The Twelve Concepts for World Service were
written by A.A.’s co-founder Bill W., and were adopted by the
General Service Conference of Alcoholics Anonymous in 1962. The
Concepts are an interpretation of A.A.’s world service structure
as it emerged through A.A.’s early history and experience. The
short form of the Concepts reads:
1. Final responsibility and ultimate authority for A.A. world
services should always reside in the collective conscience of
our whole Fellowship.
2. The General Service Conference of A.A. has become, for nearly
every practical purpose, the active voice and the effective
conscience of our whole society in its world affairs
3. To insure effective leadership, we should endow each element
of A.A.—the Conference, the General Service Board and its
service corporations, staffs, committees, and executives—with a
traditional “Right of Decision.”
4. At all responsible levels, we ought to maintain a traditional
“Right of Participation,” allowing a voting representation in
reasonable proportion to the responsibility that each must
discharge.
5. Throughout our structure, a traditional “Right of Appeal”
ought to prevail, so that minority opinion will be heard and
personal grievances receive careful consideration.
6. The Conference recognizes that the chief initiative and
active responsibility in most world service matters should be
exercised by the trustee members of the Conference acting as the
General Service Board.
7. The Charter and Bylaws of the General Service Board are legal
instruments, empowering the trustees to manage and conduct world
service affairs. The Conference Charter is not a legal document;
it relies upon tradition and the A.A. purse for final
effectiveness.
8. The trustees are the principal planners and administrators of
over-all policy and finance. They have custodial oversight of
the separately incorporated and constantly active services,
exercising this through their ability to elect all the directors
of these entities.
9. Good service leadership at all levels is indispensable for
our future functioning and safety. Primary world service
leadership, once exercised by the founders, must necessarily be
assumed by the trustees
10. Every service responsibility should be matched by an equal
service authority, with the scope of such authority well
defined.
11. The trustees should always have the best possible
committees, corporate service directors, executives, staffs, and
consultants. Composition, qualifications, induction procedures,
and rights and duties will always be matters of serious concern.
12. The Conference shall observe the spirit of A.A. tradition,
taking care that it never becomes the seat of perilous wealth or
power; that sufficient operating funds and reserve be its
prudent financial principle; that it place none of its members
in a position of unqualified authority over others; that it
reach all important decisions by discussion, vote, and whenever
possible, substantial unanimity; that its actions never be
personally punitive nor an incitement to public controversy;
that it never perform acts of government; that, like the Society
it serves, it will always remain democratic in thought and
action.
Copyright ©
A.A. World Services, Inc
