Mid-Term Report 2017 - Jul-Dec

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Chair’s Report (Dave I.)

January 16, 2018

Dear FA Members:

As always, the World Service Board and its various committees have been working hard to serve our fellowship. Below is a brief summary of their work since the June business convention. Please be sure to look through this report in its entirety.

Here is a glimpse into some of the enormous efforts of the committee chairs and their respective subcommittees:

• The Frontier Resource calls have been expanded to a monthly schedule, with call times accommodating all parts of the globe, focusing on concrete suggestions and encouragement to help frontier members learn that contented abstinence and fellowship are possible.
• The Meeting Effectiveness, Safety & Accessibility (MESA) subcommittee is working on strengthening the Meeting Health Position job description to provide more information on the duties of the position.
• Our Public Information committee designed an electronic slide presentation specifically for the healthcare professional audience. It was successfully piloted at Southwest General Health Center in Middleburg Heights, OH to over thirty physicians and healthcare providers.
• A new Hebrew-language AdWords Campaign was launched on August 7, 2018. So far, we have received 6,367 clicks to the FA site and Hebrew speakers have seen our FA banner over 160,000 times.
• Our PI committee also created an FA Calendar Announcement Resource Spreadsheet that has led to many new meeting announcements in free online local and national event posting sites. Currently, it includes over 650 sites for locations spanning the globe.
• Our connection committee is hoping to launch a new section in our magazine that focuses on our Frontier members. They would love to hear stories of how folks work the program from afar. If you or anyone you are in touch with have experience, strength and hope around recovery on the Frontier, please share your stories with us! The connection committee is immensely grateful for your stories and continues to welcome submission stories from all other members.
• FA Frontier Committee created a mission statement: 1) To make it clear for every frontier member, regardless of circumstances, how recovery from the disease of food addiction is possible; 2) To highlight the resources available to recovering frontier members for building a local fellowship and for getting involved in service; 3) To raise awareness amongst the fellowship as a whole of the wide variety of challenges facing frontier members.
• Our literature committee continues to upgrade all our literature. They have completed a 20 Questions revision and will be submitting a motion for the 2018 World Service Conference.
• Since July, the Traditions Committee provided opinions on three new issues of concern to FA members, including whether it is advisable to pay for advertising on Facebook, apply for a grant for reduced meeting rent, or use free meeting space provided by an FA member. Twelve inquiries concerned issues previously dealt with, including FA tables at shopping malls, AA banners at FA meetings, and political petitions at FA meetings. Nine inquiries were referred to other WSI Committees, mostly concerning the revised meeting format.
• Our office committee and their two amazing staff continue to do a remarkable job of taking care of the fellowship behind the scenes, being available and responding to member requests, keeping the website up to date, and helping organize the details for the upcoming convention. They are in the process of moving the e-book version of the FA Book to Amazon.

Our June business convention is just around the corner. If you can afford the time and have the resources, please join us Friday, June 1 through Sunday, June 2, 2018 at our usual location in Danvers, Massachusetts. I especially want to bring to your attention to the Friday afternoon (June 1) Forum that will take place at the same location as the Convention from 1 pm to 4:15 pm. The Forum is an exchange of ideas about recovery and service. FA members must register for the Business Convention to attend the Forum. I can’t express strongly

enough how valuable this Forum will be for all who attend. You won’t regret arranging your travel schedules to participate in this gathering.

Check our website for information on how to register. This is a wonderful opportunity to participate in our growing worldwide fellowship.

Easy does it, everyone. It is an amazing blessing to have this program that provides such stability and strength amidst our changing and challenging lives.

With Gratitude, Dave I.,

WSI Chair

OFFICER REPORTS

Vice Chair Report (Jamie M.)

As Vice Chair I participate in the WSB Executive Committee monthly meetings and the WSB monthly meetings and provide input for executive decisions, help to committee chairs when necessary, support for the WSB Chair in the ongoing WSB meetings and various board issues.

In addition to WSB issues, I offer ongoing support to the chair of the Office Committee in matters regarding the FA office and updates to the FA Documents. I also sit on the Finance Committee, in which capacity, I serve as the representative of the WSB on finance issues.

I chair the Personnel Committee, which helps ensure that employees and independent contractors for the organization are being managed appropriately and constructively. We meet to determine appropriate salaries and policies regarding salary.

I also serve as the chair the Inquiry Response Committee (IRC) and help to communicate with Inquirers regarding various issues or concerns in or about FA and I assist with fielding and answering inquiries to the FA Office regarding various issues.

WSB Inquiry Response Committee (Jamie M., IRC Chair)

The Inquiry Response Committee (IRC) is responsible for handling inquiries made to the FA World Service Board or to the FA World Service Office. Responses are made by telephone to inquiries received from both FA members and non-members. An IRC member attempts to reach the inquirer within two weeks of the initial inquiry. The IRC consists of four FA members with at least seven years of abstinence and the WSB secretary who serves as an ex-officio member of the committee.

The committee often submits Traditions related issues to the Traditions Review Committee (TRC) and meeting related issues to the Meeting Effectiveness, Safety and Accessibility Committee (MESA) for review and response. If necessary, the IRC may ask a member of the TRC or the MESA to make the phone call to the inquirer.

Sample of a recent inquiry and response:

Inquiry: We received quite a few inquiries regarding clapping after shares at FA meetings. When the new meeting format was approved the sentence in Discipline 6 caused some confusion for some groups who had interpreted it to mean that there should be no clapping during the meeting:

Response: We had many separate discussions about the confusion and let them know that we had received many of the same inquiries because Discipline 6, which mentions clapping in the new format, lends itself to misinterpretation. We explained that it was not meant to stop applause after a qualification. We encouraged each group to continue to express their appreciation for the person qualifying at the meetings by clapping. The reference to clapping is meant to suggest only that we don’t clap for the individual shares which come after the qualification. The message about the gifts of recovery is important to hear and it’s important to know that these gifts are not accomplishments or achievements. That being said, it is nice for the group to show appreciation to the person who qualifies.

The meetings are free, by group conscience, to change the wording of this discipline in their format to avoid confusion. Below is a recommended revision from the Writing Committee of the WSI Literature Committee.

“Physical, mental, and spiritual well-being are the gifts of living in recovery. As they are not achievements or accomplishments, we ask that you refrain from clapping when members share. Clapping in response to a qualification, however, is a sign of gratitude.”

WSI COMMITTEE REPORTS

Bylaws Committee (Marti Mc., Chair)

In September the Intergroups and Chapter were sent reminder notices to announce to their fellowship the process for submission of motions for the 2018 World Service Business Convention. The motion submission form for proposed motions is posted on the FA website.

One board-generated motion has been approved by the Board Motions Review Committee at this time. This motion proposes an increase in the amount an individual member of the fellowship may donate directly to WSI per calendar year and an increase in the one-time bequest limit.

The board manuals are in the process of being updated.

Office Committee (Margaret H., Chair)

• Continued with search-engine optimization to make our website more visible on the internet, including edits of web pages to incorporate commonly searched words about food addiction.
• Completed periodic cleanup of user database, deleting inactive and duplicate accounts.
• Assisted EAI with its online registration for the November service group support weekend.
• Began the process of moving the e-book version of the FA Book to Amazon.
• Negotiated a contract with a new fulfillment company, which will process and ship all of our literature orders and connection subscriptions. Contract to be finalized in early 2018.
• Set up online registration for the 2018 business convention, including, as we did a year ago, an online application form for WSB positions, and a mechanism for the online submission of business motions.
• Processed work orders from the WSB involving mass emails to FA members and changes to the FA website.
• Completed “forced” phone number formatting so that all phone numbers entered into the database are entered in a consistent format.
• Updated German-language pages of FA website.
• Handled daily phone calls, email inquiries, literature orders, and accounting tasks.

Service Group Support Committee (SGSC) (Paul B., Chair)

• The SGSC continues to support Intergroups, Chapters and Local Service Groups with a bi-monthly conference call on the 3rd Sunday every other month from 3:30-5:00 pm EST.
• The SGSC has completed a document titled “Local Service Group Guidelines and Recommendations” which is posted to Foddaddicts.org under Local Service Groups
• The SGSC core committee meets bimonthly to discuss agenda items
• The purpose of this committee is to provide more support for local service groups requesting it. The additional support can be in the form of providing assistance with reach out activities, or other PI related activities. The committee will provide an FA member with an experienced FA member to assist the LSG requesting support

Convention Planning Committee (Ebony F., Chair)

2018 Business Convention

• Planning for the 2018 World Service Business Convention, taking place from June 1- 3, 2018 at the Doubletree by Hilton Hotel in Danvers, Massachusetts, has been underway for the past several months.
• In order to better plan for the event, online convention registration, including meal plan purchase, will close March 31. No meal plans will be available for purchase onsite, but onsite registration will be open (this will include a late fee).
• Registration will open on Friday afternoon at approx. 11am.
• This year we are excited to bring back the Forum which will take place on Friday, June 1 from 1:00-4:00pm. The Forum gives us all the opportunity to share what has worked and what has not worked in reaching the newcomer, starting and maintaining healthy meetings, and maintaining our own recovery from food addiction. Please keep the Friday, June 1st Forum start time in mind when you plan your travel to the 2018 Business Convention.
• Additional information regarding the tentative convention schedule, a sample food plan, and transportation and lodging information will be posted on our website in the coming weeks and will be emailed to all convention registrants. If you have any questions about the convention, please visit the FA website regularly or contact convention@foodaddicts.org

2018 Fellowship Convention

• On October 12-14 2018, food addicts from all over the world will gather to attend the 6th FA Fellowship Convention. The convention will be held in Tampa, Florida at the Saddlebrook Resort. At our last convention in 2016 was attended by over 500 fellows! The Fellowship Convention continues to be an opportunity for fellows from around the world to come together to build community and connection and to strengthen their recovery through shared experience, strength and hope.
• Plans are also underway to determine the date and location of the next Fellowship Convention.

Public Information Committee (Annie H., Chair)

HEALTH CARE SUBCOMMITTEE:

Health Care:

• Designed an electronic slide presentation specifically for the healthcare professional audience. It was successfully piloted at Southwest General Health Center in Middleburg Heights, OH to over thirty physicians and healthcare providers.
• Mailed 5,518 Health Care Brochures to FA meetings upon request.
• FA participated in the Presbyterian Columbia CME Cardio Summit Lunch and Learn.
• FA participated in 4th Annual Cardiovascular Summit with several hundred MD's in attendance.

Media Outreach:

Made 349 contacts, had 23 personal responses, and had 19 interviews (3 television, 8 radio, 8 print,) since July 2017. Examples:

Television:

• ABC News, Philadelphia, PA (11/22/17)

“For some, Thanksgiving indulgence triggers food addiction”

• Fox San Antonio (9/4/17)

“Food addicts take control of their lives in 12 steps”

Radio:

• US – Stations in Minneapolis MN, Albany NY, Garden City, NY, Cincinnati OH, Toledo OH, Roanoke, VA, Portland OR, www.radioiowa.com
• Melbourne Australia 1116 SEN “Evenings with Finey”

Print:

• “These NJ women explain what it was like to be addicted to food.”

Townsqaremedia.com

• “Abstinence and 12 steps: recovering food addicts reveal how they overcame addiction”

Stuff.co.nz

• “Food addiction: When eating becomes a destructive illness.”

Herald Sun, Australia

• “How Romy overcomes her bulimia with the anonymous addicts”

Germany

• “New Survey Shows Solution for People Struggling with Food or Weight Problem.” Giving Times, UK
• “Food addict opens up to the Call & Post.”

Cleveland, OH

• “Food Addicts in Recovery Anonymous sheds light on food addiction.”

Eaglenews online. Syracuse, NY

Weblinks:

• New Hebrew-language AdWords Campaign was launched on August 7th. So far, we have received 6,367 clicks to the FA site and Hebrew speakers have seen our FA banner over 160,000 times.
• Creation of the FA Calendar Announcement Resource Spreadsheet has led to many new meeting announcements in free online local and national event posting sites. Currently our Calendar Resource Spreadsheet includes over 650 sites for locations spanning the globe. (click on link to view). Spreadsheet includes tabs with instructional videos and more!
• We continue to expand our global College Healthcare and Residential life professionals Database. In the last half year, over 120 colleges have been sent emails reaching over 900 College Healthcare and Residential life professionals. We currently have 988 colleges in our database.

Statistical Highlights for Weblinks Committee:

New college website links	2
New non-college website links	96
New blog posts	28
FA website visits from worldwide colleges (that list the FA website as a resource)	90
FA website visits from all other websites (that list the FA website as a resource)	17,500

 

FA Adwords Campaign:

Total clicks to the FA website originating from AdWords	174,529
Total Impressions (when the FA website comes up in a Google search)	4,661,500
Average Click-Through Rate	3.74%

 

Blogwatch:

Year to Date

60 posts to sites

28 were accepted and appear on-line

Totals since inception of Blogwatch

948 posts to sites

477 were accepted and appear on-line

 

PI Tools:

• Helped to finalize text and graphics on the Health Care Provider slide presentation. Currently developing guidelines and talking points for presenters using feedback from pilot presentations.
• Continuing to edit and update PI Kit and online PI resources, adding volunteer and follow-up forms for Health Fairs and Information sessions.
• Collected input from Maine Chapter, EAI, and WAI on ways to standardize online guidelines for PI representatives.
• Developing an online and print version of “rack tracker “ form to help coordinate meetings’ “sponsor- a- rack” activities.
• Worked with UK fellowship to develop press release including survey results, to use as template.
• Coordinated graphic presentation of updated survey data for eventual presentation on FA website.

WAI PI Committee:

• Participated in 13 events sponsored by colleges, employee organizations, medical institutions, and community wellness groups
• Participated in a panel discussion entitled, "Fighting Addiction," sponsored by the Senior Commission on Aging (San Leandro, CA)
• Met with three physicians in the San Francisco Health Network to prepare for a SFHN quarterly providers meeting, the subject of which is obesity. The presentation is in January 2018.
• Is preparing an FA presentation at the request of the Associate Director of the Alcohol and Drug Studies Program (City College of San Francisco) for students in the drug and alcohol certificate program which addresses every form of addiction, including food addiction.
• Is continuing to collaborate with the WAI SGSC, Weblinks, and Blogwatch to spread the word through public information. Community Outreach and WAI SGSC meet during designated committee time at monthly intergroup meetings to share reports, receive training, and network.
• Is working with WAI SGSC to share resources with fellows from eastern Australia who have reached out for help with expanding their own PI efforts. Support includes email exchanges and conference calls.

EAI PI Committee:

• We started an early call prior to the start of the monthly PI Committee as a way for EAI PI reps not in the Boston area to call in and get guidance on their PI outreach efforts. The early call begins 30 minutes prior to the regular committee meeting and it regularly has 18-20 PI reps dialing in.
• Let’s Talk About Food. FA’s participation in this event expanded this year. On Saturday Sept 23rd we had an all-day booth in Copley Square in Boston plus a one- hour info session in the afternoon. The weather was nice this year and we gave out 600 plus FA trifolds. Two people who learned about FA at this event have come into program.
• We are currently working on an application and process for EAI meetings with limited resources to apply for funds to assist with their PI-outreach efforts such as booth fees at health fairs, info session costs, books to place in libraries etc… This project should be completed in February.

Maine Chapter PI Committee:

• Updated 211 Maine Listing
• Represented FA at health fairs at Cancer Survivors Day, Spectrum Generations and Portsmouth Naval Shipyard
• Updated FA Website with Maine information for various PI tools including faith community and healthcare letters
• Added Maine meetings to Eventbrite
• Conducted 2 FA information sessions at Lewiston and Portsmouth

Twelfth Step Committee (Paula K., Chair)

Frontier Committee

The Frontier Committee consists of the Frontier Resource Team, E-Communication Team, and the Phone Lists Team.

1. Mission Statement

After consultation with all levels of the FA fellowship, including individual frontier members, members of the Frontier “Think Tank”, and members of the FA World Service Board, the frontier committee has created the following mission statement:

It is the goal of the FA Frontier Committee:

1. To make it clear for every frontier member, regardless of circumstances, how recovery from the disease of food addiction is possible.
2. To highlight the resources available to recovering frontier members, for building a local fellowship, and for getting involved in service.
3. To raise awareness amongst the fellowship as a whole, of the wide variety of challenges facing frontier members.
4. Raising awareness among the FA fellowship

The committee offered presentations to WAI, EAI, and the Service Group Support Weekend, in order to raise awareness about life on the FA frontier.

1. Frontier-friendly terminology

At the recommendation of FA members living outside of the U.S., the committee has recommended that articles featured in connection magazine include weights in both lbs and kg, in order to reflect our global readership.

2. Frontier Resource Calls

The Frontier Resource calls have been expanded to a monthly schedule, with call times accommodating all parts of the globe. Focusing on subjects such as attending AA meetings and using the telephone, the calls provide concrete suggestions and encouragement to help frontier members learn that contented abstinence and fellowship are possible.

Gratitude in Action

• The Gratitude in Action (GIA) team produced three newsletters in 2017.
• The committee plans on producing four editions in 2018 now that a clearer production schedule is in place.
• The focus remains on inspiring FA members to do service, with special emphasis on supporting those in service positions, and those considering FA service.
• If you have experience with electronic newsletters and would like to join the 12th Step Committee Gratitude in Action Team, please contact us at 12step@foodaddicts.org.

Meeting Effectiveness, Safety, & Accessibility (MESA)

The Meeting Effectiveness, Safety, & Accessibility team is currently working on several different issues:

• Strengthening the Meeting Health Position job description to provide more information on the duties of the position – particularly at the business meeting and for the soon to be implemented meeting health inventory by providing an inventory checklist. We are also looking at ways to communicate with the MHP’s to provide assistance as needed – possibly by implementing conference calls and other regular correspondence.
• Developing a protocol/guidance for the meetings to follow when dealing with a disruptive member at a meeting. The guidance has been drafted and is awaiting final approval before dissemination to the fellowship.
• We’ve addressed inquiries related to meeting formats and other questions as needed from the fellowship as it relates to meeting health.

connection Committee (Adrienne P., Chair)

Connection Committee is currently hoping to launch a new section in our magazine that focuses on our Frontier members. We'd love to hear stories of how folks work the program from afar. If you or anyone you are in touch with have experience, strength and hope around recovery on the Frontier, please share your stories with us! Thanks so much, and we welcome all stories from all other members as well.

Literature Committee (LC) (Jennifer N., Chair)

Writing and Editing Subcommittee

• Completed Revisions for the Twenty Questions and submitted a motion for Conference Approval
• Working on a new Pamphlet: Food Addiction and the FA Solution- test driving it with Newcomers
• Reviewing Anorexia/Bulimia Pamphlet
• Beginning design discussions on a Pamphlet that would include the first two chapters of the FA book

Audio Recording Subcommittee

• Identified and invited speakers for 2018 WSCB
• Audio Book Subcommittee has identified several companies to work with and will be meeting with them to determine who we will move forward with.

Translation Subcommittee

• Have identified a translator and publisher for German version of FA book and pamphlets.
• Working with China to determine translation path for literature, currently using local members for informal translations.

Operations Subcommittee

• Obtained Word Document of Book Manuscript and will work with the Office to determine where to keep the document.

Traditions Review Committee (Patty R., Chair)

The Traditions Review Committee (TRC) is comprised of 7 members plus the Chair, with the Bylaws Committee Chair serving as ex-officio. Meeting bi-monthly, the committee discusses and provides responses to questions submitted by FA members to traditions@foodaddicts.org about situations occurring in FA groups. The TRC is not a governing body but reflects the experiences of committee members and the discussions of its meetings.

Since July 2017, the TRC has contributed written opinions for the GIA newsletter covering issues that might commonly arise in FA meetings, continued to edit the Traditions index for publication, placed the 12 Traditions of FA and AA’s 12 Traditions (Long Form) on the FA website, and provided input to the slide presentation to health care professionals.

In addition to discussing current submissions, the TRC refers to its historical index of 172+ inquiries to provide responses about issues that had been considered during FA’s history. This was a very helpful resource for providing responses more quickly without taking the Committee’s time to re-consider similar issues repeatedly. Since July, those inquiries included:

• setting up information tables at shopping malls
• additions to the meeting format disciplines
• displaying AA banners at FA meetings
• developing a phone list just for teens and twenties
• individuals using FA members as research subjects
• political petitions at FA meetings.

Nine inquiries were referred to other WSI Committees, the Inquiry Response Committee or the Meeting Effectiveness, Safety and Health Committee. These mostly concerned questions about the meeting format.

Three opinions were issued by the full TRC since July. Several other submissions are still in the discussion stage but not yet resolved. Here are the completed opinions:

1. Paid Advertising on Facebook
2. Applying for a Grant for Reduced Rent
3. A Member Offering Free Meeting Space

1) Paid Advertising on Facebook Issue:

A PI rep from a meeting was asked to check with the Traditions Committee about advertising Food Addicts in Recovery Anonymous on Facebook. The PI Committee reportedly supports this type of advertising but the TRC has also been asked to “weigh in”. Facebook ads are paid, not attributed to any individual, and do not allow typical FB responses such as “like, share, comment or follow”.

Response:

In a previous TRC inquiry it was agreed that the Traditions are not compromised if an FA group chooses to pay for advertising using Seventh Tradition funds if the ad is simply a factual statement about the program intended to attract rather than actively solicit the still suffering food addict (in keeping with Tradition 11). The TRC also had considered a group advertising FA on pharmacy prescription bags. The TRC unanimously agreed that such advertising would not be in line with the principles of Tradition 11.

The TRC researched Facebook ads and found that an ad buyer can target a select audience by age, location, interests, etc., so that if a FB user is in the targeted audience, they will see the ad on the right-hand side of their screen. For example, if someone searches Facebook for diets, they would then see an FA ad.

The TRC unanimously agreed that this seems to be promotion rather than attraction. Committee members found that this type of advertising is “irritating,” “unsought,” “unwanted,” “smacks of promotion,” “sounds like it’s pitching something.” It is

different from a newspaper ad because people are “targeted and individualized.” This seems to be directly contravening to the principle of attraction not promotion as presented in Tradition 11.

It was also noted that because these ads can feel intrusive and irritating, it could affect FA negatively by creating bad feeling toward the program, which goes against Tradition 1, “Our common welfare should come first…” and Tradition 4, “…except in matters affecting other groups or FA as a whole.” Ultimately, the TRC consensus interpretation is that purchasing Facebook advertising is not in line with the FA Traditions (specifically 11, 1 and 4).

2) Grant Application for Reduced Rent

Issue:

A meeting contacted the TRC to ask whether it is in line with traditions to apply for a grant to request a reduction in rent.

Response:

When the TRC met to discuss this issue, we were all in agreement that actively applying for financial support from an outside source directly infringes on FA’s 7th Tradition (FA is fully self-supporting). We also agreed that with the questions asked in this particular grant there is potential for the FA group being seen as affiliated with the city, which encroaches on FA’s 6th Tradition of non-affiliation with any outside enterprise. The TRC is conscious of the difficulties that could be involved in finding a place to meet but feel confident that there are other options that the group could explore (e.g., community centers or hospitals).

3) A Member Offering Free Meeting Space

Issue:

A member who owns a small commercial building would like to make the building available for a weekly FA meeting and made an inquiry to the TRC about a few questions and concerns that had arisen around this offer. The member stated that they believe that the potential FA meeting would be in line with the FA Traditions, would be self-supporting, and seemed to have had positive response from multiple members in the area with at least six months of continuous abstinence. Although the weekly meeting would be in a room in their office/retail building, the member stated that there would be no affiliation with their business of owning and operating the building. The building would be otherwise closed at the proposed time and only available to FA. On the initial inquiry email, the intent was to offer the space rent free as service to the FA meeting. In a subsequent email, it was clarified that that the space has since been leased out to another tenant during business hours and the member suggested that if the FA meeting (which will be held outside of business hours) must pay rent due to the Seventh Tradition, the FA meeting could pay $40/month to this tenant. The member is about to register and post the meeting to the website and request the meeting start-up kit but agreed to await further instructions.

Response:

The TRC reviewed the inquiry and recommends that the meeting group find a different location for the potential meeting that is not financially connected to the FA members in any way. The TRC appreciates the intent of the member, as finding an appropriate and affordable meeting space for a newer meeting that is entirely independent of FA members and their homes and businesses can be a challenging task.

Although the member attempted to allay potential Tradition 6 and 7 issues with assurances as to a lack of affiliation with FA and by inserting the member’s tenant as the rent collector, the following questions came up: What would be the impact if, sometime in the future, the FA member who owns the building left program? What would happen if the FA member had a dispute with his fellows? What if the new tenant decided to change their work times or no longer agreed to allow the FA meeting to use the space?

The TRC believes that any of these and other scenarios may raise a Tradition 1 or 5 related issues where the welfare of the fellowship as a whole and the welfare of the newcomer are paramount to the autonomy of the meeting. Although the member does not believe there to be an actual affiliation issue, the TRC believes on a best practices basis, a member’s business having a landlord/tenant (or subtenant) relationship with an FA meeting (whether financial or not) could be easily perceived as a Tradition 6 issue.

Although this is not the primary concern in this inquiry, as a reminder, it has been identified in prior TRC responses that meetings accepting outside contributions in the form of free space conflicts with the principle of the Seventh Tradition. Should an FA meeting facility not accept rent, the FA meeting can either make a payment in a fair amount directly to the facility who can then donate the funds to a charity of their choice or the FA meeting could donate in the name of the owner of the facility to reduce the administration.