12
Concepts of service
1.
Final responsibility and ultimate
authority for A.A. world services
should always reside in
the collective conscience of our
whole Fellowship.
2.
The General Service Conference of
A.A. has become, for nearly every
practical purpose,
the active voice and the effective
conscience of our whole Society in
world affairs.
3.
To insure effective leadership, we
should endow each element of A.A. --
the Conference,
the General Service Board and its
service corporations, staffs,
committees, and
executives -- with a traditional
"Right of Decision."
4.
At all responsible levels, we ought
to maintain a traditional "Right
of Participation," allowing
a voting representation in reasonable
proportion to the responsibility that
each must
discharge.
5.
Throughout our structure, a
traditional "Right of
Appeal" ought to prevail, so
that minority
opinion will be heard and personal
grievances receive careful
consideration.
6.
The Conference recognizes that the
chief initiative and active
responsibility in most world
service matters should be exercised
by the trustee members of the
Conference acting as
the General Service Board.
7.
The Charter and Bylaws of the General
Service Board are legal instruments, empowering
the trustees to manage and conduct
world service affairs. The Conference
Charter
is not a legal document; it relies
upon tradition and the A.A. purse for
final effectiveness.
8.
The trustees are the principal
planners and administrators of
overall policy and finance.
They have custodial oversight of the
separately incorporated and
constantly active
services, exercising this through
their ability to elect all the
directors of these entities.
9.
Good service leadership at all levels
is indispensable for our future
functioning and safety.
Primary world service leadership,
once exercised by the founders, must necessarily
be assumed by the trustees.
10.
Every service responsibility should
be matched by an equal service
authority, with the scope
of such authority well defined.
11.
The trustees should always have the
best possible committees, corporate
service directors,
executives, staffs, and consultants.
Composition, qualification, induction
procedures,
and the rights and duties will always
be matters of serious concern.
12.
The Conference shall observe the
spirit of AA. tradition, taking care
that it never becomes
the seat of perilous wealth or power;
that sufficient operating funds and reserve
be its prudent financial principle;
that it place none of its members in
a position of
unqualified authority over others;
that it reach all important decisions
by discussion, vote, and
whenever possible, by substantial
unanimity; that its actions never be personally
punitive nor an incitement to public
controversy; that it never perform
acts of government,
and that, like the Society it serves,
it will always remain democratic in thought
and action.
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