Trailblazers Minutes 03/31/19

Posted on April 14, 2019 by Secretary Couple

Minutes by: Lance icw Quin

Participants:

Lance & Quin
David & Kapiko
Stefan
Dave & Noni
Dwayne & Mandy
Gretchen & Jason

Treasurer’s Report:

Previous Balance: $581.79
Donations: $63
PayPal Fees: -$3.45
Current Balance: $641.34

Treasurer’s Report was adopted unanimously.

Old Business:

February Meeting Minutes

- The February Meeting Minutes were adopted unanimously.

PayPal:

- The treasurer couple is still having trouble transferring funds for reimbursement and donations.
  - Paypal is asking to confirm the ID on the account.
- Quin will reach out to Ruth & Debbie for their advice on the situation.

New Business:

Delegate Couple:

- The Outreach Committee reached out to the group to select a Delegate Couple for the Annual Business Meeting at the Annual Convention.
- David & Kapiko volunteered to be the group’s Delegate Couple.
- It was voted unanimously to appoint David & Kapiko as the group’s Delegate Couple.

Paypal:

It was proposed that the group invest in a virtual address for the Paypal account, to lower the audit risk to the account.
The topic was tabled so that pricing information could be acquired for an informed decision.

Script Change:

It was proposed that the leader script be changed to include examples of triggers to member’s sobriety within the section that cautions what appears on our screens.
The topic was tabled for time and so that the proposer could write out the proposed script change.

Trailblazers Minutes 02/24/19

Posted on March 17, 2019 by Secretary Couple

Business Meeting: 02.24.19

Minutes by: Lance icw Quin

Participants:

– Shawna & Gunter

– Lance & Quin

– Kapiko & David

– Yemi & Stefan

Treasurer’s Report:

Previous Balance: $523.06
Donations: $63.00
PayPal Fees: -$4.27
Current Balance: $589.79

*Note the Treasurer Couple want to transfer $189.79 to WSO, but were experiencing difficulty with the Paypalsystem. They will try again after the meeting.

Old Business:

PayPal

o It was voted unanimously that Quin would be putting her name on the PayPal account for the time being.

▪ Quin to contact Ruth and Debbie to get full information to transfer/ set up PayPal account in her name.

o There is an issue that we have discovered that the tax id on the PayPal account has been WSO’s since Trailblazers was founded. They’ve recently denied us being able to use their tax id prior to this discovery. We will need to discuss this with the WSO.

o The idea was floated that we consider discontinuing using PayPal.

Script Change

o Shawna presented a proposed script change to make it easier to read the leader’s script, this focused in the area of the weekly topics.

o It was voted unanimously to approve Shawna’s proposed script changes, which will be applied to the leader’s script.

New Business:

Hand-in-Hand

o The Hand-in-Hand newsletter is in need of a new publisher.

o It was agreed to announce at the announcements portion of the Sunday meeting.

o It was voted to add the information to the Trailblazer’s website.

International Speaker Meeting:

o There is a new monthly speaker meeting the first Saturday of the month.

o It was agreed that it will be announced at the announcements portion of the Sunday meeting and via email to all Trailblazer members.

▪

https://recovering-couples.org/event/201801101-rca-international-story-share/2019-04-06/

Trailblazers Minutes 30/12/18

Posted on January 10, 2019 by Secretary Couple

Present:

Yemi irw Stefan

Quin irw Lance

Erik irw Marija

Kapiko irw David

ITEMS UP FOR DISCUSSION:

Welcome Couple – David and Kapiko

Will get with Shawna and Gunter for the newcomer welcome letter.

Treasurer’s Report:

Previous Balance: $861.40

Received $124.00 in donations

Paypal Fees $7.48

Newcomer Packet qty 1: $10.66

Current Balance: $967.26

Old Business

Paypal Account:

As of 12/30/18 – no volunteers to take over paypal.

We still need a solution for the Paypal account which is still on another member’s name.

Still pending response from WSO regarding using their EIN for an account.

Motion to pay towards Ruth & Debbies additional tax fees.

Passed: 8 yes
Need to ask Ruth and Debbie about tax liability.

Motion to donate any amount over $500.00 to WSO ($467.26) until financial transition is resolved.

Passed: 5 yes, 2 abstain, 1 no.

To help members be willing to own the paypal account, voted to get info on costs / taxes from Ruth and Debbie. Would like to get something written up as a description to provide to whomever takes over the paypal account if WSO replies with a no.

Group to continue to announce paypal account opening during meeting announcements. Officers will ensure this is offered during the meetings.

Zoom Account:

Effective January 6, 2019, we will switch to RCA WSO’s Zoom account number: 965 190 161.

Quin submitted request to cancel Trailblazers paid zoom account on 12/30/18.

The old paid zoom account is paid through Feb 2019 and will remain effective through this time.

Shawna and Gunter will log into the old Zoom ID to tell any stragglers to find the meeting at the new zoom ID.

Trailblazers Minutes 25/11/18

Posted on December 16, 2018January 10, 2019 by Secretary Couple

Present:

Yemi irw Stefan

Quin irw Lance

Shawna

David

Gretchen irw Jason

ITEMS UP FOR DISCUSSION:

Switch to RCA World Service Zoom account to save $107.00 / mo

Discussion: need to notify group members ahead of time for move.

Unanimous vote to switch to RCA World Service Zoom account.

- E-mail new zoom room number to all members
- Post on website
- Add to meeting announcements

Treasurer’s Report:

Previous Balance: $1,602.91

Received $64.00 in donations

Donated $800.00 to world service

Paypal Fees $5.51

Current Balance: $861.40

Old Business

Paypal Account:

We still need a solution for the Paypal account which is still on another member’s name.

Background

Our current dilemma is our current PayPal conflicts with another tax exempt PayPal account that Ruth and Debbie opened so they are no longer able to do that service and requested that we find someone else who can provide a Paypal account (or another way for people to make donations).

Ruth offered to use her name and address on the RCA-WSO PayPal account. According to Gretchin this will not be possible because that one will be linked to the person who opened it.

Shawna & Günter contacted RCA-WSO to ask if they would open a Paypal account for Trailblazers under the RCA-WSO Tax number.
- World Service wanted to make an informed decision, so they will investigate whether having another Paypal account on their number will affect them in any way.
- They also expressed concern about setting a precedent; the other Zoom meetings might want to also use their Tax ID.
- WSO will discuss and take a vote in December to see if they can support us in this way.

A tax ID uses an individual person’s name on creation. Concerns of anonymity for other members.

Could there be a private organization setup for RCATrailblazers?
- Gretchen and Jason researched. Found that it would cost a lot to become our own non-profit org. Not feasible.

Discussed being able to mail a check internationally to treasury couple.
- Internationally, no check system. In US, costs $50 to wire transfer internationally. Not cost efficient.

New Business:

World Service Office asked trailblazers to write an article for the hand-in-hand newsletter.

Group to announce about the newsletter at the meeting and secretary to send link to sign up.

Current newsletter and enrolling: http://recovering-couples.org/tools/materialsforcouples/

Archives: http://recovering-couples.org/webdocs/hin/

Couples can submit articles to: articles@recovering-couples.org

Trailblazers Minutes 10/28/18

Posted on November 28, 2018January 10, 2019 by Secretary Couple

Present:

Shawna irw Gunter

Dave irw Noni

Yemi irw Stefan

Quin irw Lance

ITEMS UP FOR DISCUSSION:

Roles available – Treasurer and Co-Secretary

Voted in:

Treasurer – Yemi and Stefan
Shawna and Gunter – Co-Secretary
Lance and Quin – Co-Secretary

Treasurer’s Report:

We have $1,602.91 7th tradition on the Paypal account.

Current annual expenses:

Zoom $107.00.
Website: $155.00

Prudent Reserve:

Group voted to have prudent reserve of $400

Voted to donate $800 to RCA for now. Will discuss further donation once transition complete to bring us to our prudent reserve.

Discussed newcomer packets currently on hand are 15.

Costs $12.00 to send a welcome kit from Europe to US

Paypal Account:

We still need a solution for the Paypal account which is still on another member’s name. Shawna & Günter will contact RCA Inc. and ask their advice. Perhaps they can open an RCA World Service Paypal account for Trailblazers under their organization.

Other groups are under the umbrella of RCA World Service and don’t take a 7th tradition. Concerns about being self-supporting through our own contributions were discussed.

We need to get info from Maureen and Brian on footwork from having RCA do the hosting .

Could there be a private organization setup for RCATrailblazers? Would have to get more information.

Can RCA Trailblazers be listed as an independent business? Need more info

Transfer of Secretary Position

Shawna & Günter will contact Maureen and Brian/Rasmus & Ulla for the login data and all other data that the four of us require as Secretary couples.

Secretary couples need to obtain passwords:

Zoom – Ulla and Rasmus

e-mail / website – Chris and Emma

Trailblazers Minutes 06/24/2018

Posted on July 1, 2018July 1, 2018 by Secretary Couple

Paypall account for trailblazers:

Chris and Emma proposed that trailblazers applied for a charity tax number. Jason and Gretchen volunteered to go further with this. The problem with anonymity will also be cleared with this solution.

Service positions:

– at the moment no volunteers for the co-secretary couple position ( Brian and Maureen will continue in the other co-secretary position)

– position as welcome couple is also open

– position as co-treasure couple: Gunter and Shawna wil ask Nooni and Dave for clarification on process of handing the service position over to them.

ABM in Stockholm: Emma and Chris were planning to go and have volunteered to represent the group at ABM. They declined the financial support.
Script Additions: The suggested additions to the script has been agreed on and Chris and Emma will put it into the script. also the decided disclaimer when non-RCA material is used in the meeting will be added.
Treasure report

Treasury Report RCA-Trailblazers 2018

Financial Statement from Sun. May 27 2017 to Sat. June 24, 2018

Recovering Couples Anonymous

PayPal Account : treasurer@rcatrailblazers.org

Amounts in USD

	Beginning	Ending
Total balance	1,534.42	1,556.82

	Debit	Credit
Donations (plus repayment of book order S&G)
Payment fees	-1.50	23.90
Online payments – Welcome Packets

Trailblazers Minutes 05/27/2018

Posted on June 10, 2018 by Secretary Couple

Following addition to the script was decided: Are there any RCA related announcments? This will replace the link to announcements.

The issues regarding the paypall acount was again debated, and more suggestion to a sollution came up:

1. is it posible to link to the swedish paypall acount? Ulla and Rasmus will look into this.

2. is it possible to link directly to the WSO account. Perhaps this will conflict with the group autonomy? Maureen will look into this and contact the WSO structure board

3. Is it possible to link to Debbie and Ruth business account when they get installed ind their new place? D&R will look into this

At the moment there are available service positions open. To get more attention to this this should be announced at the weekly meetings.

For the upcoming ABM is was decided that the group will support a couple willing to attend the meeting in person with 300 USDollars. An other possibility is to attend the meeting on zoom. Members with experience with these meetings recommend that the group attend in person because a lot of things is happening outside of the zoom meeting.

Last item on the agenda was a debate on the use of material from outside directly in the meeting. Some members were concerned that this would confuse new comers at the meetings. Other members made the point that the meeting needs to have inspiration from the outside to strengthen the group.

– it was decided that when new material is brought in this should be with use of of a disclaimer – this should be put into the script.

Treasury Report RCA-Trailblazers 2018

Financial Statement from Sun. April 29 2017 to Sat. May 26, 2018

Recovering Couples Anonymous

PayPal Account : treasurer@rcatrailblazers.org

Amounts in USD

	Beginning	Ending
Total balance	1,645.03	1,534.42

	Debit	Credit
Donations (+ repayment of order S&G $80)		112.00
Payment fees	-6.43
Online payments – Welcome Packets $140.23	-216.18

Financial Statement from Sun. March 25 2017 to Sat. April 28, 2018

Recovering Couples Anonymous

Amounts in USD

	Beginning	Ending
Total balance	1,542.64	1,645.03

	Debit	Credit
Donations		109.00
Payment fees	-6.61
Online payments	0

Trailblazers Minutes 04/29/2018

Posted on May 1, 2018May 1, 2018 by Secretary Couple

Old business

There were no comments or additions to the last meetings minutes

New business:

Agenda:

New welcome packages: Shawna has sent 3 solutions for the group to vote on
New additions to the script
Paypall
Service positions
Treasury report

Items for next meeting:

Script
Paypall
Servicepositions
World service contribution or other

1) New welcome packages:

Shawna has sent 3 solutions for the group to vote on.
The following solutions are available

Option 1: 20 Newcomer’s Packets (complete – see below) — $60.23.

Option 2: 20 Newcomer Packets without the 12 Step Booklet & Medallions — $22.33

Option 3: 20 Newcomer Packets as option 2 with 40 Medallions (without the 12 Step Booklet) — $33.96

THE GROUP DECIDED ON OPTION 1

2) New additions to the script:

Chris and Emma presented the addition to the script and the thoughts behind. The group decided to keep the topic open until next months meeting for comments. The suggestion is avialable on the website blog: http://rcatrailblazers.org/blog/trailblazers-business-meeting-29th-april-2018/

3) Paypall:

Different solution to the paypall account has been looked in to. The solution using a Money pool is not an option hence it is linked to names and therefore compromises the anonymity of the holder.

Chris and Emma will look into other account solutions

Ulla and Rasmus will look into Danish possibilities and the possibility to link this groups account to a swdish group account. (suggestion from deb & ruth)

4) Service positions:

The position as Welcome Couple is unclear – is was suggested that this position was linked o the treasurer position

From July 2018 following service positions will be open:

Co Secretary Couple (Ulla and Rasmus will step down by end of june, accourding to rotation principle)

Co treasury Couple (Gunter and Shawna will give position to Dave and Noni, when there rotation ends)

5) Treasury Report RCA-Trailblazers 2018

Financial Statement from Sun. March 25 2017 to Sat. April 28, 2018

Recovering Couples Anonymous

Amounts in USD

	Beginning	Ending
Total balance	1,542.64	1,645.03

	Debit	Credit
Donations		109.00
Payment fees	-6.61
Online payments	0

Financial Statement from Sun. Feb 25 2017 to Sat. March 24, 2018

Recovering Couples Anonymous

Amounts in USD

	Beginning	Ending
Total balance	1,486.94	1,542.64

	Debit	Credit
Donations		60.00
Payment fees	-4,30
Online payments	0

Suggestion from Jorge to contribute to RCA world service or other according to tradtions

Trailblazers Minutes 03/25/2018

Posted on April 15, 2018 by Secretary Couple

present were:

Maureen/Brian

Chris

Dave/Noni

Shawna/Gunter

Gretchen/Jason

Old Business:Dave and Noni presented their findings re: paypal account in Canada. Instead of starting a business account, Noni can set up a paypal “pool” in order to receive money. Only treasurers (Gunter and Shawna) would be authorized to withdraw money from it. We had discussion. Since Ruth and Debbie were eager to get the money out of their account, most present felt that it was worth trying the new system right away. Noni made a motion, Brian seconded and we passed a motion to transfer the paypal funds to a Paypal “pool” account under Noni’s account in Canada.

NEW BUSINESS:

1) Chris (irw Emma) introduced the idea of updating the leader scripts to make it clearer for the leader couple each week about exactly what they should say and when. Gretchen said that she would be more inclined to lead the meeting if the instructions for which buttons to push (to share screen etc) were in the script. Maureen suggested a subcommittee to go over the formats and make proposed changes and then send to the group in advance so they can be voted on in the subsequent business meeting. Chris, Dave, Noni and Maureen volunteered to be on that committee and they will meet this month.

2) Shawna told us that she can no longer order newcomer packets because WSO does not ship to Europe. A temporary solution was found to provide people in Europe with NC packets. We passed a motion that Shawna will order 20 newcomer packets to be delivered to Gretchen and Jason.. Gretchen and Jason volunteered to ship the packets to Shawna in Europe and to absorb the cost (up to $80) as their 7th tradition donation. The two couples exchanged contact info and will do this soon.

Trailblazers Minutes 02/25/2018

Posted on March 11, 2018November 5, 2019 by Secretary Couple

Group voted to add verbiage to the leader’s script to say something like:

“Can we have a volunteer couple to be our timers today? Please use the audio as well as visual cues to let people know their time is up”

Gunter and Shawna were not at meeting, but Dave and Noni were present.The two couples are still trying to get together to discuss the treasurer position. They will report back to the group at the next bus meeting about group’s finances and WSO donation.

Regarding paypal account, Dave and Noni found that the group needs to have a business account and that requires a tax id/registration number. They are looking into using “internet banking” instead of paypal for the Trailblazers account. They will do more research about simply opening up a bank account in the name of “Trailblazers” and having people make electronic donations to it.

Oscar said that a personal PP account can be transformed into a business account.

Maureen offered to do research with another 12 step offshoot group she is part of (which has a paypal account) to find out how they do it.

NEW BUS: Chris brought up idea of adding more detail to the leader script so that each week it is clear exactly what the leaders should say. for ex., on the last Sun of month, when it is a tradition study meeting, should leaders share after they read on the tradition? Right now it’s not clear.