MINUTES FROM THE OIAA ASSEMBLY  SEPTEMBER 2024

Mark M., the OIAA Technology chair, made several opening announcements and introduced the Zoom Technology team.  He asked all voting members to fill out the quorum form.

The Assembly was opened by the OIAA Chair, Susan R., at 2:00 pm EST (11:00 am PST, 12:00 pm MST, 1:00 pm CST, 7:00 pm UK/Portugal). She welcomed the attendees and led the assembly in the We version of the Serenity prayer. Susan reviewed the agenda for the Assembly.

Susan introduced our new Trustee-at-large, Barry M., who previously served as the Secretary for OIAA. Barry took a few minutes to introduce himself.

Review of 6/15 Assembly Minutes – Jeff B., Secretary

• Mark M, Technology Chair, announced that there was now a quorum so that business can be conducted.
• Jeff reviewed the meeting minutes from the June 15th Assembly and requested any corrections.
• Jeff asked for a motion to approve the June 15th minutes. A motion to approve the minutes as presented was made by Trisha, IGR for the AA Solutions, and was seconded by Daryl Ann, IGR for the This is Just for Today group. The motion passed unanimously with 51 responses.

Treasurer’s Report – Jennifer B., Treasurer

• Jennifer mentioned that we will not be reviewing the financial reports as we normally do but will answer any questions that anyone has about the financial reports.
• Jennifer reported that at the Finance committee there was a discussion of how to distribute OIAA’s excess funds and she mentioned what the committee is suggesting for managing these excess funds.
• The Finance committee is suggesting that we send the same amount to the GSOs around the world.
• She mentioned that she has examined the list of GSOs around the world and some of them make it difficult to identify where to make contributions. She asked if anyone is familiar with their GSO and how contributions are made to let her know.
• As a caveat, she mentioned that we can only donate to GSOs that have a PayPal or Stripe account or who can provide a SWIFT number.

Comments/Questions about the proposal to distribute excess funds equally to GSOs around the world

• Jennifer requested feedback on the proposal from the Finance committee.
• Mark M., Technology chair, stated that he thought this was a great proposal.
• Gwen M., CPC chair and former OIAA chair, asked whether there were any issues with distributing money internationally as there were concerns about this previously.  Jennifer responded that she has $2,400 in her budget and plans to hire an accountant she knows who specializes in high net worth individuals, trusts and estates to determine how to accomplish this and see if there are any issues.
• Eldin, member of the 5th Dimensions Young people’s group, asked if international GSOs is the only place where excess funds will be sent.  Jennifer asked if anyone has any alternative suggestions to contact her or to state them now.
• Barry M., Trustee-At-Large, mentioned that this has been attempted previously, sometimes successfully and sometimes not, and mentioned that there is a government agency, OFAC (Office of Foreign Assets Control), that monitors contributions to entities outside the US. Jennifer stated that she is aware of this and knows that we cannot contribute to OFAC countries.
• Barbara, alternate IGR for the Just for Today group, mentioned that perhaps we send Big Books to a GSO that doesn’t have PayPal, Stripe account or a Swift number might be appropriate.  She stated that just because a GSO might not be as advanced doesn’t mean they don’t need the support.  She mentioned that sending 20 Big Books to Mongolia, for example, in their language might be the way to go. Barbara volunteered to help with researching this. Jennifer suggested that she attend the Finance committee meeting to further discuss this.
• Dave W., member of the Tech committee, mentioned the International Literature fund which is responsible for helping with the translation of US/Canada Conference-approved literature into other languages and that we have contributed to this entity previously. Jennifer stated that she is aware of this entity and that we have contributed to their efforts in the past but that the Finance committee came up with a different idea.

Secretary Report – Jeff B., Secretary

• Jeff mentioned that he has not had an opportunity in the past to inform the membership about the duties of the Secretary.
• He mentioned that the Secretary is one of the 5 officers of OIAA and is a Board member. He mentioned that Section 4.01C of our Guidelines describes the duties of the Secretary.
• Jeff stated that his duties include overseeing the OIAA Elections and appointing and training an alternate. He mentioned that he had recently appointed Anita M. as the alternate Secretary and that a Secretary Handbook is being prepared to guide her and future OIAA Secretaries.
• He described other duties of the Secretary including:
  • Filing the Annual report with the State of NJ where we are incorporated
  • Conducting the annual membership poll to determine our quorum
  • Maintaining key documents for the organization in what is called the “Board book”
• Jeff reviewed the activities that he and his alternate have completed this year. 
• Jeff stated that it has been an honor and privilege to have served the organization in this role and to be a member of the OIAA Board for the past 2 years.

Comments/Questions for the Secretary

• Natarena, IGR for AA Solutions, asked if Jeff could make his slides available so that she could share them with her group. Jeff stated that he will put the slides in the chat.

Unity Committee / International Convention Update – Carlos D., Unity committee chair

• Carlos reported that you can register for the Convention up to the start of the Convention and even during the Convention.
• Carlos stated that we are now at 3,180 registrations for the Convention from 78 different countries.
• Beth D., the Tech coordinator for the Tech team, is working to prepare the Tech hosts for the Convention.
• He mentioned that several videos have been received and will be reviewed.
• The Unity committee is requesting volunteers to assist with the Convention. Beth D. stated that the Tech committee is still looking for Spanish and Portuguese speakers to serve as Tech co-hosts.

Chair Report – Susan R., Chair

• Susan stated that there will be elections on December 21st where we will be electing a Vice-chair, Trustee-At-Large, Technology chair and Secretary. She mentioned that in her October chair report there will be links to the descriptions for these positions.
• Susan stated that the International Convention will be held from October 25th to October 27th and there will be a Safety Workshop on Nov. 2nd.
• Susan said that Katie, a member of the Tech Steppers, meets for a weekly Coffee Talk meeting to inform members how to become a Tech Stepper.
• Susan reviewed her activities as the Board chair throughout the year.

International Trustee report – Beth A., International Trustee

• Beth reported that part of her mission as International Trustee is to reach out to members internationally and in the US.
• Beth provided a report which describes her activities with highlights of how she has served the Board and the membership.
• Beth reported that she has been assisting Carlos D. in organizing the International Convention which she views as the culmination of her role as International Trustee.
• She provided some statistics from the registrations so far. The largest number of registrations have come from the US, UK, Brazil, Canada, South Africa, Australia, France, Iran, New Zealand, Spain, Columbia, Kenya, Trinidad, Tobago, and India.  She mentioned that the languages are most prevalent as English, Portuguese, French, Spanish, Farsi, Punjabi, Irish, Swahili, German and 3 requests for ASL.
• Beth thanked Jennifer and the Finance committee for their assistance in securing translators, the Tech committee for providing the necessary technical support for the Convention and the Communication committee, especially Randy C., for helping with documents and videos.

Trustee-At-Large Report – Barry M., Trustee-At-Large

• Barry described his service to OIAA in the past which has included serving on the Finance committee and serving as the OIAA Secretary.
• He mentioned that he was asked to serve in this role following the resignation of the previous Trustee-At-large.
• Barry stated that he will assume the chair of the 2025 Convention committee to coordinate our activities at the 2025 AA International convention in Vancouver.
• Barry stated that he has been involved in matters of governance and legal issues for OIAA.

Unity Committee Unbudgeted Fund request – Carlos D., Unity committee chair

• Carlos stated that this unbudgeted request is as a result of the overwhelming registration response. He said that the Committee is estimating that there might be more than 1,000 participants in several rooms.
• He mentioned that Zoom rooms typically hold 1,000 participants and that Zoom refused to expand that to 2,00 participants. As an alternative, he stated that we could stream the presentation in one room to another room which would accommodate over 1,000 participants and would avoid turning anyone away.
• Carlos made a motion for $1,465.43 for unbudgeted funds to allow for this overflow option and Mark M. seconded the motion. The motion passed unanimously.

Discussion on the Unbudgeted Fund request

• Daud, IGR for the 164 and Beyond group, asked if the Treasurer feels that this is financially sound to do this. Jennifer stated that she is in support of this and worked with the committee to prepare this request. She stated that we have enough funds for this request.
• Jeff, alternate Chair of the Steppers committee, asked for clarification and asked if all 3,100 people registered could be in the same room. Carlos reiterated that there will be 4 rooms which each have a capacity of 1,000 participants and this request would allow for having more than 1,000 participants if there is an overflow.
• Jennifer asked if an overflow occurred, would the overflow room also allow 1,000 participants and could there be multiple overflows. Beth A. answered yes to both questions. 
• A question in the chat asked if we did not use the overflow option would we still have to pay for it and the answer was yes.

The Assembly closed with the Responsibility declaration at 3:24 pm EST.

Motions Summary

1. A motion to accept the June 15th minutes was made and seconded. The motion passed unanimously. 
2. A motion to accept the Unity committee’s unbudgeted fund request for $1,465.43 was made and seconded. The motion passed unanimously.

Humbly Submitted,
Jeff B., OIAA Secretary.