Money, Money, Money

[dropcap]D[/dropcap]uring my World Service Conference (WSC) report at the May Assembly, a good amount of interest was received on the discussion of money. The short of it is, the WSO projects a $16K shortage in 2015. During the report, there was a lot of good comments from the Group Reps, from how to increase our contributions, to how to decrease costs. What I heard loud and clear is that our fellowship doesn’t always understand how their donations are spent. As your Delegate, my hope is to dispel some of the mystery.

First, the WSO has a page on its Members Only section of their website (www.al-anon.org) that is dedicated to Financials. There’s a lot of information there, including, in the interest of transparency, a copy of their 2014 Tax return. Plus, there’s a copy of their 2014 Financial Audit that provides a lot of detail.

If you look at the financials, you’ll see that the fellowship donated approximately $1.5 million dollars to the WSO in 2014 (NIAFG contributed $38K). Operating expenses were just over $5 million. In order to make up the difference, the WSO depends on the sale of literature. $3.5 million dollars worth. In order for our fellowship to support the WSO with contributions, we would have to
increase the money in the basket and do it at a broader level to start making up the difference.

I downloaded the following graphic from the WSO website. Perhaps this will help to start seeing the bigger picture. Imagine that you send $10 to the WSO. Here’s how they would use it:

More information will be coming next month. In the meantime, consider what you can do to increase your basket donation each week.

WSO Service Opportunities in 2015

Did you know that there are several opportunities to serve Al-Anon at the WSO level? Check out these opportunities for openings in 2015:

[highlight]NOTE: All positions require a resume and some must be postmarked by August 15th. The date is just around the corner, so if you’re interested, act fast![/highlight]

• 3 at-Large Trustees
• 1 at-Large member, Executive Committee for Real Property Management
• 1 at-Large member, Alateen Work Group (trial)
• 5 at-Large members, Forum Editorial Advisory Committee
• 5 at-Large members, Literature Committee
• 5 at-large members, Public Outreach Committee
• 2 at-large member, Audit Committee

Consult your Service Manual for a description of these service positions or contact me for more information.

What’s not included in the above list is the opportunity for Regional Trustee and we will have a new trustee to represent our North-Central region. Nominations for Regional Trustee must come through the Area. NIAFG has already reviewed and nominated our submission at the last Area World Service Committee (AWSC) meeting. Thank you to all that have indicated interest in serving our fellowship in this capacity and good luck with the next steps in the process!

NIAFG Delegate
Illinois North, Panel 55