Record of Minutes

Saturday, December 14, 2024
8:00 AM HDT | 

10:00 AM PDT | 

1:00 PM EDT

Attendees:

Jennifer – OIAA Treasurer

Susan – OIAA Chair

Kevin – OIAA Finance Committee Member

Mark – OIAA Tech Chair

Felix – OIAA Alternate Treasurer

Beth – OIAA International Trustee

Barry – Trustee at Large, Chair of the 2025 Vancouver International Convention

Nicky – Finance Committee Secretary

 

Jennifer says the Serenity Prayer and asks everyone to introduce themselves.  She introduces herself as the OIAA Treasurer.  Susan serves as the OIAA Chair.  Kevin introduces himself as a member of the Finance Committee.  Mark is a member and the Tech Chair for the OIAA.  Felix is the OIAA Alternate Treasurer.  Beth introduces herself as the OIAA International Trustee.  The retired, graceful, gentleman Barry, is the Trustee at Large as well as the Chair of the International Vancouver Convention Committee.  Jennifer asks if anyone would like to include anything on the Agenda..  Jennifer welcomes Nicky to the meeting and inquires if she had completed the Minutes.  Nicky responded that she still needs some final edits but had just sent an email with updates. Jennifer decides to postpone reviewing the Minutes until later or the next meeting.

 

Agenda Review 

Jennifer reviews the Agenda.  She brings up the November Financial Statements and shares screen.  There were Contributions of just over $12,500.  She says that this is the highest Contribution month in the History of OIAA.  She attributed this increase to the Convention. 

Jennifer curiously wanted to analyze new Contributors for 2024.  So, to analyze new Contributors, she opted to see who had contributed in the last four years, she conducted a four-year financial review and identified (out of 93,000) 47% are new Contributors, reflecting steady ongoing growth. This means that OIAA is still attracting new groups.  She plans to present these findings at the upcoming Assembly.

 

Mark would like to know how she conducted this analysis.  He would also like to identify the groups that had previously contributed in 2020 and have since fallen off the list. He wonders how to work this analysis backwards.  Jennifer explains that with good old fashion analysis, she took all the groups and compared and then sorted them.  Mark asks if she has the Contributions list by Group going back to 2020.  Jdennifer replies that she does. Mark then says there is a way of  understanding this data and that it is very useful information.  He thanks her for her effort.  Jennifer replies that since  Mark is better at data mining, She also noted using the data that many Group Contributions were miscategorized as Individual Contributions.  

 

Review of Financial Statements

Moving onto Financial Statements.  She explains that Mailings is the “traveling mail.” She says that they exceeded the number allocated from their subscriptions but that it’s still cheaper to stay with the $150/plan rather than upgrade to the $250/plan.  Organizational fees are for the lawyer’s invoice that OIAA received.  She says that they ordered the documents that were needed for the organization even though they still haven’t received them.  She explains that the lawyers did some work that should not have been done so they should be expecting even more attorney’s fees in 2025.  PayPal and Stripe fees are associated with the Revenues. Professional fees are for the Accounting System.  Tech Special Worker is helping maintain the website.  Translation Technology was for Translation services rendered for a safety workshop and for Unity Meetings.  She explains that Other Technology could be a variety of things that are outside the scope of regular operations of Technology.  For example, the monthly maintenance.  Mark asks whether the $10,000 budgeted for a Special Tech Project was included in Other Technology. Jennifer confirms that it is and that $7,500 remains, with another $2,500 scheduled for allocation, meaning Tech is significantly under budget. She jokes that Mark should feel free to spend within the next two weeks.

 

Jennifer continues on with Video Conferencing referring to the Zoom account.  Website Hosting is their accounts with Google and Site Ground.  Insight planners and those types of technical expenses.  These all equal the amount of $5400.00 to the black.  She asks if anyone has any questions on the Budget Variance. Mark is curious as to what percentage of cost to revenue and income since they saw a big increase in the Contribution.  Mark also questions whether Operating Expenses are consistent month-to-month or if the Convention caused the unusual spike in Revenue. Jennifer confirmed that core expenses remain steady, with occasional expenses such as legal fees. She acknowledged that the Convention likely contributed to the Revenue increase.

 

Kevin noted that in April, Contributions were $10,700, while July saw a peak at $11,700. Susan jokes it must be due to Gratitude Month.  Jennifer welcomes Mark’s deeper analysis on expense consistency.

 

Continuing on with the Balance Sheet  Jennifer states that there is $136,000 in the Bank and the Vancouver Convention fund money equals $4,500.00.  So, the grand total of unearmarked money is just under $132,000.00.  She asks if there are any questions on the Balance Sheet.  Kevin asks if PayPal or Stripe provides notifications of incoming Contributions. Jennifer explains that Contributions first appear in the accounting system before being deposited, creating a minor timing delay.  No other questions

 

Review of Contributions

Moving on to Contributions.  Jennifer points out that 76 Contributors donated $12,500 in November, with Individuals contributing $350, indicating that most donations came from Groups. This is the highest in OIAA monthly History!  Barry requests to scroll back through the list. And asks if Jennifer could re-order the list.  Jennifer agrees to re-sort it.  Barry wants to highlight a rather notable donation from Russian AA ($859). Other top contributors included Serenity Circle Worldwide and The Zoo Crew ($700 each) and What’s Good About Today ($700 as well). Jennifer confirms that Russian AA is a new contributor. 

 

Assembly Discussion

Jennifer reviews topics for the upcoming Assembly, including the Budget and Excess Funds Contribution options. She explains her approach to transparency when presenting financial information..  Jennifer introduces Barbara by saying that she has been helping identify GSO’s around the world.  Barbara and Rebecca created a spreadsheet with the names of the General Service Offices.  In Blue,  are the ones that have been sent.  She has received about 15 – 20 replies.  There were some “we will get back to you” replies, and some emails that did not work, but she did obtain many unknown GSO’s and added some to the list.   She checked websites for PayPal or SWIFT payment options. She reminds herself to send one to Mongolia.  She says she and Rebecca will run a second pass through and that she is a great help.  She asks  Beth if she sent her our way.  Beth replies that she did and that Rebecca was a great help during the Convention.  Barbara asks the group if they know how many GSO’ there are in the world.  Jennifer answers that there are 66 of them.  Barbara replies that she knows the list she received is not accurate since the list has around 120 names on it.  She also adds that Mexico said they did not want the donation and did not give a reason.  Jennifer replies that Switzerland wrote to her to inform her of the request and wanted to make sure it was legit.  Barbara wishes there was a better list of the GSO offices.  She says that since they are a worldwide organization now, they should have a place, people can go to contact their local office.  

 

Beth would like to clarify that the list of GSO’s from the Unity Committee was supposed to be a confidential list.  Susan says that Leslie created the list and it has GSO’s contact information on it, but it also has sensitive Intergroup information on it.    

Jennifer doesn’t believe there is any overstepping as it is all informational.  Barbara agrees.  Felix introduces himself to Barbara.  He tells her that he did contact and establish a list of GSOs and are still in contact with many of them.  Barbara replies that she tried to reach out to him to retrieve the list, but Felix says that he does not remember seeing an email about this. Barbara says that she is currently sending an email to remind him for the list.  Barbara gives her number to Felix.  Beth asks the group if the list is on the AA Website.  Susan replies that generally the information is on the world service manual.  She adds that the list came initially as she personally asked.  She says that the GSOs came right off the website which she sent to Barbara and states that it is updated.  

 

Excess Funds and Assembly Discussion 

Jennifer states that some members have questioned why OIAA does not reinvest excess funds internally instead of distributing them externally. She reviewed 30 intergroups’ public financials and found they maintain similar Bank Reserves relative to their Budgets and rarely donate outside their organizations.

 

Mark suggests that they make the Discussion into a two phase vote.  First, vote on whether to distribute those excess funds.  And if the vote is Yes, to, Second, vote on the distribution method.  Jennifer agrees that this approach would streamline decision-making. She also acknowledges that despite Barbara’s extensive work, the Assembly might ultimately decide not to distribute funds.  Barbara replies that she was able to meet Rebecca and is overwhelmed with the capacity of this program especially worldwide.  It has touched her to see how people are offering a lot of help to those who still suffering.  She appreciates the opportunity to serve.  

 

Mark suggests that if the Assembly were to say yes to distributing the funds, then Jennifer could suggest that the Finance Committee would like to distribute around the world.  Jennifer agrees.  Mark continues that they could say that there is a list of 60 or 70 but that they can only speak to like 10 to 20 confirmed.  

 

Barbara says that some of the Groups replied to her saying that they need help with their infrastructure and are asking if they could use some of their excess funds to help.  She suggests that maybe as a one time deal, they could send some help to them.  

 

Beth suggests that if they distribute to the world, given the current circumstances, Jennifer will need to follow through more closely with the transfer. She explains that sometimes payments from the United States can be rejected depending on the amount being sent. If a thousand dollars is deposited into a foreign bank, there may be additional complications. Sometimes, banks block the transfer because they have not seen the sender’s name before. Personally, she has to call her banker to ensure everything goes through, so it could take extra time. She believes someone should follow up on the transfer.

 

Jennifer acknowledges this but states that she should be able to track this information through bank statements and can see when funds leave the account and if successful. Beth clarifies that the issue isn’t on their end but rather on the recipient’s end, as sometimes the funds get blocked. In such cases, it’s best to just call the bank to resolve the issue. 

Barbara adds that the first step should be acknowledged by a receipt of funds. Beth agrees.

Mark shifts the conversation back to the distribution process. He asks Jennifer if they should wait a little longer to get a more accurate number before distribution, perhaps setting a specific date. This way, they can inform the Assembly, for example, that there are 10 groups and they are dividing $1,000 by 10. Jennifer states that equal distribution will be based on the list. She acknowledges that new processes can be complicated and appreciates the questions and input. Since she will be presenting the Budget to the Assembly, she plans to address excess funds first and then move on to the Budget. She suggests allocating additional funds to certain areas, such as Tech, which has been limited by its Budget but has been responsible with its requests. If additional funds were allocated, she is confident they would be utilized effectively.

 

Mark states that he would like to hire an outside firm to address some major issues. Jennifer agrees. She continues going through the Assembly’s agenda line by line and asks if anyone has any questions, thoughts, concerns, or revisions. She anticipates a lengthy Assembly. Susan advises Jennifer to ensure that her Interpreters are available for an extended period. Jennifer reassures her that the Interpreters she hires stay until the meeting ends.

Mark asks whether the Agenda or the Election will come first. Susan responds that the Election will take place first. Jennifer confirms this, stating that the Election will be followed by excess funds and then the Budget. She asks if there are any other business matters that need attention.

 

Barry brings up to the Finance Committee the Agreement with the service and equipment provider for the Vancouver cyber site. They obtained three quotes. Initially, in August, they received a quote for $3,213.00. On November 14th, the in-house equipment provider at the Hyatt, gave them a quote of $6,040.10, which was outside the Budget. After some negotiation with Encore, they received many services and equipment for free, resulting in a final quote of $2,852.51. It took some time for Encore to admit to charging extra fees for using outside vendors, which would have added $500-$600 CAD. Barry also reminds Jennifer that currency exchange rates fluctuate, so they are uncertain what the cost will be in July. However, there will be a General Service Tax rebate of approximately $190.20, which will be deducted from the budget.

 

He emphasizes that OIAA will receive that rebate, and he needs confirmation. Susan notes that they need to sign the contract now to secure the deal. Barry informs them that they actually had to sign it by the end of the year, so he signed it. Susan confirms that she also signed it. Barry explains that governance rules require a second authorization, so he had Susan sign as well. Jennifer asks to clarify that OIAA will be billed in 2025. Susan and Barry confirm this. Jennifer approves and acknowledges that they secured a great deal. She reiterates that the equipment cost is $2,800, and they will receive $190 back after processing the forms. Barry confirms that the rebate will be sent to the same bank account, so Jennifer will handle the reimbursement. Jennifer mentions that Felix has been doing the data entry and has already accounted for the discount, so there is no issue.

 

Jennifer asks if anyone has anything else to add and notes that the meeting lasted 45 minutes. 

 

Jennifer expresses her appreciation for everyone and says she is impressed with their work.

 

Jennifer closes the meeting with the Responsibility Statement.