Delegate’s Report to Area Assembly, January 10, 2021

Delegates Report for January 2021

Wow here we are in January already and Panel 71 is kicking off nicely.

Before the New Year kicked off, I was asked to attend the NERD’s meeting in December so that I could start to get to know folks and I can tell you this is going to be a fun panel to be a part of.

I have been the delegate for almost two weeks and now I know I am the delegate because I recently received access to the GSO Dashboard. The Dashboard is where all the information about the conference and background material is stored and let me tell you I was surprised at the amount of information there is.

It is amazing the amount of work my fellow delegates and our trustee put into making sure that I have everything I need to start my new position. I will say that it seems that not a day goes by where I do not have a new set of documents to read. What is really cool is all the interactions that occur. I am meeting so many new people that are all amazing.

What is in those documents? Well, there is information on how the conference operates. There is questions and forms about me personally and technical documents to insure I can attend the conference. Of course, there is the information about sending in the fees for attending the conference, which I am sure our new Treasure Hannah will take care of. All kinds of guidelines and reference information are there about the items forwarded from the last conference. There is also information about the extended conference this year, yup it is April 18th – 24^th. Finally, there is information about my buddy (delegate from Idaho) and what committee I am to serve on.

I am to be on the Committee on Trustees. The Trustees committee is exactly what it sounds like. Since the 1951 Conference, this committee has been mainly involved in the qualifications and procedures for election of Class B regional trustees and trustees-at-large. Members of this committee are part of the voting body and the chairperson of this committee co-chairs the election. The responsibility of this committee has evolved to include the qualifications and procedures for selection of Class A trustees, General Service trustees, corporate board directors, and appointed committee members.

Registration for NERAASA is open on the website – www.NERAASA.org. This is a terrific service assembly. It’s a great chance to learn about your service position, meet and brainstorm with other people with your job, hear about General Service Conference agenda items, and more. Cost is $21 and it is being held February 26th-28th.

The trustees’ Public Information Committee of the General Service Board has an opening for 1-2 nontrustee appointed committee member(s). They are searching for a suitable individual or individuals to fill this position and would appreciate any recommendations.

They do look forward to receiving the résumés of your suggested applicants.

As previously announced, Greg T. will leave the position of General Manager effective February 1, 2021. The General Manager search committee continues its process to identify a qualified successor for the role. In the meantime, Stephanie L., Senior Director of Administration and Strategy, will serve as Interim General Manager, effective immediately.

For the past two years, Stephanie has worked closely with the General Manager and colleagues as an organizational leader at the GSO, with managerial oversight of human resources, technology services and operations. She has advised the GM on the strategic realignment of our business and services continuity during the acutely challenging months of the virus pandemic, the shutdown of the office and conversion to telework, the voluntary retirement program and subsequent hiring of new GSO staff, and now preparing us for safe reentry to the office in the new year and beyond.

With the leadership team and all our workers, she has also been integral in the completion of the NetSuite system, supporting office and board communications, and upgrading our member/customer service capacity to serve the Fellowship of Alcoholics Anonymous. We are confident in Stephanie’s leadership abilities and experience.

As interim General Manager, Stephanie will have the same management and signing authority as the General Manager, but she will not serve as a member of the AAWS Board or a member of the General Service Conference. We look forward to supporting Stephanie in her interim role as we continue to carry the AA message.

I did get a copy of the pending minutes from the 4^thquarter General Service Board and it was interesting to see how much effort the Trustees and the Board actually put into their positions; it was a lot more than I thought.

Now, to answer the question Is the “Fellowship Rally” (i.e., increased voluntary contributions post-COVID) still continuing? 

Well, as you can see below, the Fellowship Rally is alive and well.  Through January 4, 2021, GSO’s unaudited interim voluntary contributions, via mail and online, follow: 

As of January 4 (2021)

Per Paul Konigstein, our non-alcoholic Chief Financial Officer: “Although the 2020 has ended, the 2020 contribution numbers are not final.  We count in 2020 any mail contribution dated December 31 or earlier and received on or before January 15. So, we will be continuing to record 2020 contributions until the end of next week.”

As you may recall, GSO’s 2019 voluntary contributions were a record setting $8.86 million.  So, with $9.66 million we’ve already surpassed that amount.

Both AAWS, Inc., and AA Grapevine, Inc. literature, books, subscriptions are also on the rise (albeit slowly).  I hope to have those figures following the January Board meeting.

There is a study of the first 12 Chapters of the Service Manual. I attended the first one (along with 367 others) and it was pretty cool. If you want to check it out it is on Thursdays at 7:00PM Zoom ID 837 3047 2616 with a passcode of 462942.

Finally, I have read so many things that I will be expanding my report considerably once I get an understanding of many of the topics that are discussed. I also have seen the list of 61 proposed agenda items most of which came from the last panel.

Now I know why our Glowing Delegate Barb talked so much and I hope I can do as good a job as she did.

Filed in: AA General Service, From Our Delegate