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The Twelve Concepts of Alcoholics Anonymous
| I |
The
final responsibility and the ultimate authority for A.A. World services
should always reside in the collective conscience of our whole
Fellowship. |
| II |
When, in 1955, the A.A. groups confirmed the permanent
charter for their General Service Conference, they thereby delegated to
the Conference complete authority for the active maintenance of our
world services and thereby made the Conference-excepting for any change
in the Twelve Traditions or in Article 12 of the Conference Charter-the
actual voice and the effective conscience for our whole Society. |
| III |
As
a traditional means of creating and maintaining a clearly defined
working relation between the groups, the Conference, the A.A. General
Service Board and its several service corporations, staffs, committees,
and executives, and of thus insuring their effective leadership, it is
here suggested that we endow each of these elements of world service
with a traditional "Right of Decision." |
| IV |
Throughout our
Conference structure, we ought to maintain at all responsible levels a
traditional "Right of Participation, " taking care that each
classification or group of our world servants shall be allowed a voting
representation in reasonable proportion to the responsibility that each
must discharge. |
| V |
Throughout our world service structure, a traditional "Right
of Appeal" ought to prevail, thus assuring us that minority opinion
will be heard and that petitions for the redress of personal grievances
will be carefully considered. |
| VI |
On behalf of A.A. as a
whole, our General Service Conference has the principal responsibility
for the maintenance of our world services, and it traditionally has the
final decision respecting large matters of general policy and finance.
But the Conference also recognizes that the chief initiative and the
active responsibility in most of these matters should be exercised
primarily by the trustee members of the Conference when they act among
themselves as the General Service Board of Alcoholics Anonymous. |
| VII |
The
Conference recognizes that the Charter and the Bylaws of the General
Service Board are legal instruments: that the trustees are thereby
fully empowered to manage and conduct all of the world service affairs
of Alcoholics Anonymous. |
| VIII |
The trustees of the
General Service Board act in two primary capacities: (a)With respect to
the larger matters of over-all policy and finance, they and their
primary committee directly manage these affairs. (B)But with respect to
our separately incorporated and constantly active services, the
relation of the trustees is mainly that of full stock ownership and of
custodial oversight which they exercise through their ability to elect
all directors of these entities. |
| IX |
Good service leaders,
together with sound and appropriate methods of choosing them, are at
all levels indispensable for our future functioning and safety. The
primary world service leadership once exercised by the founders of A.A.
must necessarily be assumed by the trustees of the General Service
Board of Alcoholics Anonymous. |
| X |
Every service
responsibility should be matched by an equal service authority-the
scope of such authority to be always well defined whether by tradition,
by resolution, by specific job description, or by appropriate charters
and bylaws. |
| XI |
While the trustees hold final responsibility for A.A.'s world
service administration, they should always have the assurance of the
best possible standing committees, corporate service directors,
executives , staffs, and consultants. Therefore, the composition of
these underlying committees and service boards, the personal
qualifications of their members, the manner of their induction into
service, the systems of their rotation, the way in which they are
related to each other, the special rights and duties of their
executives, staffs, and consultants, together with a proper basis for
the financial compensation of these special workers, will always be
matters for serious care and concern. |
| XII |
General
Warranties of the Conference: In all the proceedings, the General
Service Conference shall observe the spirit of the A.A. Tradition,
taking great care that the Conference never becomes the seat of
perilous wealth or power; that sufficient operating funds plus an ample
reserve , be its prudent financial principle; that none of the
Conference members shall ever be placed in a position of unqualified
authority over any of the others; that all important decisions be
reached by discussion, vote, and whenever possible, by substantial
unanimity; that no Conference action ever be personally punitive or an
incitement to public controversy; that, though the Conference may act
for the service of Alcoholics Anonymous, it shall never perform any
acts of government; and that, like the Society of Alcoholics Anonymous
which it serves, the Conference itself will always remain democratic in
thought and action. |
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Copyright © A.A. World Services, Inc. |
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If you are looking for
information about A.A. meetings in a certain area, please see our Intergroup page for
information on how to contact the local Intergroup office for that
area. |
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"I am responsible...
When anyone, anywhere,
reaches out for help,
I want
the hand of A.A.
always to be there,
And for that,
I am responsible." |
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