[Businessmtg] Prudent Reserve / Being Self-Supporting

[Jerry]

Biz-Pals,

Addressing this topic following Steve's paragraph:

2.	Continue the discussion we started during the GR resume Q&A →
Withholding donations to WSO until we update our Prudent Reserve

       ~ Our current Prudent Reserve (PR) needs updating. PO boxes have gone up I think. Are we reimbursing trusted servants for all their incidental expenses? What are those numbers? Any telephone expenses, mileage, etc. These are all Group expenses and affect our PR total.
       ~ Until the expenses of our new electronic Area, District, etc. are known we can't figure in those costs yet. We can, though, create a set-aside account or amount out of current funds to withhold in anticipation of future support of the new structure so we don't get caught short when the time comes. I'd have no problem with setting aside something like say ($250?) for this and adding that to our recalculated PR number, then continuing donations to the WSO if our treasury exceeds this new number at the end of each quarter.
       ~ It wouldn't hurt to make a special announcement in the Topic Meeting at some point that we anticipate some degree of increased expenses over the coming years to pay our fair share of this new service structure - being self-supporting in this new era.

[As an aside it has been my experience that service arms often make plans which outstrip the financial resources available to them from voluntary donations, then ask (and occasionally pressure) groups to pony up. Hopefully our new Area (and Districts?) will keep their expenses within the amounts donated to them.]
    
       Eventually we may be able to set up percentage amounts for our district/area/WSO donations so our Treasurer could make our donations without having to come to the Business Meeting for a Group Conscience whenever we have excess funds on hand. Many groups I attend have adopted this practice. (One example from a F2F group: 50% to District, 30% to Area, 20% to the WSO.) It'll be interesting to see how the new electronic Area structures itself; will there be a "phone meeting" district, an "email meeting" district, & etc., or will we all be tossed in the same bucket?

Service hugs,
Jerry
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