FAQs
WHAT DOES IT COST TO BELONG TO AA?
Newcomers do not pay any fees for membership. And members do not pay dues.
But money is needed for some purposes: renting the meeting hall, buying coffee and other refreshments, buying AA books, pamphlets, and magazines. So a basket is usually passed around during the meeting, and members put in whatever they can afford or wish to give. Groups also contribute money to support central offices, the General Service Office, and other AA activities and Zoom meetings – to pay for AA Website design and creation, Domain, and Zoom time.
In return for the AA help that members give to other alcoholics, these members are never paid. Their reward is something much better than money — it is their own health. AA’s have found that helping other alcoholics is the best way to stay sober themselves.
WHAT DOES AA NOT DO?
| 1 | AA does not run membership drives to try to argue alcoholics into joining. AA is for alcoholics who want to get sober. |
| 2 | AA does not check up on its members to see that they don’t drink. It helps alcoholics to help themselves. |
| 3 | AA is not a religious organization. All members are free to decide on their own personal ideas about the meaning of life. |
| 4 | AA is not a medical organization, does not give out medicines or psychiatric advice. |
| 5 | AA does not run any hospitals, wards, or treatment centers or provide nursing services. |
| 6 | AA is not affiliated with any other organization. But AA does cooperate with organizations that are interested in recovery. Some members work for such organizations — but on their own — not as representatives of AA |
| 7 | AA does not accept money from sources outside AA., either private or government. |
| 8 | AA does not offer any social services, does not provide housing, food, clothing, jobs, or money. It helps alcoholics stay sober, so they can earn these things for themselves. |
| 9 | Alcoholics Anonymous lives up to the “Anonymous” part of its title. It does not want members’ full names or faces to be revealed on radio, TV, newspapers or on new media technologies such as the Internet. And members do not tell other members’ names to people outside AA But members are not ashamed of belonging to AA They just want to encourage more alcoholics to come to AA for help. And they do not want to make heroes and heroines of themselves simply for taking care of their own health. |
| 10 | AA does not provide letters of reference to parole boards, lawyers, court officials, social agencies, employers, etc. |