Key to Harmony Blog

Here is the June activity report for KeytoHarmony@Gaggle.email and website stats from Key2Harmony.org:

171 Messages sent this month.

Successfully sending to 471 members

18 members unsubscribed this month.

Website traffic report:

Total Unique Visitors June 2020:

Daily Visitors June 2020:

The last day of the month's stats are always truncated.

May 2020 KeyBiz Meeting Minutes

Members Participating

1.   Adrienne
2.   Arlene -
3.   Barb - yes
4.   BJ - yes
5.   Buddy - yes
6.   Cathy - yes
7.   Kate - yes
8.   Joyce- yes
9.   Paul- yes

10. Rose - yes 11. Shelley- yes 12. Sophie- yes

REPORTS 1. AlternateChair (Buddy):

2. BusinessChair (BJ) The quarterly donation appeal came in the mail today from the WSO. In service,BJ

3. CALCordinator : Cathy

4. Gentle Reminder Committee : Position Open From January 2020

5. Chair Coordinator (Cathy) :

6. Secretary/Archivist (Joyce):. The April 2020 KeyBiz Meeting Minutes have been posted to the blog. In Service, Joyce

7. SponsorCoordinator (Sophie) :

8. StatesideTreasurer (Shelley) : The stateside Treasurer report has been posted to the blog.

Our balance at the end of April was $452.15

BJ is a secondary signature on the account

I have received checks.

I can transfer from the PayPal Account.

Expected upcoming bills: around 230$ in May

A report was sent to the membership with a Tradition 7 appeal for donations.

Shelley

9. Treasurer( Kate) : A big HI to all on the Biz Committee, and a big welcome to those who have joined during my time away. And a big ))to you as well because I need hugs right now!

You must have all been wondering what has happened to your treasurer, and a big thank you for the Stateside treasurer for carrying on so well, and to you all for your patience, understanding and love. I hope I can now start back with all the service work I have so enjoyed over the many past years. Health and head stuff happens to us all at times, I have not been doing much more than getting into my garden, struggling with a very nasty underlying lung problem (I would not survive COVOD-19!) with many doctors appointments, tests etc, and doing stuff which doesn’t mean responsibility or thinking much!

But here I am and nothing has gone astray! I have been following and reading the many posts and issues that have come up. Good to see that the tax issue seems to have been sorted in the US. Thankfully I have Rose on side and I occasionally call her to let her know I’m still here! As she has already explained to the business committee, the exchange rate between the US and Australia is not at all good at the moment, as well as the bank fees to cover the cost of transactions. When the exchange rate is favourable, the cost of the transfer doesn’t matter as much as it does right now. So, due to the very adverse exchange rate conditions, along with the cost of money transfer sending money to WSO at this time, you, the K2H business Committee have suggested donating to the Australian General Service Office the sum of $300. So, with Rose’s assistance, we can get that done early next week.

As you can see the interest level here in Australia has dropped to almost zero and we have not had any incoming donations for some considerable time. If there are any Australian or NZ members who could throw into the bag, we would be very grateful. I've even deposited a donation from India in the past.

We are in uncertain times with COVID19 and with F2F groups unable to open WSO and the Australian General Service Office are pleading for electronic donations as group donations are not happening and the usual fundraisers and Round-ups are not happening, so I thank those who still donate.

I am so fortunate to be in a position to re-open my f2f group after CV-19 restrictions and get my thinking back on track!

Love to all and thanks you so much for your patience, love and understanding, I am getting my head and body back with the love of Al-Anon members. Kate

Bendigo Bank: BSB 633000 A/C 132832924

Aug 2019 Open $344.55 Interest .09 Close $344.64

Sept 2019 Open $344.64 Interest .04 Close $344.68

October 2019 Open $344.68 Interest .03 Close $344.71

November 2019 Open $344.71 Interest .02 Close $344.73

December 2019 Open $344.73 Interest .01 Close $344.74

January 2020 Open $344.74 Interest .02 Close $344.76

February 2020 Open $344.76 Interest .01 Close $344.77

March 2020 Open $344.77 Interest .02 Close $344.79

April 2020 Open $344.79 Interest .01 Close $344.80

May Statement will arrive next week..

10. Webmaster (Buddy) The April 2020 Activity Report has been posted to the Key blog:

https://key2harmony.org/files/index.php?post/April-2020-Activity-Report

As you can see there was an increase in activity on the website probably due to the Covid-19 situation shutting down many face-to-face meetings and members seeking alternatives.

However, we had a net loss of membership. We had 41 members unsubscribe during the month and we removed 19 members who had "paused" their email messages months ago.

There were 237 messages posted to the Key list last month, compared to 166 the month before. Usually, an increase like that will bring an increase in unsubs. People just "can't keep up" with that volume of email. At least that's what some of them said when they unsubscribed.

Buddy

BJ opened the May meeting on May 3rd

UNFINISHED BUSINESS

Cosignatory on Treasurer Account: From July 2019 - discussion begun Cosignatories on Treasurer and Stateside Assistant accounts. .From January, 2020 : Committee Chair (BJ) has completed paperwork to be our Cosignatory on the Stateside account and Stateside Treasurer will advise when process is completed. From March 2020: new online stateside bank account opened with Ally Bank which requires no minimum balance and has no fees. Paperwork for co-signatory going to BJ. When paperwork complete, this account will be tagged to PayPal . BJ indicates :Two signatures are not necessary on stateside checks,.  We also have no need for debit cards. Awaiting feedback from Shelley on this. From April 2020: Stateside Account has 430$ with 15 $ in donations yet to be deposited. and a account to be added to the PayPal account.. PayPal donations need to be electronically deposited. Stateside Treasurer (Shelley) received checks for the Ally Bank account. Awaiting confirmation from Ally Bank that BJ is Cosignatory on Stateside Account. From May 2020 : see Stateside Treasurer Report (above). This is now Finished Business

B. Donation to WSO From August 2019- Treasurer suggested $200 (Australian dollars) donation to WSO. Awaiting information re how to transfer electronically. From March 2020: Question of donation to WSO from stateside account under discussion. Exchange rate dropping...question of whether to wait to donate. (From Sept 2018minutes AU Balance was $342.64). (AU Balance November 2019 “less than $350 ) From April 2020: Continued discussion of donating money. US treasury- 430$ with 15 $ in donations to deposit. AU Bank Balance $344.77 Decision pending re:making donation from AU account to AU GSO. From May 2020: Stateside Treasurer appealed to membership for donations, mentioning KeyBiz considering donation to WSO after upcoming bills paid. Several donations received. Suggestion from Stateside Treasurer to donate $250 from Stateside account (which allows funds to pay upcoming bill) . Stateside treasury currently has $653.09 as of May 11, 2020. It has been previously approved by KeyBiz to keep a prudent reserve of $300 in the stateside treasury. Per Kate: K2H business Committee have suggested donating to GSO $300 AU and Kate, with Rose assistance, will work to get that done in the first week of June.

C. GR Coordinator Position : From January 2020: GR Coordinator position remains open/ unfilled until this committee decides otherwise. (Schedule written through June for who will send GR’s)

Questions and Asides Welcome new member: Paul Member sponsorship questions answered by Sophie Re: mention of Amazon as source of Al-Anon Literature..Mentioning where a person personally obtained CAL is their business, their story. Might be best mentioned in a one on one email. Does not need a Gentle Reminder Back up list for Chair Coordinator...volunteers from KeyBiz - Total for Gaggle services for the next 12 months: $201.66.

BJ closed the meeting on May 29, 2020

Here is the May activity report for KeytoHarmony@Gaggle.email and website stats from Key2Harmony.org:

209 Messages sent this month.

Successfully sending to all 458 members

35 members unsubscribed this month.

Website traffic report:

Total Unique Visitors May 2020:

Daily Visitors May 2020:

The last day of the month's stats are always truncated.

April 2020 KeyBiz Meeting Minutes

Members Participating

1.   Adrienne
2.   Arlene -
3.   Barb - yes
4.   BJ - yes
5.   Buddy - yes
6.   Cathy - yes
7.   Kate -
8.   Joyce- yes
9.   Rose- yes

10. Shelley- yes 11. Sophie- yes

REPORTS 1. AlternateChair (Buddy):

2. BusinessChair (BJ):

3. CALCordinator (Rose) :

4. Gentle Reminder Co-ordination: : position remains unfilled (since January 2020).

5. Chair Coordinator (Barb) :

6. Secretary/Archivist (Joyce):. The March 2020 KeyBiz Minutes have been posted to the blog. In service, Joyce

7. SponsorCoordinator (Sophie) : Hi all, My report has been posted to our blog. In service, Sophie

8. StatesideTreasurer (Shelley) :

9. Treasurer(Kate) :

10. Webmaster (Buddy) : yes

The March activity report has been posted to the Key weblog: https://key2harmony.org/files/index.php?post/March-2020-Activity-Report

Our membership now totals 481 which means in the past month we had a net gain of 17 members. Because 24 members unsubscribed during March, we actually had 41 new members join during the month.

Our annual fees will be due next month (May 15). As it stand right now, we will be billed by Gaggle.email $8.50 for the KeyBiz list and $164.56 for our 484 members on the Key to Harmony main list, a total of $173.06.

Our web hosting fee is $50 a year, bringing the total estimated expenses to $223.06.

The above prices include our non-profit 15% discount from Gaggle. Each net new member we add between now and May 15 will add 40 cents to the total fee.

These numbers will be of interest in our discussion of maintaining a prudent reserve and making donations to WSO.

In service, Buddy

BJ opened the meeting April 1, 2020

UNFINISHED BUSINESS

From July 2019 - Cosignatory on Treasurer Account. From January, 2020 : Committee Chair (BJ) has completed paperwork to be our Cosignatory on the Stateside account and Stateside Treasurer will advise when process is completed. From March 2020: new online stateside bank account opened with Ally Bank which requires no minimum balance and has no fees. Paperwork for co-signatory going to BJ. When paperwork complete, this account will be tagged to PayPal . BJ indicates :Two signatures are not necessary on stateside checks,.  We also have no need for debit cards. Awaiting feedback from Shelley on this. From April 2020: Stateside Account has 430$ with 15 $ in donations yet to be deposited. and an account to be added to the PayPal account.. PayPal donations need to be electronically deposited. Stateside Treasurer (Shelley) received checks for the Ally Bank account. Awaiting confirmation that Cosignatory paperwork has been accepted by Ally Bank and all is now in order. (With only one signature needed for signed checks and with no EIN completed and no minimum balance required. Also awaiting information about what debit cards are to be used for).

B. From August 2019- Donation to WSO. Treasurer suggested $200 (Australian dollars) donation to WSO. Awaiting information re how to transfer electronically. From March 2020: Question of donation to WSO from stateside account under discussion. Exchange rate dropping...question of whether to wait to donate. (From Sept 2018minutes AU Balance was $342.64). (AU Balance November 2019 “less than $350 ) From April 2020: Continued discussion of donating money. US treasury- 430$ with 15 $ in donations to deposit. AU Bank Balance $344.77 Decision pending re:making donation from AU account to AU GSO.

C. From November 2019 : Gentle Reminder Committee - New Coordinator needed From January 2020 : the GR Committee prefers no Coordinator. Schedule written with member doing the monthly monitoring to give monthly report to KeyBiz. . Current committee members : Shelly, Rose, Cathy . Now awaiting current rotation schedule. From February 2020: Gentle Reminder Coordinator Position : remains open/unfilled until this committee decides otherwise From March 2020: committee members are Cathy, Rose, and Shelley. . Rose is moderator for March. From April 2020: Schedule is April: Cathy, May: Rose, June: Shelley. GR Coordinator position remains open/ unfilled until this committee decides otherwise

Business: A. WSO Guidelines for Group Banking: from WSO:  http://www.alnwfl-al-anon.org/_pdfs/GroupBankAccountInfo.pdf

B. Info about groups.io: To get the same capabilities that we now have with Gaggle.email we would have to subscribe to their Premium service which, at this time, costs more than Gaggle. If Key ever exceeds 647 members, at that point Groups.io would become the less expensive option. Groups.io currently charges $220/year regardless of the number of members a group has.

Questions and Answers re AU bank fees re mentioning Amazon as literature source for CAL (no discussion) re: web blog and posting reports re: Gentle Reminder Committee concerns including sharing photos ( sharing photos is not Al-Anon). We would need groups.io to block photo sharing. (see Business) re: Members who have chosen to Pause for a length of time re: members who are “unreachable”

BJ closed the meeting April 30th

Neal March 1st & 5th Concept 10
Joanne March 8th & 12th Step 6
Shelley March 15th & 19th Step 7
Mickey March 22nd & 26th Step 8
Susan Mar 29th & Apr 2nd Step 9

Stephanie Apr 5th & 9th Concept 11
Pat Apr 12th & 16th Step 10
Linda Apr 19th & 23rd Step 11
Barb Apr 26th & 30th Step 12

Sophie May 3rd & 7th Concept 12
Katie May 10th & 14th Tradition 1
Mary Ellen May 17th & 21st Tradition 2
Carl May 24th & 28th Tradition 3
Pat May 31st & June 4th Tradition 4

Hi all, This month the sponsors' list has been updated. We currently have 7 members who are available to sponsor. I haven't had any specific requests/questions about sponsorship. In service.

February 2020 KeyBiz MEETING MINUTES

Members Participating

1.   Adrienne
2.   Arlene -
3.   Barb - yes
4.   BJ - yes
5.   Buddy - yes
6.   Cathy - yes
7.   Kate - 
8.   Joyce- yes
9.   Rose - yes

10. Shelley - yes 11. Sophie -

REPORTS 1. AlternateChair (Buddy):

2. BusinessChair (BJ):

3. CALCordinator (Rose):

4. Gentle Reminder Coordinator : (position open/not filled as of January 2020)

5. Meeting Coordinator (Barb) :

6. Secretary/Archivist (Joyce):. The January 2020 KeyBiz Meeting Minutes have been posted to the blog. In Service, Joyce

7. SponsorCoordinator (Sophie) :

8. StatesideTreasurer (Shelley) :

9. Treasurer (Kate) :

10. Webmaster (Buddy) : January 2020 Activity Report https://key2harmony.org/files/index.php?post/January-2020-Activity-Report

We did not have a typical January as far as website traffic and new memberships are concern. January is usually the most active month for Al-Anon newcomers, but rather than increase in membership, Key to Harmony's total number of members decreased slightly from December.

Buddy

11: Gentle Reminder Committee Report:

UNFINISHED BUSINESS - From July 2019 - Cosignatory on Treasurer Accounts From January, 2020 : Committee Chair has completed paperwork to be our Cosignatory on the Stateside account and Stateside Treasurer will advise when process is completed.

B. From July 2019 - Obtaining a TIN (tax identification number for stateside bank account - The committee members who was working on obtaining a TIN has resigned from KeyBiz Stateside Treasurer previously indicated a TIN was needed on Stateside Account if we are to have an account with no minimum balance and be listed as a non- profit Further discussion ongoing. Consider EIN instead of TIN (because it is less complicated, still for non-profit status

   From January 2020 : discussion continues as to how to proceed

C. From August 2019- Donation to WSO. Treasurer suggested $200 (Australian dollars) donation to WSO. Awaiting information re how to transfer electronically.

D. From November 2019 : Gentle Reminder Committee - New Coordinator needed

     From January 2020 : the GR Committee prefers no Coordinator. Schedule  written with member doing the monthly monitoring to give monthly report to KeyBiz. . Current committee members : Shelly, Rose, Cathy . Now awaiting  current rotation schedule. 
       From February 2020: Coordinator Position remains open/unfilled until this committee decides otherwise

NEW BUSINESS

Chair Coordinator Position A1. Will be open in May. Cathy volunteered to take the position. A2. Suggestion to keep contact additional information for a list of volunteers willing at the last minute to substitute chair - under discussion

QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS:

Chair positions for next scheduled not filled yet

Here is the February activity report for KeytoHarmony@Gaggle.email and website stats from Key2Harmony.org:

174 Messages sent this month.

Successfully sending to all 464 members

14 members unsubscribed this month

Website traffic report:

Total Unique Visitors February 2020:

Daily Visitors February 2020:

Still not sure why the last day of the month's stats are always truncated.

Here is the December activity report for KeytoHarmony@Gaggle.email and website stats from Key2Harmony.org:

120 Messages sent this month.

Successfully sending to all 469 members

22 members unsubscribed this month

Website traffic report:

Total Unique Visitors January 2020:

Daily Visitors January 2020:

Still not sure why the last day of the month's stats are always truncated.

no enquiries about sponsorship this month. in service, Sophie