Intergroup Meeting Proposed Minutes
Wednesday, July 6, 2022, 7-8:30 PM

Intergroup coordinates services which individual groups in San Francisco and Marin cannot provide. We bring these services, as well as service opportunities, to our Member Groups. Our Intergroup observes the intent and spirit of A.A.’s Twelve Traditions and Twelve Concepts for World Service, as well as A.A.’s Three Legacies of Recovery, Unity, and Service.

7:00   Getting Started

  1. Open with the Serenity Prayer
  2. Call to order. Statement of Purpose
  3. Alison: Orientations are being held before each intergroup meeting at 6pm. 
  4. Review the minutes and agenda
  5. Roll Call
    1. 37 groups represented: 27 from San Francisco, 10 from Marin

New IGRs, Visitors, AA Anniversaries

    1. New IGR’s: Sean L, Caitlin, Nick, Lana, Claire 
    2. Visitors: Jackie B-SF General Service
    3. Anniversaries:  Caitlin, Jackie B, Lea, Marty 
  2. Approval of agenda (housekeeping item)
    1. There were no objections. Isae moved to approve the agenda, Alison seconded. Agenda was approved.
  3. Approval of last month’s Intergroup Meeting minutes (housekeeping item)
    1. There were no objections or corrections to the minutes. Caitlin made a motion to approve. Isae seconded. Minutes were approved. 

7:10   Officer Reports

  1. Board Chair 
    1. Welcome to the new board members: Judy, Andrew, Gloria. 
    2. Thank you to the outgoing board members: Alan, Luke and Drew. 
    3. Thank you to everyone who participated in Founders’ Day.
  2. Executive Director
    1. Thank you to Elena and everyone who stepped up to help with Founders’ Day.
    2. Central Office tax return extension was approved. They are due in November. Working with an accounting firm and will be able to meet the deadline. Are behind schedule due to transition in executive directors.
    3. Working with Jim to prepare next year’s budget to present to Intergroup in November and approve by December.
    4. Today got a shipment of Grapevine books that had been ordered in May, including Fun in Sobriety book. 
    5. Would like to get volunteers in Central Office. If you are interested and have a couple of hours to dedicate to help with bookstore orders or teleservice line, email [email protected]. Volunteer manual is being updated. 
    6. Marin Pop-Up Bookstore: idea came out of February inventory. Issue of accessibility to Central office came up. Pop-Up Bookstore would happen at General Service meeting in San Rafael. Marin members could order literature. Central Office will get it ready and bring to General Service meeting, as well as some additional literature. Sales will happen before and after meeting. Proposal hinges on getting the word out and Pop-Up Bookstore Liaison position needing to be filled. Idea needs to go to Marin District. Doing the footwork to get ready. This would be a 1 year pilot, with a 6 month checkpoint. 
  3. Treasurer 
  4. Bookstore sales are up 90% compared to last year. 
  5. Contribution numbers are slightly skewed due to reclassifying categories. 
  6. Shift from individual to group contributions due to the pandemic.  
  7. Expenses are 8% below budget. Doing fine compared to budget. 
  8. Faithful Fivers increased to 297 in May, but slight decrease in contributions. More people are stepping up and giving what they can. 
  9. Questions: role of Sobriety by the Bay

7:30  Intergroup Committee Reports (up to 2 minutes/report)

  1. Public Relations: Peter reported that they need to rotate leadership. Next meeting is July 11 at 7pm. If someone wants to join, could familiarize them with the duties. Sunday Streets this Sunday. July 16 will be at Jessie Alley Street Fair.  If you know a professional group that wants to learn about AA, Public Relations can reach out to them to share information about how the program works. Email: [email protected]
  2. Archives: Anyone willing to help can attend the meeting. Time for Mike the Archives chair to rotate out. If you are interested, reach out to Mike at [email protected]. 
  3. Sunshine Club: bring meetings to members due to illness, accident, or any disabling condition. Actively updating volunteer list and seeking new volunteers. Could benefit from more participation in business meetings.
  4. Technology: can use help in sharing the message that Tech committee is looking for help, especially people with knowledge of Air Table and Word Press. Business meeting is the first Monday of the month. 
  5. Point: July issue was released. Always calling for submissions – please tell people they are looking for stories. 
  6. Buzz: Email [email protected] with upcoming events and flyers. 

7:45   Service Committee Liaison Reports (up to 2 minutes/report)

  1. Bridging the Gap: helps alcoholics on the inside get to meetings on the outside. Seeing an uptick in requests. In close contact with H&I. Meet 1st Tuesday of the month, orientation 6:30pm, business meeting 7pm. 
  2. Marin General Service: call for stories. Updating the pamphlet “AA for the Black and  African American Alcoholic”. Deadline is October 31. Developing 4th edition of Spanish Big Book. ⅔ of all contributions to GSO are under $100.
  3. San Francisco General Service: Conference results are in. Info is on sfgeneralservice.org. Summer assembly: August 13. SF Unity Day: October 8, hybrid meeting. 
  4. Marin Teleservice: Next volunteer orientation is July 26 at 6:30, followed by business meeting at 7:30. 5 F, Sat, Sun shifts available.  Central Office is now answering phones except Monday and Wednesday. 6 month sobriety requirement. 
  5. Marin H&I: 2 new groups came on board. Looking for people who have 6 months or more. For jails, 1 year sobriety requirement. 
  6. San Francisco H&I: next business meeting is July 16 at noon. 

7:55   Old Business

  1. Intergroup Question #1 Break-out Session – What is the primary purpose of the Intercounty Fellowship of Alcoholics Anonymous (commonly referred to as “Intergroup”)?

Group 1: No further action needed. Suggestion to have educational outreach to groups on what IGRs do and what is Intergroup. One person wanted to explore “where is God in all of this?”

Group 2: List is comprehensive and well understood. Almost everyone agreed that no further action was needed. One person felt if any additional action is needed it’s about how IGRs communicate to their groups about everything Intergroup does. Have ironed out bottom/top issues that had previously been an issue.

Group 3: There are more action items we can take in particular, increase diversity of people’s experiences. How we make decisions within the board and how we relate decisions to the groups. Many people said no further action needed.

Group 4: Bullets demonstrate understanding of primary purpose and no further action needed. Should get the word out about service committees. Primary purpose still being fulfilled after many years of ups and downs.

Group 5: Went round robin about purpose of Intergroup. 

Group 6: We are working toward primary purpose. Continued healing that has happened. Some gray area around what primary purpose is. How do we get better about carrying the message to the fellowship at large? How do we hold ourselves accountable? 

  1. Vice-Chair: If you’d like to add an action item to the agenda, the agenda is the group’s. Procedures for adding an agenda item were shared. Email the board chair at least 2 weeks prior to the meeting.

8:25   New Business

n/a

8:25   What’s On Your Mind

  1. Maybe put out plea to Treasurers about why to send in contributions monthly rather than every half year. This can be communicated in the targeted message. 
  2. What is the circulation of The Buzz? Around 2,000. Holding steady. Broad cross section of the fellowship subscribe. But many people still don’t know about The Buzz. Open rate is impressive. People who subscribe are reading it. 

8:20   Targeting Message  

  1. Support our Intergroup service committees – check out our calendar on  aasfmarin.org to see when the service committees meet.
  2. Sign up to become a Central Office volunteer. Email [email protected] for more information.
  3. Sign up for The Buzz at aasfmarin.org/buzz to stay up-to-date on current events and activities in Marin and San Francisco.
  4. Check out The Point at aasfmarin.org/the-point for local stories of recovery.

Next Intergroup Meeting: August 3 on Zoom

Adjourn with the Responsibility Statement

Meeting was adjourned at 8:30pm.

July 2022 Intergroup Meeting
Treasurer’s Narrative

Year to Date Ended
May 31, 2022

COMMENTARY

Revenues are slightly down from estimated, but still ahead of prior year. Bookstore
sales are still way ahead of prior year but that was already estimated so overall
revenues remain short. Expenses are also ahead of prior year consistent with inflation
but budgeted aggressively so both Net Income and Liquid Cash eroded slightly but are
still within plan. With a continued shift from individual to group contributions, there is
likely a lag in recording revenues that will likely make up for this in June / July and carry
us through the year with a bump in revenues from Gratitude month.

CONTRIBUTION REVENUES:

As stated, overall contributions were just 3% shy of plan due to the delay in revenue
recognition but 2% ahead of prior year. The shift from group to individual contributions is
not as apparent as $11K of Group Contributions were reclassified from Group to
“Fellowship Contributions” recognizing the generous contributions from Marin
Teleservice and Sobriety By The Bay as well as the contribution box in the Central
Office. This was noted after a mention in an IFAA meeting and seen in prior issues of
The Point, and so the accounting system was corrected to reflect that with the help and
direction from Central Office staff. Consequently, Group Contributions reflect true group
collections more accurately and contributions from non-group entities are being
recognized as appropriate. Faithful fivers slipped another $74 in May.

EXPENSES:

While recorded Revenues were 2% ahead of prior year, expenses increased by 8%
year over year consistent with inflation. This was expected and aggressively planned for
so expenses are still 8% under plan leaving a $11K hedge.

NET REVENUE: AKA “THE BOTTOM LINE”

Year to date, expenses exceeded revenues leaving us with a net loss of $4,834 well
within our failsafe budget. As stressed previously, June/July contributions will likely
bring us back “into the black” year to date and carry us throughout the year without
dipping into any Prudent Reserve.

LIQUIDITY RESERVE

Liquid or “unrestricted” cash dropped from 2.5 months to 2.3 months due to the modest
deficit. This is still an excellent rating with $60K in the bank to cover costs in excess of
our Prudent Reserve.