2022 – Group Conscience Decisions

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2022 Group Conscience Decisions

 

April 2022

 

  • Group Conscience Decision: Assign “qualifying GROW membership” to TS positions for which this requirement has not been specified. Required membership in GROW will be equal to the length of the term of office.
    Requirement for membership in GROW equal to the term of office will be assigned to the following Trusted Servant Position Descriptions:
    • 12th Step Listkeeper – 6 months
    • Birthday Listkeeper – 6 months
    • Sponsor Listkeeper – 6 months
    • General Service Representative (GSR) – 1 year
    • Grapevine Representative (GVR) – 1 year
    • Greeter – 1 year
    • OIAA Representative – 1 year

For more information on this Group Conscience decision, please refer to Proposal 1 from the April 2022 business meeting.

  • Group Conscience Decision: Revise the Secretary’s position description to delete contradictory, ambiguous, or unreasonable expectations. The bullet referring to the “Mini-Steering Committee” will also apply to the Business Meeting Chair and Listkeepers position descriptions.
    For more information on this Group Conscience decision, please refer to Proposal 2 from the April 2022 business meeting.

Secretary

    • 1-year term
    • 2 years sobriety
    • One-year membership in GROW
    • Must be member of Business List
    • Adheres to confidentiality of private emails
    • Serves on the Steering Committee
    • Works closely with the other Trusted Servants including privately and discreetly informing members who stray from the guidelines
    • Maintains a current list of trusted servants and term dates
    • Serves on GROW’s Mini-Steering Committee with the Business Meeting Chair and Listkeepers to address questions/concerns/issues from any member of GROW
    • Maintains a list of emergency contact phone numbers of all trusted servants for use by trusted servants, not for general distribution
    • Calls for nominations/volunteers
    • Confirms nominees will accept and serve
    • Announces new trusted servants
    • Sends Steering Committee Welcome Letter to all new trusted servants
      Informs the business chair if elections are needed for trusted servants
    • Sends FYI Letter and GROW Mail List Guidelines monthly to GROW membership
    • Acts as a focal point to receive complaints when Trusted Servant(s) do not fulfill responsibilities, and works with the Steering Committee and the Trusted Servant to resolve performance issues
    • When a Trusted Servant becomes unavailable or unwilling to fulfill her duties, works with the Steering Committee to fill the position
    • Conducts a Group Inventory every 2 years (in even-numbered years) between the Business Meetings of April and October by sending out the 12 Questions on our website. Three questions will be sent to the group each week over a 4-week period. Each week’s responses will be summarized, posted back to the group, and the results discussed and reviewed by members at the next Business Meeting to determine if action needs to be taken. These will be posted in addition to the Weekly Topics.
    • In the event that the current Greeter and / or Listkeeper is unable to complete the task of their respected positions, the Secretary will put out a call to the membership for help to fulfill those tasks needed until the current Greeter and / or Listkeeper issue is resolved. The Secretary’s call to the membership would include a prerequisite of having served in those requested positions so that they may assume those duties quickly and efficiently.
    • Common duties and requirements to all Trusted Servant positions are described here
    • Wording for letters commonly used are provided in the links below:
      • FYI Letter
      • GROW Mail List Guidelines
      • New Trusted Servant Letter
    • List of other Trusted Servant letter templates are provided here
  • Group Conscience Decision: Revise the AA Preamble wherever it appears in our form letters and on our website to reflect the October 2021 General Service Conference decision to change the wording in AA’s Preamble from “men and women” to “people.”
    For more information on this Group Conscience decision, please refer to Proposal 3 from the April 2022 business meeting.

  • Group Conscience Decision: GROW approves the expenditure of funds to acquire support services from Dean Collins (oso-aa.org) or other professionals in managing the GROW website. GROW therefore authorizes the Website Administrator to incur expenses up to $300 per year to secure the needed support.Recommended Language: Add fifth bullet to the “Pay all group expenses…” section of the Treasurer’s position description: “Up to $300 per year to Dean Collins dba Insight Planners, or other professionals, for consulting services on GROW’s WordPress-based website. Add a tenth bullet to the Website Administrator’s revised position description: “May seek professional services to resolve technical issues up to an annual limit of $300.”
    For more information on this Group Conscience decision, please refer to Proposal 4 from the April 2022 business meeting.

  • Group Conscience Decision: GROW approves a new form letter that the Temporary Mentor can send to the group each month, as required in her position description.< br/>
    For more information on this Group Conscience decision, please refer to Proposal 5 from the April 2022 business meeting.

Recommended Language:

Temporary Mentor Letter #3
“Hello, GROW members. As Temporary Mentor, I work with new members who often do not know how to find more information about AA. I provide this to our new members in my first message to them, but all GROW members might also benefit from visiting AA’s main websites. This is just a reminder that you can learn more about AA by visiting one of these links:

  • The Alcoholics Anonymous general services office and information such as the AA Big Book (titled “Alcoholics Anonymous”) or the “12 Steps and 12 Traditions,” along with many pamphlets as well as links to local resources for AA.
  • AA’s Online Intergroup (OIAA) where you can find meeting lists as well as real-time phone numbers and other Internet types of meetings.
  • AA’s Grapevine magazine with stories and audio stories and Grapevine subscription options.

Please contact me if you have any questions.

[ Name ]
Temporary Mentor

  • Group Conscience Decision: GROW modifies the current web keeping-related trusted servant positions, eliminating the webkeeper backup position, adding a ‘Topic Archivist’ position, and assigning 5-year terms for the Website Administrator and Webkeeper positions.
    For more information on this Group Conscience decision, please refer to Proposal 6 from the April 2022 business meeting.

 

Recommended Language:

Website Administrator

  • 5 year term
  • 4 years sobriety
  • 4 years GROW membership
  • Must be familiar with WordPress and the administration of Websites
  • Member of Business List
  • Non-voting member of the Steering Committee
  • Maintains GROW Server account
  • Maintains a periodic backup of the GROW database
  • Maintains GROW website updates (WordPress, theme, and plugins)
    May seek professional services to resolve technical issues up to an annual limit of $300
  • Consults with Steering Committee before making substantial design or content changes to GROW website
  • Supports Web-keeper and Topic Archivist on WordPress site issues
    Provides Web-keeper and Topic Archivist with all necessary information and passwords to access all web accounts and web server
  • Provides the Webkeeper’s email address to the web hosting service and designate her as co-owner
  • As owner of the g-r-o-w web account, helps ensure that the annual service fee is paid. If necessary, provide copies of invoice/receipt to GROW Treasurer for reimbursement
  • Upon retirement, transfers website account to successor, provide successor with all necessary information, including job guidelines, and serve as a mentor during the transition to ensure continuity of service.
  • Common duties and requirements to all Trusted Servant positions is described here

Webkeeper

  • 5 year term
  • 2 years sobriety
  • 2 years GROW membership
  • Must be member of Business List
  • Non-voting member of the Steering Committee
  • Should be familiar with WordPress and website management
  • Maintains public website (g-r-o-w.com) for GROW to provide information about Alcoholics Anonymous and for the purpose of attracting new members. Information should include:
    • Info about Alcoholics Anonymous
    • Info about GROW
    • Frequently Asked Questions
    • Our Guiding Philosophy
    • Guide for Email Etiquette
    • Traditions in Cyberspace
    • How to become a member
  • Maintains the password-protected private section on g-r-o-w.com to provide GROW members with information about GROW, including:
    • List of trusted servants and job descriptions
    • Info about how we conduct business
    • Group conscience decisions
    • Common Welfare Guidelines
    • Archives in keeping with group conscience guidelines
    • Important Addresses
  • Works closely with the Business Meeting Chair and the Steering Committee to ensure that pertinent group history is preserved in the member’s section of the GROW website and that archived materials are accessible to GROW members
  • Consults with Steering Committee before making substantial design changes to GROW website that have not been dictated by group conscience decisions
  • Posts all business meetings and keep updated throughout the business meeting
  • Ensure that any material posted on g-r-o-w.com appropriately protects the anonymity of anyone mentioned
  • Upon retirement, transfers website account to successor, provide successor with all necessary information, including job guidelines, and serve as a mentor during the transition to ensure continuity of service
  • Common duties and requirements to all Trusted Servant positions is described here
  • Topic Archivist

October 2022

  • Group Conscience Decision: Edit the position description for the 12th Step Volunteer Listkeeper to assure that notices of “12th Step Calls” go out to the volunteers within 48 hours that a message is received by GROW.
    For more information on this Group Conscience decision, please refer to Proposal 1 from the October 2022 business meeting.
    Recommended Language: Edit the seventh bullet in the 12th Step Volunteer Listkeeper’s position description as shown below:

    • Forwards those letters to the 12th Step CommitteeVolunteers within 48 hours after the subject message appeared in GROW.

  • Group Conscience Decision: Amend the position description for the Business Meeting Chair to add working with the Webkeeper to assure meeting materials are posted to the website as soon as possible.
    For more information on this Group Conscience decision, please refer to Proposal 2 from the October 2022 business meeting.

    Recommended Language: Amend the tenth bullet in the Business Meeting Chair position description:
    • Work closely with other trusted servants, especially the Secretary and Webkeeper.

Add a new twelfth bullet as shown below:

    • Work closely with the Webkeeper to assure meeting documents are posted to the website as quickly as possible. Give the Webkeeper documents that include:
    • all reports and proposals, Minutes, and Summary documents
    • Summaries for each phase for Proposals (discussion, voting, and final outcome (is or is not adopted as a Group Conscience Decision).

 

  • Group Conscience Decision: To assist GROW to be better informed about AA as a whole in the case of a vacant GSR post; at the Business Meeting we ask for a TS to volunteer to receive and forward the quarterly AA Newsletter Box 4-5-9 and to highlight the Calendar page as per our Group Conscience October 2018.
    For more information on this Group Conscience decision, please refer to Proposal 3 from the October 2022 business meeting.
    Note: During the meeting, the current OIAA Representative agreed to take on the GSR position as well, consistent with the April 2012 Group Conscience Decision (If we do not have enough volunteers to cover both positions, we can have one volunteer handle both GSR and OIAA positions.)

 

  • Group Conscience Decision: GROW authorizes Cheryl B to poll our membership to identify women who are interested in attending the 2024 International Women’s Conference (IWC) in Washington DC and to represent GROW in contacting the IWC to explore opportunities to participate by staffing a booth, either separately or in cooperation with other online AA groups, or volunteering for other service opportunities. She will report her findings in the April 2023 Business Meeting and seek approval for further action.
    For more information on this Group Conscience decision, please refer to Proposal 4 from the October 2022 business meeting.

 

  • Group Conscience Decision: GROW will create a working group to address the Alternatives to Address Vacancies. The working group will take a closer look at the issues to identify ways in which we can focus on supporting our online AA women’s meeting while hopefully still providing support to individual GROW members.
    For more information on this Group Conscience decision, please refer to Proposal 4 from the October 2022 business meeting.

To support effective action, this proposal includes several measures to facilitate communication and maximum participation in the working group. These include:

    • keep grow-business active for at least six months (until the next scheduled business meeting), during which all current Trusted Servants would be subscribed automatically,
    • issue a call to current Trusted Servants for volunteers to form a working group that would identify the priorities and major issues and propose alternatives for changes to “the way GROW operates,”
    • invite interested GROW members who are not Trusted Servants to subscribe to the business-grow mailing list to participate in the working group,
    • temporarily suspend some GROW Business Guidelines to allow the working group to make specific proposals that would be discussed and voted on grow-business outside of our scheduled business meeting process (while still adhering to the existing Business Meeting Guidelines process for proposals – reaching Group Conscience decisions), and
    • offer specific issue areas to be addressed based on the comments made to date.