Donations

Recently, someone made a sizable donation to our intergroup and specified that the money go toward a public information campaign we are doing—bus ads. My question is: Should we have a policy on directed contributions? Our intergroup did not announce a fundraising drive for the bus ads. The person making the donation just decided to help pay for them. I am grateful for the generosity, but I can see how allowing an individual to earmark his or her donation for a particular segment of our budget could potentially cause trouble.

Does the Board of Trustees have any kind of policy or guidelines on designated donations?

The OA Board of Trustees maintains two designated funds, the Professional Exhibits Fund and the Delegate Support Fund. Donations can be made to these funds specifically, and money in these funds may be used only for their specific purposes, as stated in the Board Reference Manual: “Targeted donations will be accepted only when the Board of Trustees has established a special fund or as directed by the World Service Business Conference” [Section IV-Finances, B-4, 3].

If your intergroup receives funds that are designated for something the intergroup doesn’t want to fund, the money may be returned. Those decisions would be made by group conscience and handled with kindness.

The intergroup could also create a policy stating that designated funds may be used as “designated” only until that particular project is completed. The remaining funds would then be added to the general fund or returned to the member.

The reason for limits on the amount one member may donate is so that no power to direct the intergroup is given to the member donating the money. The OA Twelve and Twelve states, “If we accept . . . too much from one member, we become less than free ourselves. We may become dependent upon the money being donated and never learn to take responsibility and pay our share. The need to maintain good relations with the donor diverts attention from our primary purpose. Meanwhile, the donor who is paying OA’s way might naturally expect to have a voice in our decisions. The contributor of large amounts might well feel he or she has a right to dominate the group. This spells trouble, because our ultimate authority is a loving God as expressed in our group conscience” (p. 162).

— Members of the Board of Trustees provide answers to Ask-It Basket questions