If you are new to GreySheeters Anonymous, and especially if GSA is your first experience with a Twelve-Step fellowship, you may be wondering why we are asking you to contribute.
If there are no dues or fees for GreySheeters Anonymous membership, why do meetings always pass the basket? Why is GSA World Services always asking for money? And why so much money? Aren't all our trusted servants volunteers?
It's true that no GreySheeter gets paid for carrying the message of GSA to the compulsive eater who still suffers. Whether we are sponsoring, qualifying at a meeting, acting as Group Treasurer, or serving as a Group Service Representative (GSR), Intergroup Service Representative (ISR), or Trustee, we do so freely as part of our own spiritual recovery (Step 12).
No member is required to contribute to the Seventh Tradition collection. Especially in these times, some members experience severe financial hardship and are simply unable to do so. The only requirement for membership is the desire to stop eating compulsively. You are welcome in the GSA fellowship even if you never give money to GSAWS or even to your local group.
Nevertheless, there are many costs involved in the work that GSAWS does to support its members and groups. In past years, the lack of funds often meant that GSAWS was unable to hold the Conference every year or provide services that members of the fellowship had asked for. Thanks to the work of the Seventh Tradition Committee, GSAWS has been able to address some of those issues.
We appreciate the generosity of every member and group that makes a donation. We also know that there's a long way to go before we can make our Vision for World Service a reality.
How GSAWS Uses Your Donations
Protecting the Integrity of the Grey Sheet requires paying attorney's fees to prevent infringement of our intellectual property rights (the copyright of the Grey Sheet food plan and the GSAWS trademarks).
Literature expenses include printing and distribution costs and any professional design and editing services for our books.
Website costs include hosting, domain registration, software licensing and support fees, and paying a web professional to keep the technical side of the website in order.
We hope to hire a social media professional to help with our Public Information and Outreach needs by maintaining and moderating GSAWS social properties.
General Operations includes accounting and legal fees, merchant service charges, the Post Office Box, web conferencing, telephone, and similar administrative expenses. It also includes the cost of the GSA World Service Conference, including the parliamentarian, the transcriptionist, and any travel and accommodation expenses for members of the Board of Trustees.
To create a Prudent Reserve, GSAWS sets aside an amount equal to 6 months of operating expenses. We set aside amounts for future expenses and unexpected needs: maintaining a prudent reserve, additional legal expenses, unanticipated website expenses, and possible literature projects if we have enough volunteers.
Budgets & Spending
GSAWS makes all its financial information available to the public—this is part of both federal and New York law for nonprofits. You can download our Current and 3-year Budgets and monthly Treasurer’s Reports if you want to see the details.
Category | 2023 Expenses | Future Expenses |
|---|---|---|
Integrity of the Grey Sheet | $5,000 | $5,000 |
Public Information & Outreach | $6,000 | $0 |
Literature | $3,000 | $8,000 |
Website | $10,000 | $9,000 |
General Operations & Conference | $6,000 | $30,000 |
Total | $30,000 | $52,000 |