[Businessmtg] Prudent Reserve & Donations Discussion - Recommendation

Sun May 8 07:48:31 PDT 2022

Good Morning all....

Before I put anything forward, it might be helpful to review the information
in this link, it is a PDF posted to the Al-Anon website - it of course was
written with F2F meetings in mind.

https://al-anon.org/pdf/G41.pdf?msclkid=e62c9deecedb11ec9d2ebf7f9cb12292

After spending a lot of time pouring over ASP financial history, I have
taken the itemized list off the website, pasted it below and added notes to
the line items.  This is what appears to be a reasonable assessment of costs
and provides enough of a cushion for any unknowns like an increase in fees
or the purchase of software.  It does not include any GR travel - because
our area is virtual, and our area as well as our group members have no
geographic boundaries, I don't think we know yet what those expenses might
look like and might be something we assess/update at a later date.

I am recommending we increase our prudent reserve from $1301.00 to $1633.00
- our prudent reserve is currently set to covert our annual costs.

Regular recurring expenses
*	Dedicated Server:  $99.00 per month - which houses our Mailing List
as well as our web site at no further costs to us (we also paid a one-time
$99.00 set up fee) = $1188.00/yr. (note the price has remained the same for
14 yrs.)
*	Domain registration: $20.00 per year - or $45.00 for 3 years
(traditionally, we pay for 3 years which is a cost savings) - for this
exercise, I am using the $20 annual fee.
*	Post Office box: was $62.00 per year (I think this cost has gone up)
- it is $85 now for small
*	Bank account:  no regular fees or monthly charges (there were
expenses in 2018 when Steve opened up new accounts - $200 to open the
account which included checks? - I did not add banking costs here because I
don't know if there are any.....
*	Zoom video conferencing account - $150/yr. - the Steering Committee
does use the free version but it is not robust enough for our needs so we
are proposing we purchase an account.
*	Annual Incorporation fees - $150? This is a reasonable estimate of
what we expect to be paying in the future.

Additional occasional expenses
*	Internet access-extraordinary Internet access costs for List
Administrator when traveling - should this be the group rep now?
*	Long-distance telephone calls-once in a while there is some concern
that needs to be handled by telephone rather than email
*	Postage-correspondence with WSO, bank, incorporation documents, etc.

Let the conversation begin!

Hugs....

Anne O.
ASP Interim Treasurer

-----Original Message-----
From: Businessmtg <businessmtg-bounces+aohara77=comcast.net at asp-afg.org> On
Behalf Of Steve Rankin
Sent: Sunday, May 8, 2022 1:00 AM
To: aohara77 at comcast.net
Cc: ASP Business <businessmtg at asp-afg.org>
Subject: [Businessmtg] Prudent Reserve & Donations Discussion

Hi folks,

The staff reporting portion of our Business Meeting is closed now, and we
will resume our discussion of our Prudent Reserve and donation of our excess
funds.

I’d like to share the following thread from the CMA Connects forum that I
participate in as ASP’s CMA (Meeting Address):

↓↓↓↓↓↓↓↓↓↓↓↓↓↓↓↓↓↓↓↓↓↓↓

Original Message:

Sent: 04-22-2022 05:47

From: J.P. MARTINEK

Subject: Treasurer?

Does the non-geographic area have a treasurer? If so, how can we contribute
money for tthe expense of setting up the Area and for sending our delegate
to the WSC?

JP Martinek

Past Southeast Region Trustee

-------------------------------------------

Apr 22, 2022 12:42 PM

Becky Campbell-Howe

Hi JP:
Thanks for your question and wanting to support the Global Electronic Area!
We do have a treasurer - me! We also have a chairperson, a secretary and a
delegate who were all elected in two assemblies in January.
We are working on setting up a bank account. As soon as we have that, we
will let everyone know where they can send their donations - both checks and
electronically.
Thanks again!
Becky Campbell-Howe
↑↑↑↑↑↑↑↑↑↑↑↑↑↑↑↑↑↑

The point is that our new Area officers are working on setting up a bank
account and making the arrangements so that we can donate our excess funds
to the Area.  Naturally, the new Area will encounter the same issues that
ASP has with opening new bank accounts, namely establishing the fact that
the Area is a legal entity.

In addition to trying to reconcile the bank accounts, Anne has been working
on developing a new Prudent Reserve, so I’ll ask her to present her
suggestions.

We have allocated the rest of the month to this discussion, and potential
decisions. Please remember that we are following our Knowledge Based
Decision Making process (KBDM).  Therefore no motions are allowed until the
Chair has announced that we appear to have reached a consensus, including an
outline of what that consensus is.  If and when we reach a consensus on
either the Prudent Reserve or the Donation of Excess Funds issue, I will
announce that and we will shift into the more formal parliamentary process
per our KBDM process.

http://asp-afg.org/members/kbdm/

Lastly, please DO post your take on an issue, including why.  Please note
that cross talk is OK in our Business Meetings, however please DO NOT post
something like “I agree with so’n’so” without actually stating what that
actually is.

Love and SERENITY,

Steve

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