SELF SUPPORTING
Money, Responsibility, and Spirituality
The 7th Tradition states, “Every H.A. group ought to be fully self-supporting, declining outside contributions.” As active heroin addicts, we hustled, robbed, and manipulated people into taking care of us, instead of taking responsibility for our own lives, materially or spiritually. The 7th tradition reminds us as recovered heroin addicts we should strive for self-sufficiency as an ideal. Likewise, Tradition 7 suggests that all groups should strive for this same ideal.
To keep our fellowship autonomous, Heroin Anonymous only accepts contributions from its members. If H.A. was to receive financial support from outside entities, those entities may claim some form of authority within H.A., thus obscuring our primary purpose. For many, the words “donation” and “contribution” may appear synonymous. Upon further consideration, however, we find important distinctions. “Donation” more frequently refers to a gift made to an outside entity. “Contribution”, on the other hand, has a more internal context, reflecting willingness as well as personal participation and responsibility. For example, one may “contribute” to their rent with other members of their household, but not “donate”. Thus, we suggest that money collected from our members to support our fellowship be referred to as “contributions” rather than “donations.”
Why do we need to talk about money in the first place? We need money to carry the message to the still-suffering heroin addict. For example, many of us are familiar with renting space to hold a Heroin Anonymous meeting so that the newcomer can find a similar experience to that with which we have been blessed. Meetings are not the only way money and resources can be utilized within our fellowship. We hold conferences and conventions, produce chips and literature, and maintain a website, all with the ultimate aim of supporting our primary purpose. Tradition 7 states, “Experience has often warned us that nothing can so surely destroy our spiritual heritage as futile disputes over property, money, and authority.” Our traditions emphasize that it is our responsibility as members to contribute to our fellowship.
At the home group level, members contribute to the meeting’s basket to maintain the meeting and retain a prudent reserve. A prudent reserve may be roughly one to three months of rent and supplies, such as; chips, literature, and coffee. While each group gets to decide its prudent reserve and determine how to utilize monies beyond this reserve, members would do well to
remember all lower levels of our service structure are supported by home group contributions. These lower levels of service, such as Districts, Areas, Regions, and World, help to guide and
support our fellowship toward our most precious goal of unity.
(Insert here suggested contributions styles and percentages – Pie Charts, see below)
Ideally, these percentages are found after the prudent reserve is determined and set aside. It is each group’s responsibility to understand its interaction with our service structure and contribute accordingly. The success of our groups, and our fellowship as a whole, depend fully upon our individual member’s contributions. If you have found recovery in Heroin Anonymous, we suggest that you contribute to the fellowship that helped save us from the wreckage of our lives, so that we may continue to help others to recover from heroin addiction!
Revised November 2023
