Appendix VII: Twelve Concepts (short Form)
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A.A.'s Twelve Steps are principles for personal recovery. The Twelve
Traditions ensure the unity of the Fellowship. Written by co-founder Bill W.
in 1962, the Twelve Concepts for World Service provide a group of related
principles to help ensure that various elements of A.A.'s service structure
remain responsive and responsible to those they serve.
The "short form" of the Concepts, which follows, was approved by the 1971
General Service Conference.
I. Final responsibility and ultimate authority for A.A. world services
should always reside in the collective conscience of our whole Fellowship.
II. 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.
III. 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."
IV. 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.
V. Throughout our structure, a traditional "Right of Appeal" ought to
prevail, so that minority opinion will be heard and personal grievances
receive careful consideration.
VI. 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.
VII. 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.
VIII. The trustees are the principal planners and administrators of overall
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.
IX. 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.
X. Every service responsibility should be matched by an equal service
authority, with the scope of such authority well defined.
XI. 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.
XII. 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, by substantial unanimity; that its actions never be
personally punitive nor an incitement to public controversy; that it never
perform acts of government, and that, like the Society it serves, it will
always remain democratic in thought and action.