This is an unofficial summary of the October 2020 Intergroup meeting provided for convenience; it is not intended to be the completed approved minutes. For a complete copy of the minutes and full committee reports see “Intergroup” on our website aasfmarin.org.
Our Intergroup exists to support the groups in their common purpose of carrying the A.A. message to the still suffering alcoholic by providing and coordinating services that are difficult for the individual groups to execute.
The Intercounty Fellowship has been organized by, and is responsible to, the member groups in San Francisco and Marin for the purpose of coordinating the services that individual groups cannot provide.
The meeting was held on Wednesday, October 7, 2020, online via Zoom. The meeting was started with a call to order and the Serenity Prayer. The September 2020 minutes and the October 2020 agenda were approved.
Intergroup-2020-October-Roll-Call-v2
Standing Reports
Board Chair, Alan G. We are looking for a new board member; Josh R. has moved out of the area. Contact governance@aasfmarin.org if you are interested. We will be holding a Committee Fair next month. FYI: committee meetings are listed on the website in the Events Calendar at aasfmarin.org/events. The Committee Fair may extend over two months. The Central Office lease expires in October 2021.
Treasurer, Renee T. The August 2020 Financial Report is as follows: Group Contributions are still down, however, Individual Contributions have more than made up the difference. Our Operating Expenses are under budget. The current rating is “Excellent.”
Quarterly Report for Special Projects Fund Expenses for special projects was $3,325.
The 2021 Budget Process is starting. All Committee Chairs should begin their budget request process. Responses are needed by October 31, 2020.
Question: Is the Special Projects Fund earning interest? Answer: It is yielding a very low amount of interest.
Question: Why does the Special Project Fund not appear on the Income slide? Answer: It was brought in as a Special Fund outside of the regular budget. We did not want to disrupt the normal budget reporting, as it would have made the Income versus Budget appear overstated. It was received in April and reflected on the April Income Statement (separately).
Question: Does the ask for budgets apply to groups? Answer: It is only for the committees.
Executive Director, Maury P. Central Office will be closed for Indigenous Peoples’ (Columbus) Day. Literature pick up hours are limited to Tuesday through Friday, 1:00 pm to 4:00 pm, for that week. Literature pickup is no-contact. A digital Newcomer Packet is now on the website at aasfmarin.org/new-to-aa. The 35th Annual ICOAA Seminar for all Central Offices and Intergroups just concluded. It was the first virtual seminar for this annual gathering.
Question: The website information for the bookstore seems to be off. Answer: Let us know where you found it and we can fix it.
Question: It is difficult to call Central Office directly. Answer: Since COVID-19 came about, all communications have been routed through Teleservice and HelpChat. We are thinking about splitting the office line and the helpline.
Intergroup Committee Reports
The Point, John B. The October Issue is now live on the website at Read/Listen. We are compiling audio for October and could use more voices to record the stories that appear in the issue. The Point committee meets once a month on the second Saturday at 12:30 pm. Contact: thepoint@aasfmarin.org.
SF Public Relations, Peter M. We are moving to a co-chair leadership format. The committee created a PowerPoint presentation for UCSF. It is pre-recorded for Zoom presentations. We are also working on a pamphlet for the Unhoused Alcoholic. At the SF Unity Day Workshop, we will be presenting “Anonymity During the Pandemic.” We have been helping set up H&I Zoom meetings at a hotel used for the unhoused. Our committee meetings are on the second Monday of the month at 7:00 pm. Contact: sfpr@aasfmarin.org.
The Buzz, Nikki T. We currently have 1810 subscribers. We encourage everyone to subscribe on the website at aasfmarin.org/the-buzz. To share events and service opportunities, email communications@aasfmarin.org on the Monday before the issue is to be sent. Reminder: if you don’t often open The Buzz email, your email address may be removed from the list. So … read each issue!
Technology, Taran R. for Richard A. We have been working on new meeting finder on aasfmarin.org, which will have a new way to update and list meetings. Our committee meetings are on the first Monday of the month at 6:00 pm. Contact: tech@aasfmarin.org.
HelpChat, Caitlin I am the new committee chair. We want to extend a sincere thank you to John H. for his outstanding service with HelpChat! We currently have lots of room in the schedule for new volunteers. HelpChat was down for one week in September. Taren R. helped to rebuild the platform. Our monthly orientation for new volunteers is held on the 3rd Tuesday of the month at 6:00 pm. Contact: helpchat@aasfmarin.org.
Sunshine Club, Clayton B. We are currently asking our Sunshine Club volunteers to become “phone buddies” to people who are unable to attend an online meeting. If you would like to volunteer, contact: sunshine@aasfmarin.org.
Service Community Liaison Reports
General Service District 6 (San Francisco), Alison San Francisco Virtual Unity Day will be on Saturday, October 10 starting at 1:00 pm. Details are at aasfmarin.org/event/san-francisco-unity-day-2020. CNCA now has a tech subcommittee. AAWS redesigned the B2B webstore for Intergroups to purchase literature and a new online contribution experience for groups and members. Fall CNCA elections will be on Saturday, November 7, 8:00 am to 5:00 pm. Is there any interest to have a Spanish language pamphlet for the Latinix Alcoholic? The Inmate Pen Pal program is happening at San Quentin due to the pandemic.
Question: Is there a need for a Spanish language pamphlet given all A.A. pamphlets are in English, Spanish and French? Answer: This would be written in Spanish (instead of translated) from the Latinix perspective.
San Francisco H&I, Penny C. Local H&I is still not doing in-person meetings. We have 15 zoom meetings going and dropping off literature. We are not doing orientations at this time. Our next business meeting will be Saturday, November 21 at 12:00 pm.
Question: Is H&I still actively in need of contributions? Answer: H&I is sound but contributions are down. Contributions may be made at handinorcal.org.
Marin Teleservice, Amanda We still have a few open shifts. We plan to participate in Marin Unity Day.
We meet on the fourth Tuesday of each month at 7:30 pm. New user orientation is at 6:30 pm.
General Service District 10 (Marin), Alex Marin Unity Day will be on Saturday, October 17, 1:00 pm to 4:00 pm. Details are at aasfmarin.org/event/2020-marin-unity-day. For more info, contact: district10dcmc@gmail.com.
New Business
Survey Regarding Central Office Services and Location
The Central Office lease expiration will be October 2021. We need to begin to brainstorm what we might like to do (e.g., renew the lease, look for new office space, go virtual completely, go virtual with pop-up literature store, rent spaces as needed).
A.A. members’ statements regarding the bequest we accepted
Read the webpage about the bequest: https://aasfmarin.org/special-projects-fund
Comment: How does the Special Projects fund square with the 7th Tradition? Why was it not brought before more groups? Response: It was brought before the IFAA Board and the Intergroup.
Comment: Friendly Circle would like to return all but $10,000 of that money.
Comment: There doesn’t seem to be exceptions for “special projects” in the charter. It was not brought up in Target Messages? And there was a lack of transparency in how it was communicated.
aasfmarin.org Meeting Finder; New Meeting and Existing Meeting Update Forms
[Walk through of new meeting finder]
Targeted Message
- Encourage members of your groups to sign up for The Buzz; we are currently coordinating fellowship wide communication through that channel.
- A survey regarding the services offered by Central Office and Intergroup will be forthcoming. Please encourage participation by local members in SF and Marin. When it is ready, a link will go out via The Buzz.
- Please review information about your group using the new online Meeting Finder to validate accuracy. Trusted Servant Registration is up next. Meanwhile, see number 1 above.
- Updates your groups about what is going on at Intergroup.
Adjourn with the Responsibility Statement
Next Intergroup Meeting is Wednesday, November 4, 2020, location to be determined. Please email development@aasfmarin.org with any questions.
Treasurer’s Report
Month Ended August 2020
For August 2020, Gross Profit (revenue minus COGS) was $22,233, this was under budget by $2,753, mainly due to low book sales. Gross Profit is $11,480 over budget year to date.
Total Operating Expense for August was $21,334, which is under our average monthly expenses of $24k. Program expenses (committees) and operational expenses are less than expected.
The result is a Net Operating Surplus of $789 for the month. This leaves the fellowship with a $16,277 surplus year to date.
Group Contributions for August were $11,237, under budget by $5,025. Group contributions are $20,164 under budget year to date. Individual Contributions for August were $10,791, over budget by $4,990. Individual contributions are $44,197 over budget year to date. Bookstore Sales remain low and are $42,335 under budget year to date.
Total Unrestricted Cash for August 2020 was $110,667, a decrease of $1,258 from July 2020. Unrestricted Cash is 4.6x monthly operating expenses.
OVERALL RATING FOR August 2020: EXCELLENT
INTERGROUP FINANCE RATING SYSTEM
Every month we rate our monthly finances as “Excellent”, “Good”, “Fair” or “Poor”. Generally speaking, here are the definitions of those terms:
EXCELLENT: We exceeded our budget. Our income was greater than our expenses for the month and we have more than two months’ worth of operating expenses in unrestricted cash balances. Operating expenses are roughly $24K/month, so we’d have over $48K in unrestricted cash balances for the month. The Intergroup rating has been “excellent” since December 2019.
GOOD: We are meeting our budget. Our income for the month, or for the YTD, was slightly greater than our expenses and we’d have approximately 1.5 – 2 months of operating expenses in unrestricted cash balances. The last time we were “good” was in November 2019.
FAIR: We are not meeting our budget. Our expenses were greater than our income for the month and for the YTD – and our unrestricted cash balance would be somewhere between 1 and 1.5x our operating expenses.
POOR: We are not meeting our budget and our unrestricted cash balances fell below one month of operating expenses. The last time we were “poor” was in December 2016.