Page title

CENTRAL OFFICE REPORT – GNOSB MEETING NOVEMBER 20, 2025

New Items. New bookmarks, new aluminum slogan chips, laser-engraved slogan signs, and recovery hats! Just in time for holiday gifts for all your loved ones in recovery.

New: Central Office Monthly Sales Report. Introducing our first monthly Central Office Sales Report! October 2025 We hope this is a resource to help our regional fellowship understand our finances and how those finances translate into how we help y’all to facilitate carrying the message to the next sick and suffering alcoholic.

Literature Table Pop-up for District Workshops and Meetings. Open to collaborating with districts and other service entities hosting events that would like a literature presence. Also open to receiving and fulfilling group orders via monthly district business meetings – email office@aaneworleans.org to place an order and coordinate district meeting pickup. Launching an online retail store could facilitate these pre-orders, and we are currently working on order/payment/delivery logistics as well as expanding our website to include this feature.

Computer Upgrades Research and Proposal, update. Our office computers have not been updated in several years, and the back office computer stopped working entirely in September 2025, hindering our capability to continue offering hybrid meetings in the back office meeting room. After the fiscal year budget was approved, we moved forward with the purchase of one refurbished laptop for the back office computer to receive and set up in time to relaunch the GNOSB meetings as hybrid for the November meeting.

After doing additional research in costs of warranties for laptop vs. desktop computers, the office manager updated the computer upgrades proposal with another and more cost-effective option for the other two office computers. The computer upgrades have been budgeted for ($1,000) in the FY25-26 Computer-Other category.

GNOSB Website/Email Migration Plan Continues. Last month we saw the approval of the fiscal year tech budget. This month we began migrating the Big Deep South website dev platform and hosting from WordPress and Homestead, respectively, to Squarespace. Given the experiences facilitating these next steps, more research has been done to conduct a migration of the aaneworleans.org website to a less expensive hosting option. 

If this can’t be done within the next few weeks, we can change our three-year subscription with GoDaddy for hosting and WordPress to a one-year or month-to-month subscription to have time and adequate budgeting to prepare for the migration and rebuilding of the site in 2026. Research and consideration ongoing, particularly as it relates to online retail and other interactive features we would like to offer with the next phase of the website redesign. Also part of this research is to consider another most cost-friendly email hosting option for our nonprofit organization.

Postage Cost Reduction Research and Proposal, update. Per request of the Board Treasurer, office manager researched the nonprofit bulk postage option, as well as other postage and shipping options to upgrade the office’s sales reach with online retail, and created a proposal with this research and options outlined. In October, began the process to apply with USPS to see if the organization will qualify for nonprofit bulk postage pricing; found the organization needs a document from the IRS that the organization does not currently have on file, and so that document was requested. 

The associated proposal was sent to Trustees on October 15, 2025; feedback/guidance received in November was minimal; none received from GNOSB Treasurer, who initially proposed the postage change and significantly reduced the postage category allotment in their original budget proposals. Currently waiting for the IRS to send copies of documentation needed to complete the USPS application.

BDSC 2026 Support, update. Provided tech support and completed or facilitated admin tasks for website, registration, fundraising, scholarship, and treasury as the committee members initiate new efforts for the 2026 event planning season. Facilitated fintech/admin tasks for the change of website development platform and domain hosting for bigdeepsouth.org.

Sober Fest Resource Expo Table Participation. Our organization has been welcomed to host a table for the Resource Expo at Sober Fest, November 22, 2025. We plan to have printed literature, such as Meeting Lists, Meeting Books, Digital Newcomer Paks, Meeting in a Pocket, etc. as well as some of the pamphlet backstock. We hope to help carry the message of our recovery program to attendees of this recovery event.