# Tradition Seven: does A.A. take outside money?

**In short:**
- The Long Form of Tradition Seven says A.A. groups ought to be fully supported by the voluntary contributions of their own members.
- It names what is dangerous or unwise: public fund-raising in A.A.'s name, large gifts from any source, any contribution that carries an obligation, and group treasuries that pile up money for no A.A. purpose.
- Bill W.'s 1946 essay "Money" shows A.A. did take outside help in its first years and was grateful for it. By 1946, he wrote, a strong feeling had spread among members that A.A. could and should pay its own way, and the trustees had resolved to decline gifts carrying any obligation.
- The Tradition is about A.A. groups and A.A. as a whole. It isn't a rule about members' own jobs or about the charities they support.

## What the Long Form says (p. 564)

The Seventh Tradition's Long Form says five things, in this order:

1. **Members pay.** The groups "ought to be fully supported by the voluntary contributions of their own members" (p. 564). In 1946 this was still a goal; the text says each group "should soon achieve this ideal" (p. 564).
2. **No public appeals in A.A.'s name.** Public solicitation of funds using the A.A. name is "highly dangerous," whoever does it: groups, clubs, hospitals or outside agencies (p. 564).
3. **No big gifts, and no strings.** Accepting "large gifts from any source," or contributions "carrying any obligation whatever," is unwise (p. 564). "Any source" includes members.
4. **No hoarding.** It views "with much concern" group treasuries that keep accumulating money, beyond prudent reserves, for no stated A.A. purpose (p. 564).
5. **Why.** "Experience has often warned us that nothing can so surely destroy our spiritual heritage as futile disputes over property, money, and authority" (p. 564).

The short form, "Every A.A. group ought to be fully self-supporting, declining outside contributions" (p. 562), condenses all of this into one line.

## How it came about: Bill W.'s "Money" (1946)

**At first there was no money to argue about.** Members met in homes, and if one wanted to help another alcoholic financially, that was his own affair (P-17, p. 27). Bill accepts that this couldn't last: meeting places, clubs and offices cost money, so the real question was how to limit money so that it never topples the spiritual foundation (P-17, pp. 27–28).

**Members' contributions keep the services honest.** Contributions are never a condition of membership (P-17, p. 28). Because nobody is compelled to pay, A.A.'s offices "can never dictate" (P-17, "Money", 1946, p. 29): if they serve badly, members stop paying. That is why members' own voluntary contributions should be "eventually our sole support" (P-17, "Money", 1946, p. 32).

**A.A. did take outside help once, and says so.** There was a time "when we desperately needed a little outside aid" (P-17, "Money", 1946, p. 33). Friends' gifts made possible the Alcoholic Foundation, the book *Alcoholics Anonymous* and the General Office, and Bill writes that A.A. would never stop being grateful (P-17, p. 33).

**Why that changed.** By 1946 A.A. had thousands of members earning a living, and a strong feeling spread that A.A. should support itself (P-17, p. 33). Let the public's money go to research, hospitals and education, which need it; "We can, and we should, pay our own way" (P-17, "Money", 1946, p. 34).

**What counts and what doesn't.** A nonalcoholic friend dropping a dollar in the hat is hardly an exception to self-support (P-17, p. 34). The concern is "the large contributions, especially those that may carry future obligations" (P-17, "Money", 1946, p. 34), and money left to A.A. in wills, public solicitation in A.A.'s name, and money from "wet" or "dry" sources, which would drag A.A. into the alcohol controversy (P-17, p. 34). Bill even questions a large gift from a wealthy member: might the group feel in his debt, and might he think he had bought his sobriety (P-17, p. 34)? His conclusion is that "acceptance of large donations from any source whatever is very questionable" (P-17, "Money", 1946, p. 34).

**The trustees' decision.** Bill reports that the trustees of the Alcoholic Foundation had just resolved to turn down any gift carrying the slightest obligation and any earnings offered from a commercial source, including money from film companies interested in an A.A. film, because "A.A. has nothing to sell" (P-17, "Money", 1946, p. 35).

## What the text does not say

The Long Form governs the A.A. groups and A.A.'s own services. It doesn't tell members not to earn a living, give to other causes, or work for organizations that do take outside money. Bill's concern throughout is A.A.'s name and A.A.'s treasuries.

The Long Form says large gifts and gifts with obligations are "unwise" and public appeals are "highly dangerous" (p. 564). The flat wording "declining outside contributions" belongs to the short form (p. 562).

## Later, for comparison (dated)

*The Twelve Traditions Illustrated* (P-43, 1971, updated 2023) adds that A.A. limits how much a member may give each year or leave in a will, "so that none of us can buy influence in A.A." (P-43, 1971, "The Seventh Tradition"). That limit is later practice, not part of the 1946 text.

## Read it yourself
- Appendix I, the Long Form of the Traditions (pp. 561–566), free from A.A.: https://www.aa.org/sites/default/files/2021-11/en_bigbook_appendicei.pdf
- P-17, *A.A. Tradition: How It Developed* ("Money," pp. 27–35): https://www.aa.org/sites/default/files/literature/assets/p-17_AATraditions.pdf
- P-43, *The Twelve Traditions Illustrated*: https://www.aa.org/sites/default/files/literature/P-43_0625.pdf
- Related: *What did Bill W. say about clubs and A.A.?* · *Tradition Eight: can anyone be paid for Twelfth Step work?*

## Sources
| Source | Pages | First published |
|---|---|---|
| The Twelve Traditions, Long Form, Tradition Seven (Big Book Appendix I) | 564 | AA Grapevine, 1946; in the Big Book from 1955 |
| The Twelve Traditions, short form | 562 | by 1950 |
| Bill W., "Money" (P-17) | 27–35 | AA Grapevine, 1946 |
| P-43, *The Twelve Traditions Illustrated* | Seventh Tradition | © 1971 (updated 2023) |

Big Book page numbers are from the fourth edition (2001). P-17 page numbers are the pamphlet's printed numbers (© 2019), which match aa.org's free PDF.

*Recovery Starts is independent and not affiliated with Alcoholics Anonymous. Quotations are brief and cited; the Big Book and P-43 are © A.A. World Services, Inc.; the P-17 articles are © AA Grapevine, Inc., reprinted by A.A. World Services.*