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CENTRAL OFFICE REPORT – GNOSB MEETING MARCH 27, 2025

RETAIL STORE

New Products. More recovery topic-specific booklets, new books on recovery history, service, and meditation.

Printed Meeting Book available, printed upon request. Next update still in progress, delayed by recent news and events, as well as changing the format and simplifying the production process; intended by May 2025.

Office Rent Increase. After receiving notification from our landlord that our office rent would be increasing nearly 40% beginning May 1st, and another 5% after one year, we researched other options and rental prices in the nearby area and at the February 2025 Service Board meeting, a motion was made and approved for us to stay at our current location. 

Central Office manager and Service Board Trustees then met with the landlord and began negotiation discussions for the rental rate and terms of the lease agreement; those negotiations are still ongoing. We requested a tiered rental rate over time, and our landlord agreed to a tiered rate of $1250 beginning with next month’s rent payment for May 1, 2025, to last for three months, the $1350 monthly rate would take effect for the August 2025 rental payment, and then the May 2026 rental payment would see another 5% increase for the next year, $1417.50 per month. Contributions from groups will be essential for us to continue to afford the increases in rent, product costs, and other bills and utilities.

Labor Costs and Store Hours. Labor costs may be unsustainable given the office’s current level of sales and contributions. We have reconstructed our labor hours for the three paid special workers at Central Office, including full-day front desk shifts (6 hours total) instead of three-hour shifts; volunteers continue to work three-hour shifts, or as they are available. We are reviewing sales transaction data to possibly consider changing our store hours to account for labor costs, such as closing on days with minimal transactions. 

These store hour changes will also have the intention of making Central Office hours more accessible to more of our fellowship, such as some days opening from 8am-2pm and other days opening from 12pm-6pm, etc.

FELLOWSHIP COMMUNICATIONS

Central Office Email Templates. To improve efficiency and completeness of email responses for various information requests and communications from the office, we now have a Google Doc file of email verbiage templates. These response templates contain different links or other types of info that we most commonly share and respond with to various members and newcomers who reach out the office, and can then be further customized for that particular individual or request. This has improved our response content and response time for office emails, as well as reduced labor time devoted to reviewing and answering emails. 

Meeting Database Updates. Added any GSO #s that we had available to meeting listings on our website, to help meetings needing info to make splits contributions. Last month, we also added district info to all nearly 600 meetings within our meeting database; anyone wanting to know what district their meeting is in can find that info on their meeting listing, and our online Meeting Locator is now searchable by district. Click the “Everywhere” drop-down menu and select “Switch to Districts” (from Regions) and if the page doesn’t reload with the new results, scroll up or click Refresh as needed.

Website Content Updates. We have made a beginning on multiple new webpages with the intention of improved accessibility of information, connection, and outreach between Service Board, Central Office, and various areas of our fellowship and service structure. Visit “Bulletins” and “Service Resources” pages or past Central Office reports for links.

OTHER SERVICES & FINANCIALS

Cybersecurity Breach. In the early hours of Sat., March 15, 2025, the office email address (via Microsoft Outlook) reported several unauthorized access attempts, from international and nonlocal  IP addresses used most likely to mask the location/identity of the device involve. There were four attempts in total within a 5 hour period overnight. I awoke Saturday morning to see the emails from Microsoft and went to the office to review what happened and check on our cybersecurity measures in place. This seems to have been an isolated and unsuccessful incident, and to our current knowledge, no member or organizational data has been leaked or affected. 

As a silver lining and next steps forward, this incident has prompted us to begin a more extensive review of cybersecurity methods that had been in place in the office. We also have begun research and application of how we might improve these as our world advances into the digital age, with more digital and online vulnerabilities, and with our Tradition and spiritual principle of anonymity in mind and heart.

Technology Upgrades – Zoom Equipment. Zoom equipment still being researched, though other financial priorities have come up since. Looking for audio component for full-room voice capture effective for a room of this size, or another alternative. Recommendations welcome. Postponing equipment proposal to a later meeting.

Printing Services. Our office is now willing and able to print/copy documents related to A.A. service materials and local A.A. fellowship (i.e. flyers, meeting minutes, meeting agendas, etc.) for members, groups, and service committees, with request for a contribution to offset printing costs, such as B&W, color, number of pages, and additional finishing needs such as stapling, folding, stamps/envelope, etc. 

Motion to Transfer $5,000 from Prudent Reserve to Central Office Operations Account. Per Section XI. Prudent Reserve and Operating Fund of the GNOSB By-Laws: “The Service Board is responsible for maintaining a Prudent Reserve, which consists of one-half of its annual operating expenses (i.e., the total expenses for the previous fiscal year less the expenses for Big Deep South Convention and Central Office inventory purchases). It also maintains a separate Operating Fund, which consists of one-fourth of such annual operating expenses. The fiscal year spans from July 1 to June 30.”

*unaudited data, from internal data sheets for Expenses and Bill Pay:

FY23-24	TOTAL	MERCH	OPERATINGEXPENSES
2024-JUN	$ 10,555.76	$2,203.37	$ 8,352.39
2024-MAY	$ 13,452.38	$6,597.26	$ 6,855.12
2024-APR	$ 10,009.15	$4,981.10	$ 5,028.05
2024-MAR	$ 5,332.86	$749.67	$ 4,583.19
2024-FEB	$ 14,370.58	$5,792.36	$ 8,578.22
2024-JAN	$ 8,421.29	$480.95	$ 7,940.34
2023-DEC	$ 8,803.50	$3,322.25	$5,481.25
2023-NOV	$ 4,839.60	$993.40	$3,846.20
2023-OCT	$ 7,833.74	$1,178.12	$6,655.62
2023-SEP	$ 7,510.25	$3,213.97	$4,296.28
2023-AUG	$ 10,110.46	$3,654.71	$6,455.75
2023-JUL	$ 16,027.06	$10,995.54	$5,031.52
FY23-24 TOTAL	$ 117,266.63	$44,162.70	$ 73,103.93
FY23-24 AVG	$ 9,772.22	$3,680.23	$ 6,091.99
FY23-24
PRUDENTRESERVE	$73,201.93	x0.5	$36,600.97
OPERATINGFUND	$73,201.93	x0.25	$18,300.48
02/2024-02/2025	TOTAL	MERCH	OPERATINGEXPENSES
2025-Feb	$11,930.73	$3,926.19	$8,004.54
2025-Jan	$9,391.14	$2,755.71	$6,635.43
2024-DEC	$ 8,999.99	$3,715.25	$ 5,284.74
2024-NOV	$ 11,499.25	$2,823.04	$ 8,676.21
2024-OCT	$ 10,254.41	$2,617.57	$ 7,636.84
2024-SEP	$ 10,267.10	$2,043.72	$ 8,223.38
2024-AUG	$ 8,752.68	$2,147.20	$ 6,605.48
2024-JUL	$ 10,339.00	$4,273.66	$ 6,065.34
2024-JUN	$ 10,649.91	$2,203.37	$ 8,446.54
2024-MAY	$ 13,452.38	$6,597.26	$ 6,855.12
2024-APR	$ 10,009.15	$4,981.10	$ 5,028.05
2024-MAR	$ 5,332.86	$749.67	$ 4,583.19
PAST 12 MOS TOTAL	$120,878.60	$38,833.74	$82,044.86
PAST 12 MOS AVG	$10,073.22	$3,236.15	$6,837.07
PRUDENTRESERVE	$82,044.86	x0.5	41,022.43
OPERATINGFUND	$82,044.86	x0.25	20,511.21