January 2008

Welcome to the Second Edition of the online Fellowship-Wide Services Newsletter!

Please take a copy to your meeting!

We would really, really love it if you could share this newsletter far and wide and encourage others to subscribe for free.

·          Here’s a printable version that you can take to all your meetings.

·          Subscribe now on the F.W.S. homepage.

·          Take a newsletter flyer to your meeting.

·          Can’t get online? F.W.S. will send you a printed version for a small fee.
Click here to set up a print subscription. 

Exciting Things are happening at fwS 

Here’s some examples:

• We have greatly improved our website and created a new Online Store
• We now have our complete inventory of all Books, Pamphlets, CD’s, Tapes, and Journal Booklets on our new online store for the first time.
• Soon we will have laminated 2’ X 3’ Steps and Traditions Posters available
• More Than 650 orders and contributions were received in the first quarter of Fiscal Year 2008 (October 1 through December 31, 2007).  Click here for Q1 financial reports.
• Group and Individual Donations are improving.  Click here for a list of contributions from groups and Intergroups.
• Planning Has Begun for the July 2008 Annual Business Meeting and International Recovery Convention.  We'll be sending out flyers and forms very soon. 
• More Than 25 Emails and 10 Phone Inquiries from addicts looking for recovery are Handled Per Day at FWS.

A report from the FWS General Manager.

As you probably know already, finances have been a problem for S.L.A.A./FWS.  We are doing everything we can to run the FWS office as cheaply as we can and still provide the service you, the S.L.A.A. member, deserves.  We have gone from three full time employees to one full-time and one part-time.  We are also looking into other ways to conserve without greatly affecting our service.  And we are creating new services without increasing our expenses.

Click here to read the full report from the FWS General Manager.

FINANCIAL REPORTS

F.W.S. is getting its act together more and more on the financial and accounting front.  This quarter we have both Income Statement and Balance Sheet.  (Last quarter we did not have an accurate Balance Sheet yet.)  We don’t have comparisons to our budget yet, but we will soon.  Many people glaze over when presented with financial statements so we’ve provided some explanatory notes to help make sense of what you are looking at.  It’s worth taking time to familiarize yourself with these statements because at the end of the day the entire membership of Sex and Love Addicts Anonymous holds the authority and responsibility for our Fellowship-Wide service-structure, and it’s good to know what’s being done in your name.  You might very well find you have something to say about it all.  If so, please don’t just say it to your bathroom mirror.  Let us know, because we need your input.

Click here to see the actual financial statements and more comments.

CONTRIBUTIONS LIST (GROUPS AND INTERGROUPS)

Click here to make sure your group’s contribution was received.

TAMPA, FLORIDA HOSTS JULY, 2008 INTERNATIONAL RECOVERY CONVENTION AND ANNUAL BUSINESS MEETING. 

You will receive lots of information about this in a separate email in a week or so.

WHAT’S UP WITH THE FWS BOARD OF TRUSTEES?

First, what is the Board of Trustees (BOT)?

Many people ask this question.  Board Member Bob F. answers it in his personal message.

A REPORT FROM THE CHAIR OF THE BOARD OF TRUSTEES.

F.W.S. is like a boat that has survived a terrible storm.  The rain and the wind have stopped, and the waves are no longer crashing over the boat and threatening to destroy it at any moment.  But the boat is still full of water, and needs a whole lot of bailing and repair before it is fully sea-worthy.  The crew has their hands full with pumping the water out of the boat, keeping it from turning over as the waves roll by, and trying to make the repairs necessary to get underway once more.  The survival of this little boat is not guaranteed, but we have made a lot of progress in the right direction, and we have great hopes for what is to come. 

Click here to read the rest of the Chair’s report.

Board of Trustees Messages

Many people have said that they want to hear more from individual members of the Board so that they can feel more connected to who we are and what we do.  Four current BOT members share about themselves and their service for SLAA.

FWS Board Committee Reports

There are three committees that make up the Board of Trustees.  Each of these committees is tasked with a set of responsibilities.  Also, in addition to the Board members on each committee there are also “non-Board” members on each committee, SLAA members who are particularly interested in the work of one of the Board committees and who have been invited by that committee to join them and work with them.

Click below for reports from the Chairs of the three Board Committees.

WHAT’S HAPPENING IN THE FWS CONFERENCE?

The FWS Conference is the mechanism by which the Fellowship of SLAA (that’s you) oversees, and has ultimate responsibility for, the operations, finances, and policies of Fellowship-Wide Services.  The Board of Trustees has a more hand’s-on role, but the Conference is where the ultimate responsibility lies.

Click below for reports from seven of the active Conference Committees: