April, 2021
In my March Elf report I mentioned some questions I had regarding the General Service Board and how our GSC contributions were utilized. I wrote a letter to Paul K., CFO for the board, asking these questions. Paul wrote me back and was able to clarify the issues. The first question I had was why our additional voluntary contribution going to last year’s conference as per Paul’s letter to the fellowship requesting contributions. Paul responded that the original letter contained a typo, reading “2020” instead of “2021.” He apologized for the error and assured me that our additional contribution would be applied to this year’s conference as we intended. I also asked Paul about the direction to make checks payable to the General Service Board as opposed to the General Service Conference as we have done in the past, as recent as 2015. I expressed that there was more confidence our contribution was being directed as we intended when we wrote a check to the conference as opposed to our contribution going into the GSB “general fund.” Paul replied that GSO no longer maintains a separate account for the conference and instead uses their accounting software to designate contributions to the conference. Again, he assured me that as long as I include in the memo of the check “GSC Contribution” that it would not go into the general fund and instead be directed to the conference. While these questions may seem minor in the big picture, I appreciated getting some answers from our GSB and becoming a little better informed.
Our Technology Committee has included me in the loop of their request for proposals from web developers for our new Area 46 website. I have reviewed the committee’s “shortlist” and found all the proposals to be within our budget. Kerri, our Technology Chair, has shared with me their final decision of whom I fully approve and agree we will get the most bang for our buck. Payments will be made over the next few months. I look forward to the launch of our new site.
As reported by Eloy, our Alternate Delegate, the 2021 Service Forum has yet to determine a live venue and may be strictly presented virtually. This decision would have a significant impact on the cost of the event. At any rate, the $500 seed money has not yet been dispersed and remains in our Allotted Funds.
In service,
Christoph, Area 46 Treasurer