The Better Together Virtual Intergroup Business Meeting  

Sunday, May 4, 2025 7:00 PM ET  

Chairperson: Russell W Term: 1/2024 - 12/2026

Vice Chairperson: Lori D Term: 1/2023 - 12/2025

Secretary: Catherine P. Term: 1/2024 - 12/2026

Treasurer: Carla C Term: 1/2023 - 12/2025  

Business Meeting Agenda

Welcoming: Chairperson Russel W. opened the meeting at 7pm Attendance – Russell W, Catherine P, Carla C, Lori D, Matthew B  

Minutes:  

Reading Waiver of Reading Motion by Catherine P. seconded by Carla C motion passed with 10/11 hands.  

Reports from Officers and Delegates 

Vice Chair:

Nothing special to report.

Secretary: 

Catherine posted the minutes from March to the Facebook group. Apologies for the delay -

That’s it!  

Treasurer:  

April financials  

Net worth: $21,449.67

Retreat Fund: $10,081.91, Operations: $5,007.21, Venmo $361.24, Chase $5,119.35, Paypal $879.96, Abstinence Workshop Donations $142.85.

Expenses: Retreat Rfnd $160, Zoom $93.58, Postage $11.58, iPostal $14.99, Apple/Calendly $0.99, 7th WSO, VR $390.00

US BANK MOVE                     

 04 Reversal of charges for not having paperless billing were done through US Bank Customer Service, refund issued for March and April. - DONE!              

 Matthew B has updated QR codes for Zelle and PayPal.  We haven't received donations yet from other members on US Bank Zelle.             

 Remaining expenses (Apple.com for the Calendly App and Signup Genius):  Apple and Calendly have been moved to US Bank, the remaining is Signum Genius, tbd today????  Carla to finalize with Lori D, then move to CLOSE the Chase account!             

 RETREAT FUNDING                          

 12 new registrations were received in April.  Leaving $400 in PayPal balance to expedite refunds if needed.                        

 INTERNATIONAL DONATIONS                     

 Actually made a deposit of the first international check to the US Bank branch near me

(Missouri, lol).  I was informed by the teller that I could mail these in, so we will try that when it comes up again.

BTVIG Committee Chair Reports: Data Tech Matthew B  

Data is running smoothly. If you are a committee chair and haven’t made use of your committee Google workspace to upload all your files so that it is able to be handed over to the next chair when you are ready to step down, that is something Matthew would like to help with. 

Matthew would also like to discuss getting our workshop recordings onto the Google workspace so people can listen to them.  

Host/Co-host Lori D  

Things are running smoothly. They did decide to change the Host/Tech Host/Waiting Room meeting from monthly to quarterly. Since these same people attend the monthly Co-host/All Host meeting if there is an issue in between they can bring it up there. 

There will be another quarter coming up starting in July so if you would like to be a host, tech host or waiting room co-host get in touch. There was a training earlier today so we have some new people on board. 

Jen V. - Signup Genius - *CALL FOR SERVICE* Jen asks for help she is looking for someone who has some Microsoft office experience to be able to work with the data. There is a blurb in the newsletter, but we haven’t gotten any bites from it. She is open to any suggestions on how to create a follow-up contact system for recurring folks. We do need help because we are at the point where we are having to fill spots same day. She is open to any feedback and help! It is built out until June.  

Zoom Service Training Catherine P – now Matthew B

Per Catherine, Matthew will be taking over as chair of the committee. She is very grateful for his help and willingness to step into the role. She is grateful to have had the opportunity to serve in the position. 

There was a training today – Welcome Kat, Valerie, Joe, Diana Ashley, Kathy! Dala, Amy, and Lisa, some of you have already done training, but you were in the training today. We did have one member that came in that will not use WhatsApp – Matthew referred back to other committees to see if it is possible for them to serve in No Disruptions possibly or Contact list. He did say they could do service using Signup genius as a reader, timer or chair. 

Matthew is going to create a schedule for training, and it will show up on the website. It will be subject to change. If you are out of the country or the times don’t work for you get in touch and Matthew can schedule a specific training for you.  

**CALL FOR SERVICE** If anyone is interested in becoming a trainer - contact Catherine P. you can shadow during trainings.  

Contact List Sonya P  

Sonya P not in attendance.  

Communications Matthew B/Michelle B  

Nothing to report from Newsletter.  

Welcome Committee Kelly M  

Nothing to report.

Speaker Seekers Committee 

Matthew B is the calendar coordinator, which just clears the calendar - and that is pretty much all the chair of the committee does. He would like to train someone on how to do it so they can take over. That is his plan to take on a job no one wants and mentor someone into it. He will not abandon you until you are ready to take over!

Workshop Committee Lori D.  

Just finished the Abstinence workshop which went very well. They had 4 speakers all from BT- Paul, Thomola, Lesta Sue and Kat. They had very good feedback on the workshop. They had about 70 people show up. There was almost an hour of back and forth and then went into breakout rooms, and then a half hour session of question and answer. The next workshop will be at the end of June and it will be the Body Image workshop.  

Sponsorship Committee  No report.

No Disruptions Annie C.  

No Disruptions is going well. Started second quarter it’s going great. Last couple of teams have been awesome, we have 7 new people and it’s going very well.   

Facebook Kimmy H/Rena/Lori D/Russell/Jenni R and Rina S are admins  

Facebook is going smoothly. You cannot find the Facebook group – it is a super secret hidden Facebook group that you need to be invited to. You need to friend Lori or Russell or any of the admins – she is putting instructions in the meeting chat on what to do. They do vet people and that is why they keep it close, that’s the only way to keep it hidden and protect anonymity. If you have a different name on Facebook let them know because they will not be certain that it is you. There have been bots recently so they are being extra careful. They err on the side of security because they want to protect it. Lori adds that if you have shut down your Facebook page and restarted and only have a very few friends, because otherwise if they see that they will think your page was hacked and won’t friend you. Lots of interaction there and a good place for recovery.  

If you’re not in the Facebook group and you want to be, contact Russ or Lori and they will add you in.  

Newcomer Meeting Rep - Fran  

Matthew filling in - the newcomer meeting is running smoothly but needs speakers. If you get an invitation to speak at the newcomer meeting please say yes.  

Virtual Region Delegate and World Service Delegate Maryhelen  

World Service Business Conference began today. It was online from 12-4pm and it will continue for 5 days. The report will be ready by next month. At the end of this month is the Virtual Region Assembly. It is on Saturday and Sunday and conflicts with the business meeting so she will send the report to be presented next month, and then the following report for the following month. 

Matthew asks if the Virtual Region Assembly is open to anyone to sit and listen. Per Maryhelen she will have to check on that – it requires registration and a small fee and you cannot vote, there are some sessions that are closed. She will get more info and get back.  

Ongoing/New Business: 

Motion from Carla C:

1.⁠ ⁠Prudent Reserve:

The Prudent Reserve shall be maintained at an amount equal to six (6) months of average expenses, calculated in January and July each year.

2.⁠ ⁠Retreat Fund Allocation:

a.          Beginning immediately, 15% of each month’s 7th Tradition donations shall be allocated to the Retreat Fund.

b.          After one (1) year, the allocation to the Retreat Fund will be reduced to 10% of monthly 7th Tradition donations.

3.⁠ ⁠7th Tradition Disbursal Formula:

After allocating funds to the Retreat Fund and covering the current month’s expenses, remaining funds shall be disbursed as follows: o 40% to World Service Office (WSO) o    10% to the Virtual Region (VR)

Formula:

(Monthly Donations – Retreat Fund Allocation – Monthly Expenses) × Allocation Percentage (Monthly Donations – Retreat Fund Allocation – Monthly Expenses) × Allocation Percentage

4.⁠ ⁠Priority of Prudent Reserve:

In the event that the Prudent Reserve falls below the target amount due to any unexpected or higher-than-anticipated expenses, replenishing the Prudent Reserve shall take priority over any 7th Tradition disbursal to WSO or VR until the reserve is fully funded.

Matthew makes a motion: (there was no second)

Motion that all of our recordings for workshops get stored on the google workspace for the workshop committee in a separate folder and that we make that folder available to our members to listen to the workshops at no fee. Per Lori we need to make sure we get recording signatures for all of them to give us permission to have recordings of the speakers. 

Maryhelen brings up that she thinks we need to include in our minutes a list of all who are in attendance, not just the officers. She says it should be all voting members who are listed in attendance. 

Matthew asks if that is in our bylaws. Russell says he does not believe so. Maryhelen will check if it is in our bylaws. She says she believes it is standard for meeting minutes to include the date, time, location, list of attendees, meeting agenda, summary of the key discussion points, decisions made, action items assigned and responsible parties, and the deadlines for the next meeting. 

Matthew says he thinks our members should know that their attendance is being recorded so that they are aware of it – he also says he thinks members should have the opportunity to come and sit and listen and not be counted in attendance – but knowing that they can’t vote if they are not counted in attendance. As of now we record how many members and how many votes each motion passes by but not specific members. 

Annie C. says that we absolutely should not record names of attendees to business meetings. She says she has been attending 12 step business meetings for 40 years and because we are anonymous we do not record people’s names. The officers, the number of people who attend and how people voted and what passed but not names. And all members of BT who attend the meeting are voting members. She does not think we should record names and she thinks that it would deter people from attending because we are anonymous. 

Lori D. says when she attends her other intergroup business meeting in the minutes the names of the officers as well as everyone who attends are listed. 

Per Russ we will bring the issue to the working group next month and figure out what motions need to happen for us to vote on it. 

Maryhelen asks for clarification on whether World Service and Virtual Region have a copy of our bylaws. Matthew asks if she can reach out to Claire the chair of the VR and find out if they have a copy of what was submitted. Russell says he thinks he has a copy from 2022 and will send it to Maryhelen and then she will follow up. 

Retreat:

Per Matthew things are going smoothly with retreat registration and we should be able to sell all our rooms that we are committed to without issue. 

Mary S says she would like to bring up creating a donation button for the retreat – per Russ he has already talked to Carla about creating a QR code for it. 

Matthew B. makes a motion to adjourn Jen V. seconds motion passes 15/15.

Close with Serenity prayer. Meeting adjourned.  

Note:  

*It is this groups conscience as per the BTVIG policy and Bylaws that motions are approved by group conscience, and to be voted on the month after the motion was presented.

When a motion is to be voted on, the person who made the motion must be present and state it again without changes.  

The Chair will then seek,

3 members to speak in favor “pro” 3 members to speak not in favor “con” on the motion with one min each to present their views.

When these 6 members have finished presenting their views there is no other discussion to be taken and the motion is to be voted on.  

Meeting to be held virtually via Zoom @ Meeting ID: 558 759 5395 PW: family Better Together Virtual Intergroup (BTVIG) Business Meeting First Sunday each month (Second if first is a holiday weekend) Room Opens at 6 PM (CT)