Tradition 3 · March 10

Money or Conformity

Daily Traditions · March 10

How it gets captured

The two things the Long Form says membership may never hang on are the two things a program runs on. The Long Form (Big Book, p. 563): "Nor ought A.A. membership ever depend upon money or conformity." Money means a fee, a bill, an insurance code. Conformity means following someone else's rules to keep your place. Bill W. listed what A.A. has instead (A.A. pamphlet P-17, p. 37): "no fees, no dues, no rules and regulations, no demand that alcoholics conform to A.A. principles, no one set in personal authority over anyone else." Even the basket can be passed by. Money given in A.A., he wrote, is "in no wise a condition of our A.A. membership" (p. 28). Now watch the capture. A program bills for a stay, and the stay includes A.A. meetings. Attendance goes on the chart as compliance. Miss enough of them and you lose your bed. The meeting itself has not charged anyone a cent, but the seat was paid for by someone, and kept by obeying. That is membership depending on money and conformity, run through a building instead of a basket. Test it tonight: is anyone in your meeting there because they will lose something if they leave?

Sit with

A.A. has no fees, no dues and no demand to conform, and a program can supply all three around a free meeting. Is anyone in my room there because a program will punish them for leaving?

Grounded in: Long form, Tradition 3 (Big Book, p. 563); P-17, p. 37 (Bill W., 1947, on personal government) and p. 28 (Bill W., 1946, on money).

Tradition 3

"The only requirement for A.A. membership is a desire to stop drinking."

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 3 → Get the app →

← March 9No Monopoly Tradition 3All of March March 11 →You Can't Keep Us Out

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).