Unity Committee Charter – Online Intergroup of Alcoholics Anonymous

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Unity Committee Charter

**Approved by the OIAA Board 12-Jan-2025. Not yet approved by the Assembly.

Type of Committee:

  X     Standing Service Committee   ___ Ad hoc Service Committee  

__ Standing Board Committee ___ Ad hoc Board Committee

Mission and Purpose: 

The mission and purpose of the Unity Committee is to encourage the exchange of online A.A. group experiences among the vast online A.A. group community, which can help them in their shared goal of spreading the A.A. message to the alcoholic online who is still suffering.

We do this through:

  • Outreach to our OIAA groups and committees
  • Inviting groups to share their experiences carrying the message to the alcoholic online
  • Organizing an annual OIAA International Online Convention

Roles: 

Unity Chair:

The Unity Chair leads the Unity Committee in fulfilling its mission and purpose. The Unity Chair organizes, leads committee meetings, and creates the meeting agendas and committee reports for the Combined Board and Committee Chair Meetings. The Unity Chair maintains communication with the Communications Committee and the OIAA Treasurer to schedule translation and interpretation services for the Unity Committee meetings and events. The Unity Chair creates and adheres to an annual committee budget in coordination with the OIAA Board. The Unity Chair coordinates and engages the OIAA groups, membership, and committees to participate in the annual OIAA International Online Convention with the support of the Board.

Qualifications

  • A member of Alcoholics Anonymous with a minimum of 5 years of sobriety
  • Understanding and experience in managing and leading people
  • The ability to delegate, and organize event planning
  • Understanding and experience of working with people of diverse cultural backgrounds
  • Experience in basic administrative tasks : emails, Google Drive, creation/modification/archiving documents
  • Communication and collaborative skills are helpful
  • Bilingual or multilingual are a plus

Alternate Unity Chair

The Alt Unity Chair shares in the responsibility of running Unity Committee meetings, welcoming new committee members, answering Unity Committee emails, and organizing and supporting committee efforts and events. The Alt Unity Chair replaces the Unity Chair when needed. The Alt Unity Chair may attend OIAA Combined Board and Committee Chair Meetings when asked to join.

Qualifications

  • A member of Alcoholics Anonymous with a minimum of 5 years of sobriety
  • Understanding and experience in managing and leading people
  • The ability to delegate, and organize event planning
  • Understanding and experience of working with people of diverse cultural backgrounds
  • Experience in basic administrative tasks : emails, Google Drive, creation/modification/archiving documents
  • Communication and collaborative skills are helpful
  • Bilingual or multilingual are a plus

Unity Secretary

The Unity Secretary collaborates with the Unity Chair and Alt Chair to notify all Unity Committee members of Unity meetings and Unity events. The Unity Secretary keeps and maintains the list of active Unity Committee members and their email information, and their attendance at Unity meetings. The Unity Secretary keeps thorough and complete minutes of Unity Committee meetings, organizes Unity meeting recordings and transcripts, and organizes and maintains the Unity Drive and Drive access in collaboration with the Unity Chair and Alt Chair.

Qualifications

  • A member of Alcoholics Anonymous with a minimum of 3 years of sobriety
  • Experience in basic administrative tasks : emails, Google Drive, creation/modification/archiving documents
  • Communication and collaborative skills are helpful
  • Knowledge of DeepL translator a plus

Unity Liaison

The Unity Liaison conducts outreach and creates relationships with our OIAA groups by attending their meetings whenever possible, inviting them to share their online experiences in the Unity Committee meetings, and encouraging them to explore OIAA activities, support services, and service opportunities . The Unity Liaison actively assists the Unity Committee in its mission and purpose, and the OIAA International Online Convention.

Qualifications

  • CA member of Alcoholics Anonymous and of the Unity Committee with a minimum of 2 years of sobriety
  • Experience in A.A. service such as : Hospitals and Institutions, Public Information or 12 Step work, or a willingness to be willing to learn and serve where needed

Unity Committee Members

Qualifications

  • A member of Alcoholics Anonymous with at least 1 year of sobriety, or has a service sponsor.
  • Participation in at least 3 consecutive Unity Committee meetings to be considered a voting member
  • Consistent participation in Unity Committee meetings is necessary to maintain a member’s voting status.

What we do/Tasks: 

The OIAA Unity Committee

  • Conducts outreach and creates relationships with our OIAA groups by attending their meetings whenever possible, inviting them to share their online experiences in the Unity Committee meetings, and encouraging them to explore OIAA activities, support services, and service opportunities.
  • Participates in other OIAA events


The International Convention Sub Committee

  • The Unity Committee will choose a Chair for the Convention Sub Committee who coordinates and organizes the OIAA International Online Convention. It works directly with the OIAA International Trustee, the OIAA Technology Chair and Committee, and the OIAA Finance chair concerning the contracting of outside professionals, interpretation and translation, budgets and the website, email communication, and the registration process. It will also coordinate with other OIAA committees as needed.


The convention organizing teams are:

  • Convention planning team – Overall planning and time zone scheduling
  • Convention international events team – event planning and organizing, speaker recruitment
  • Convention international creatives team – images, country specific flyers and videos for the convention in multiple languages
  • Convention multilingual communications team – WhatsApp/Telegram and email before and during the convention
  • Convention international tech volunteers team – recruitment, organization, planning of tech volunteers

Approval date of the Committee: December 5, 2024

Approval date of the Board : January 12, 2025

Approval date of Voting Members: ________

Instructions:  

The scope of the responsibility and authority of each committee is outlined in a committee charter to be reviewed every two years or as necessary.  While each committee can have different roles, many will have similar roles. For example, each committee will most likely have a committee Chair and a Secretary with similar responsibilities and qualifications. Each committee will have certain roles unique to the mission it has to discharge.

OIAA’s Bylaws Article 5 provides additional committee detail including definitions pertaining to their duration, creation of, dissolution of, record maintenance and reporting requirements.

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