San Francisco and Marin Intergroup Meeting – Proposed Minutes
Wednesday, July 12, 2023, 7-8:30 PM
San Francisco and Marin Intergroup serves more than 900 A.A. groups in our common purpose of carrying the A.A. message of recovery to alcoholics. We provide important services for local 12th Step work, such as running Central Office, selling A.A. literature, publishing a local meeting directory and website and operating a 24-hour telephone hotline. In addition, Intergroup connects the local Fellowship to service opportunities, informs the public and professional community about A.A. and acts as an information exchange for announcements and events.
Getting Started
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- Open with the Serenity Prayer
- Call to order. Statement of Purpose
- Code of Conduct
- Roll Call
- 35 groups represented: 25 from San Francisco, 10 from Marin
Intergroup-2023-July-Roll-Call-graph-v2
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- New IGRs, Visitors, AA Anniversaries
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- New IGRs: Chip G, Surf Group (SF); Priya S, Sometimes Slowly (SF); Douglas D, Cow Hollow Mens Meeting (SF); Ian M, West Portal (SF); Scott C, Bernal New Day-Virtual (SF); Philip S, BIPOC – Together We Prosper (SF); Mark M, Design for Living (SF); Rick A, IGR/GSR Paxcs West Men’s Daily Reflections Group (SF)
- AA Anniversaries: Caitlin, 5 years; Marty, 31 years
- Approval of agenda (housekeeping item)
- Approval of last month’s Intergroup Meeting minutes (housekeeping item)
Officer Reports
- Board Chair – Elena
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- New Board Chair for 2023-2024
- Welcome to new board members: Caitlin, Denis, Phil and Alison
- Open position: Recording Secretary
- Treasurer – Jim (Outgoing Treasurer)
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- Standard financials report:
- Revenues: $160,000, +2% budget, +12% prior year (strong with bequests and Grateful Givers individual contributions. Bookstores lagging but Group contributions are on target)
- Expenses: $152,000, -7% budget (good fiduciary responsibility), +3% prior year
- Surplus: $8,000, +$15,000 budget, +$13,000 prior (Ran a -$10,000 loss in May, and expect deficits through August given treasurer commitment turnovers)
- Unrestricted cash: $79,000 (2.9 months of expenses, down from 3.1 months)
- Still in excellent cash position for 2023
- Grateful Givers
- 370 Givers (+1 new), contributed $4,743 (up +$38)
- Average contribution is $12.78
- Executive Director – Christina
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- Founders’ Day Gratitude
- Two amazing Founders’ Day events (Mill Valley and Golden Gate Park). Both were well attended. Had a great service panel at Marin Founders’ Day.
- Intergroup will be holding another workshop at ICCYPA in September.
- Available Service opportunities:
- SF and Marin Archives Chair
- SF Public Relations Chair
- Sunshine Club Co-Chair (from Marin)!!
- Co-Webmaster
- Fellowship Chair
- Outreach Chair
- Recently filled service opportunities
- The Point Editor and Associate Editor
- The Buzz Associate Editor
- Additional Service Opportunities
- Central Office Volunteers (1 year sobriety requirement)
- Tech Volunteers with Airtable experience
- Contact [email protected] for details
- Central Office Updates
- Prices continue to remain the same for AAWS literature, however prices will increase in the next couple of months
- CPA finalized 2022 annual information returns and will be submitted before the end of the month
Intergroup Committee Reports
- Communications – Isae
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- Supports Intergroup via The Buzz, a weekly news and events newsletter, and The Point, a monthly recovery journal. The Communications Committee is merging with The Buzz and The Point Committees on a trial period. This will help all publications be better aligned and share resources.
- Meets the second Monday of the month at 5:30pm online. Email [email protected] for zoom link and more info.
- Ran a Grateful Giver logo design contest and received three entries. Intergroup will be voting on those soon.
- Outreach Committee – Alison
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- New Committee Chair: Marty M!
- We are combing out database to see what meetings don’t have IGRs
- Working on a flier that encourages IGR and GSR participation
- Please make announcements at meeting with no IGRs that they should get an Intergroup Rep
- Outreach meets every month before the Intergroup meeting at 6PM on Zoom. Our goal is to get 20 new IGRs before the end of the year. Contact [email protected] with questions
- Tech Committee – Brian
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- On June 20th, Central Office internet was down and the router was locked in a struggle with the ethernet switch. Issue was resolved June 21
- Exploring a new VOIP system and volunteer scheduling for SF Teleservice
- Looking for Airtable (or WordPress) volunteers. Reach out to [email protected] for information.
- The Point – Charlie
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- June issue published online
- Call for submissions for next edition of The Point by July 22
- SF Public Relations – Nikki
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- SF PR is tabling at a Sunday Streets event on July 30 in the Valencia District
- Also working on an event at the SF Main Library for the unhoused population. Email [email protected] for details.
Service Committee Liaison Reports
- Marin Teleservice – Jillian
- Next Volunteer Orientation is at 6:30 pm on Tuesday, 7/25 on Zoom followed by the business meeting at 7:30pm. For more information visit marinteleservice.net
- Marin Accessibilities – Cathy
- Committee meets the second Monday of each month at 7pm online.
- They are attending District 07 (Alameda North) and District 12 (Sonoma) Accessibility Committees. Survey their respective districts to see how Marin groups could benefit from this combined experience and feedback
- They are reviewing their electronic inventory of items donated to Marin Accessibilities. Included laptops, notebook and Ipad. Items will be wiped before passing on to AA members.
- Question of the month: Who is missing from your group since the COVID shutdown was lifted and is it an accessibility issue?
- Does your meeting space entrance have steps, a threshold or other physical barrier?
- Can the doors be opened by someone in a wheelchair or would they need assistance?
- San Francisco General Service – Joel
- Open positions for Bridging the Gap committee members
- There are openings for District Committee members for District 6 (details in the District Meeting materials).
- Voted to purchase several radios and a headset to maximize event participation from Spanish speaking districts
- SF H&I – Nikki
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- Next Business Meeting 7/15 at 10am at Mission Fellowship, in San Francisco
- SF H&I is looking for a new Intergroup Liaison for their committee
- They need volunteers to take meetings into facilities which have opened back up
- Area 62 is looking for a regional chair for H&I Northern California
Old Business
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- Change the monthly meeting:
- Quarterly, rather than monthly, Service Committee Liaison Reports;
- Break-out rooms at every monthly meeting;
- Five IGRs per month give a brief description of their home group;
- Raffle every monthly meeting
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- Discussion/Questions/Comments:
- Concern that proposal 4 goes against the Traditions and would like that to be considered when voting
- Individual asked motion-maker if they were open to amending proposal 3 from five IGRs to IGRs per month give a brief description of their homegroup
- Amendment to the motion accepted by the motion-maker.
- Concern that if we moved to quarterly reports, how would the service committees talk about upcoming events and get the word out for committee engagement?
- Statement that the more we shorten these meetings, the better. Likes the idea of quarterly reports. Doesn’t agree with proposal 3 and 4, as it may make the meeting longer.
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- Results of Vote (18 votes required for proposal to pass):
- Quarterly, rather than monthly, Service Committee Liaison Reports
Pass, 21 Votes
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- Break-out rooms at every monthly meeting;
Failed, 25 Votes
- IGRs share a brief description of their home group each month
Pass, 24 Votes
- Raffle every monthly meeting
Failed, 23 Votes
- Minority Opinions regarding Proposal 1:
- Quarterly, rather than monthly, Service Committee Liaison Reports
- Concern with getting support for the service committees, especially when they are already struggling. Questioned how we would get the word out regarding the needs of the service committees.
- Question how the service committees are going to inform people 4 times a year
- Question regarding the logistics of providing quarterly reports and how it might result in information overload.
- A show of hands was called for those whose votes would have changed due to the minority opinion. Two members raised their hands, triggering a re-vote for this motion. Therefore a second vote occurred for Proposal 1.
- Results of Re-Vote for Proposal 1 (18 votes required for proposal to pass)
- Quarterly, rather than monthly, Service Committee Liaison Reports
- 17 Votes were cast in favor of switching to the quarterly announcements
- It was announced that the quarterly announcements were going to be implemented.
Note: There was a mistake made in communicating the effect of the 17 votes. The Intergroup members announcing and communicating the results misconstrued the effect of the 17 votes. The effect of the re-vote was to take the place of the first vote; not vote to undo the previous vote. The default was to continue with monthly announcements, and a vote of at least 18 would have created new policy, implementing the quarterly announcements. With 17 votes cast in favor of the quarterly announcements, the vote failed to pass, but the Intergroup announced that the motion had passed with the re-vote. Therefore the motion failed, as it did not reach the 18 votes needed.
New Business
- Treasurer appointment: Hedy H.
- Vote on Committee Chair appointments:
- The following Committee Chairs were given an opportunity to introduce themselves, followed by a vote.
- Communications – Isae W.
- HelpChat – Colleen S.
- Outreach – Marty M.
- Sunshine Club – Tom V.
- Committee Chairs approved.
Moment of Silence for Chad F.
- Adjourn with the Responsibility Statement
Treasurer’s Report
May 2023 Income Statement
May 2023 Balance Sheet
