A Vote for a Check
Daily Traditions · July 21
Picture a donor who gives big and then, gently at first, expects a say — where the group meets, what literature it reads, who leads. To keep the money, the group starts bending. The Long Form traces exactly this fault line: "problems of money, property, and authority" that divert us from the primary purpose. Money rarely announces that it wants to run things. It just gives, and waits, and slowly a checkbook turns into a chair at the head of the table.
Where have I let a check start casting votes in my life?
Grounded in: Long form (money → authority).
This is a hypothetical. The situation described above is illustrative — an imagined scenario used to think a Tradition through. It is not a real group, not a report of anything that happened, and not a rule we invented. The Traditions belong to A.A.; we're only reading them plainly.
Tradition 7
"Every A.A. group ought to be fully self-supporting, declining outside contributions."
And a distinction worth keeping straight: the Traditions are governance, not theology. They bind A.A. groups and the Fellowship — not individuals, and not outside businesses. They were adopted in 1950 to keep A.A. from being owned or co-opted. They are not a rulebook for your personal life.
Daily Traditions is an independent educational resource from Recovery Starts — not official A.A. literature, not affiliated with Alcoholics Anonymous World Services, and not medical advice. The Twelve Traditions are the property of A.A. Page references are to Alcoholics Anonymous (the Big Book), 4th Edition: short form 561–562, long form 563–566. If you're in crisis, call or text 988 (Suicide & Crisis Lifeline).