36

Thanks to Anne K. our Web Master for posting the detailed register of the transactions during the calendar year 2019 here:

http://asp-afg.org/members/wp-content/uploads/sites/4/2020/01/ASP-7th-Tradition-Register-2019-Calendar-Year.pdf 

Lastly, I apologize for posting the report to the recovery meeting a few minutes ago. Ugh. Still, not quite perfect.  😊

Love and SERENITY,

Steve

Founder & Acting Treasurer

_______________________________________________
The ASP Instruction page is http://asp-afg.org/members/asp-instructions/

The ASP web site for ASP members is http://www.asp-afg.org/Members/

For assistance with other ASP issues, contact Jerry the List Administrator, at  la at asp-afg.org <mailto:la at asp-afg.org> 

_______________________________________________
Businessmtg mailing list
Businessmtg at asp-afg.org <mailto:Businessmtg at asp-afg.org> 
http://www.asp-afg.org/mailman/listinfo/businessmtg