Tradition 6 · June 16

A Field Day for Promoters

Daily Traditions · June 16

The threat

Put the A.A. name on a fund drive for a good cause, and you have handed it to every promoter in town. In the 1940s some groups, desperate for hospital beds, started public campaigns to raise money for "A.A. hospitals" of their own. Bill W. wrote what followed (A.A. pamphlet P-17, p. 16): "Instantly all sorts of doubts are generated; the projects bog down. Conservative A.A.s realize that business ventures or solicitations carrying the A.A. endorsement are truly dangerous to us all. Were this practice to become general the lid would be off. Promoters, A.A. and otherwise, would have a field day." A promoter is someone who sells a scheme to the public. The beds were badly needed. The danger was the name on the appeal. So the Long Form moved hospitals out of the groups' hands (Big Book, p. 564): "Secondary aids to A.A., such as clubs or hospitals which require much property or administration, ought to be incorporated". Incorporated means set up as a separate body with its own owners. The group carries the message; the bed belongs to someone else. Today the field day is open: galas, campaigns and appeals that use A.A.'s name, or "the recovery community," to raise money for buildings no A.A. group will ever own. Test it tonight: has your group's name, or A.A.'s, ever appeared on somebody's appeal for money?

Sit with

Bill saw that a good cause carrying A.A.'s name would bring the promoters in. Has anyone ever raised money in my group's name, and did the group agree to it?

Grounded in: Long form, Tradition 6 (Big Book, p. 564); P-17, pp. 15–16 (Bill W. on hospitals, 1947).

Tradition 6

"An A.A. group ought never endorse, finance or lend the A.A. name to any related facility or outside enterprise, lest problems of money, property and prestige divert us from our primary purpose."

Read the Long Form (pp. 563–566). The short form on pp. 561–562 is the one everybody quotes — but the Long Form is where the Traditions actually say what they mean. Tradition 3's "no other affiliation" clause, for instance, exists only in the Long Form. That single clause is why no treatment centre can own an A.A. group. Most of what circulates online skips it.

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.

What the Traditions actually say → The Long Form, p. 563 → Search the Big Book → Every day this month →

Ask Recovery Einstein about Tradition 6 → Get the app →

← June 15Whoever Pays Tradition 6All of June June 17 →His Work and Ours

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).