Your Seventh Tradition Contributions Help Carry the Message

Contributions made by you and your home group to the General Service Board support the work
of your General Service Office (GSO) to help the alcoholic around the corner — and around the world.
Your contributions make possible essential member services and support for those seeking help.

1. Our public service announcements (PSAs) offer powerful messages of hope to the suffering alcoholic. The Public Information desk coordinates production and availability of TV and radio PSAs for GSO and local campaigns in English, French, and Spanish. Our TV PSAs have reached close to 600 million viewers, airing on more than 71,000 stations across the U.S. and Canada and on our YouTube channel or at aa.org/resources/media.

2. In response to many correctional facilities going paperless, Grapevine and AAWS Publishing collaborated on a multi-year project to make A.A. literature available on more than 400,000 tablets in jails and prisons. For more information on tablets and the A.A. literature available please contact corrections@aa.org or go to aa.org/corrections-committees.

3. In 2023 the Corrections Correspondence Service (CCS) database created 1,355 matches presenting 2,710 members with the opportunity to engage in Twelve Step work. In addition to coordinating thousands of CCS participants, the Corrections Coordinator continues to answer 300 letters each month from members.

4. Your contributions help make the A.A. message accessible to all. The Accessibilities desk continually updates service material such as the accessibilities checklist for groups. This desk also has produced ASL versions of the Big Book and Twelve & Twelve, now available on our YouTube page and on aa.org. For members with vision loss, audio versions of the entire Big Book and Twelve & Twelve are available on aa.org at aa.org/accessibilities-workbook

5. The Technology Department is always looking for ways to streamline workflows. The contribution portal has been updated to make it easier for groups and individual members to contribute online.

6. Regional Forums are an opportunity to bring the General Service Board, AA Grapevine and GSO office staff to the fellowship to foster communication and trust. There are also Local and Special Forums available upon request. These are intended to provide a Forum experience to A.A. members while meeting cultural, accessibility and population considerations for those unlikely to be able to attend Regional Forums due to geographical location, sparsely populated or urban areas. Please contact regionalforums@aa.org for more information. aa.org/regional-and-local-forums.

7. The Publishing Department is always hard at work. They manage literature revisions and keep A.A. books and pamphlets available so the message of recovery can be carried to the sick and suffering alcoholic.

8. With a half-million monthly users throughout the U.S., Canada, and the world, the A.A. Meeting Guide app has transformed how people find meetings. The app is managed by the Communication Services department, which continues enhance the app’s functionality to optimize the user experience.

9. In 2023 the Staff Services department received approximately 165,000 emails and 1,700 phones calls from A.A. members, professionals, the media, and alcoholics needing help. The Member Services department continues to respond to inquiries from members covering everything from ordering literature to listing groups.

10. Member contributions made possible the complete redesign of our website aa.org in 2021 and the ongoing updating of the site to make our life-saving information easier to find, view, and share. Today, the site sees more than 800,000 visitors per quarter with consistent growth in both the number of visitors and engagement with the site content.

11. Professionals in nearly every field encounter problem drinkers but may not know much about A.A. The Cooperation with the Professional Community desk provides accurate, up-to-date information about A.A. to professionals in a variety of ways, including a newsletter, regular posts on the A.A. LinkedIn page, supporting local committees to exhibit at national professional conferences, and meeting with professionals in their area to inform them about A.A.

12. Archive preservation activities help to ensure that the Fellowship’s records are safely preserved and accessible to members. In 2023, GSO Archivists preserved thousands of vital historical documents and photographs, utilizing archival quality housing enclosures that provide physical support, protection and handling. Archival materials are housed for long-term preservation based on size, format and composition and contributions make this all possible. aa.org/aa-archives

General Service Office, P.O. Box 459, Grand Central Station, New York, NY 10163 • www.aa.org • F-203 • Seventh Tradition Fact Sheet