Minutes from the October 8, 2019 EA Board of Trustees (Scott was the scribe)
Meeting called to order at 4:37 p.m. by chairperson Scott.
Those present at our meeting: Scott, Steve, John and Paul
Both Colleen and Derita consented to be absent as trustees, having seen the agenda prior tothis decision. Elaine was also not able to be with us but told us to go ahead without her. We’ll
meet again in November so those items that we’ll not be able to handle at this meeting and inregard to other matters – we’ll hear updates on these things at the next meeting.
We began by saying the Serenity Prayer.
John made a motion to approve of the Annual meeting minutes as they appear below. ( Seeminutes at the bottom of this page.) Steve seconded the motion. No further discussion.
Motion passed.
Steve moved to approve the September 14th board of trustees’ meeting minutes as presented
and Paul seconded the motion. No discussion. Motion passed. (See these minutes at thebottom of this page, too.)In regard to the # Scholarships given since last meeting – Elaine will need to update us about
this in November.
In regard to the # of people who may potentially start new groups that we are following up withas trustees, we had the follow comments. We’ve followed up with all who asked for new group
information packets except for one person who made a request for said packet today. We’realso starting to do 6 week follow ups as well – to see if these people have started groups, how
they are doing, and if they need further support.
In terms of the Bylaws committee, Steve sent all 6 submitted applications from those wanting
to be on this team to all the trustees for them to review. The intention by Steve, the chair of
this committee, is to accept all but one of the 6 applicants. The one individual whom Steve isintending to not accept is an individual who clearly stated that this person was only interested
in being on the committee to observe. This individual did not intend to be a contributing
member of this committee. With those thoughts clearly stated by this individual, it was clear to
Steve in regard to those who did apply and plan to work on this working group, to accept all ofthe remaining 5. The trustees agreed with Steve. The names of the committee members (firstnames only) will be shared with the fellowship at a future time once they’ve all 5 agreed toserve. Steve will be chairing this committee and Scott will be the other trustee on the team.
Steve has the backing of the entire trustees to go forward with this team of 7 people.
In terms of the Communications Team – we’ll get further updates from Colleen since she was
not on the call. We’re in the application phase as of now, anyway – so there was not much toupdate at this point.

In terms of a chat group concern that was brought forward, one of the trustees participated on
this chat group call and discovered that the issue that had brought the concern has been
resolved at this point in time.
When it came to updates in re: to resolving issues between Italian and francophone groups –Elaine will have to update us on this at a later date – if there is anything to update us on.
In terms of a review of finances, there was a finance committee meeting on Thursday Oct. 3 rd.
The committee’s report came through Paul. He plans to input the monthly financial statements
into a spreadsheet so that we can see how things track from year to year and from month tomonth as a pattern. In general terms, regarding the financial report, it’s exciting to see how
well the Welcoming Spiritual Awakening Workbook is selling and how that income makes a big
impact. Overall, there’s a deficit of over $10,000 from July 1st thru Sept. 30th thus far. We have
not had our Fall “ask” letter go out so sometimes there is an increase in giving once people
realize how crucial it is that they give to the fellowship’s financial status in order to help thefellowship carry out EA’s mission. Clearly there is a continued and urgent need for member
giving to increase. We find that having reduced staff time (for budgetary reasons) has impacted
how quickly (or rather how slowly) orders can be shipped out and that is frustrating formembers ordering material. Dave Q. will continue on the finance committee with Paul. The
finance committee would welcome anyone who wants to actively participate in this committee.
In terms of discussing the proposed “Regional manager” program and the possibility of Lynne S.
being a trusted servant in this area – Elaine will need to update us later if there’s anything toupdate.
In terms of the point of information regarding eliminating color copy materials due to cost –Elaine will update us later.
In terms of a proposed policy for ‘hardship’ materials for those struggling to be able to afford
EA materials, Elaine will update us on this so we’re clear on what the policy will look like andhow it will be implemented - to both help people have the chance to give towards this fund andhow people will be able to access it if they are in need.
In terms of approval of new/revised literature, the Hope pamphlet (new), and the Self-pity
pamphlet (new) and The Common Thread (revised by adding questions) – Scott made a motion
to approve all 3 pieces and John seconded it. Discussion was supportive. Motion passed.
Point of information: We’re anticipating that the next trustees’ meeting is Nov. 21st – on aThursday and we’ll wait for Elaine to confirm this date since some of us had a different datedown for our Nov. mtg.
We closed with the serenity prayer. At 5:24 p.m. the meeting ended.

Minutes: Annual Membership Meeting. Sept 14, 2019 – Approved as they read below on
10/8/19
Scott J.’s President of EA message focused on thriving, and health and wellness. Looking at how
we can increase engagement among the membership. Key points he focused on were: * A year
ago we only had three trustees on the board * After a purposeful effort to get more on theboard, there are now six trustees * Right now, we have the equivalent of 1.4 employees. If we
had more money, this staffing situation could increase in order to be able to reach morepeople. * How to attract people without promoting (Scott clarified the difference between
attraction and promotions – see notes later in the meeting’s minutes) * We are working on
partnerships within EA * Scott believes that the board is well rounded based on who is serving
and the skills that they have. * Gus is deeply missed (he was the former EA President who died
unexpectedly in March) * When we sent out votes to groups in previous years for ratification,
we had fewer than 30 groups voting to ratify. * Engagement has increased as a result of theissues of whether to refer to God or Higher Power and in terms of the way proposed bylaw
changes were presented. * Reactions to proposed by-law changes and controversy aroundreference to God/Higher Power resulted in decreased donations from the fellowship in thespring of 2019, which hurt the organization as a whole in trying to achieve our mission. * Scottlooks forward to re-energized committees, as well as new committees. * We as a board
continue to emphasize integrity and transparency.
Elaine’s Director’s report focused on * We have a competent and dedicated staff. * Claire has
been helpful doing a plethora of things, including keeping donor records. * Sandy Wells
manages accounting as well as incoming orders. * Carlene manages shipping. * Officecontinues to be closed on Fridays. * Elaine’s grateful for the staff. * She’s focused on
addressing technology issues and updating software systems. * She’s making significant inroads
into the Global EA community – i.e. EA is active in Germany and there are two groups in Iran. *She’s hopeful that with a full board that we can move the organization forward.
Scott summarized for those who might be on the EA Annual meeting telephone call and are notfamiliar with who we are - EA has been around since 1971. People gather in person, on chatrooms, phone, and skype.
Steve motioned to adopt rules of order, John seconded. Motion passed.
Each group gets 1 vote. Charlie from NJ wanted to confirm which group he will represent – heselected a Skype group to represent instead of the one from NJ.
Steve gave a report re: a new Bylaws Committee that’s being formed and summarized: * We’re
currently accepting applications for the committee until Sept 30. * The work the bylaws
committee will be charged with is to work on the bylaws without specifically trying to address
hot-button topics. There will likely be some proposed changes to the bylaws. The goal is tofocus on how we operate as a fellowship and how the bylaws can be written in a way thatsupports this work and to make sure that the membership gets to ratify all changes. *Membership applications are available on the website. * Membership/fellowship will adopt orrevise by-laws, not solely the committee’s recommendation.
Questions were fielded from callers about procedural vs. content in regard to by-laws.
Steve shared that the plan is to hold at least one group telephone meeting each month 60-90
minutes in length on days which are mutually convenient for everyone with the first meeting
being held in October, if possible.
Colleen gave a report re: Communications Committee summarizing: * We are putting together
a communication plan regarding how best to communicate with members. * From October 131 we’re accepting applications. * We’re encouraging people to apply for the committee. *The challenge and opportunity is to pull groups together around the world.
Scott’s report on activity in regards to Books and Lit.: *There seems to be both good group
growth and health and individual growth in people as they are reading the new pamphlets, asgroups are working the steps, and people are using exciting and transforming new material likethe Welcoming Spiritual Awakenings Workbook. * Ongoing reflection questions are being
added to pamphlets – we will be rolling this out as we can afford to make these revisions – interms of new language in pamphlets they will focus on ‘trusted servants’ instead of ‘leaders’
Paul’s report on the finances - *he reviewed 2019 vs. 2018, as well as FY20 forecast * he was
asked about # of total groups – 650 registered groups across the world, no way to really know
how many groups there are as many don’t register to be included on the website
We had an open discussion during this annual meeting asking for ideas to attract more people
which are as follows: * Contact medical professionals, religious organizations, gov’t, editors,writers, articles, radio, use internet as best as possible - Scott cleared up promotion vs.
attraction: promotion includes a promise of a result of doing something, attraction provides
information/creates awareness. EA does not promise anything – all efforts to share themessage focus on letting people know of EA’s existence.
Comments from members on other matters: * Someone mentioning that foundation wasshaken due to literature changes. This person noted that ‘people are trusted servants’ and said
that the emphasis should be to ‘consider the current membership before attracting more
people’ * Someone recommended that we make sure that we show up on Google results,
Google Maps * Someone noted the need for more outreach and more financial donations –that we can improve online donations from members. * Someone said that getting newmembers to stay is difficult. * Someone else asked if he is allowed to put into a paper a noticeof the meeting and the answer is yes, he is allowed to do that. * Someone commented thatthey would like the literature could be less expensive. * Derita’s comments: In Ohio they havea meeting in a hospital once a month * If WE want the fellowship to grow, WE have to get theword out.

The membership meeting closed with Announcements: * There’s an Annual telephone
conference call, Oct 19, how to cope with fear and anxiety using EA tools. Greta stated that thiswill be her last year managing the annual phone conference and invited anyone who would liketo do it in the future to contact her.
We closed the Annual membership meeting with the Serenity Prayer.

Minutes – Board meeting Sept 14, 2019 – approved at the Oct. 8th, 2019 board meeting.
Approval of August minutes: Motion made by Derita, Steve seconded. Everyone approves
August minutes are now able to be posted
Derita – makes a motion to post minutes right after they are approved at the current from theprevious meeting, John seconds it, everyone approves
No scholarships given since last meeting, also no requests
Have $3,000 reserved for scholarships and prison materials as a result of a request for funds tothe membership last year.
Colleen suggesting a note in the newsletter that members should not to make copies ofmaterial for meetings as it is copyrighted material.
Discussion around maintaining The Connection newsletter for sharing of experience, strengthand hope, whilst creating a quarterly update for an update on organizational updates toseparate EA business issues from EA program-related materials.
Steve has been receiving applications for by-laws committee; 4 applications so far, but hewould like to have 10. We will send another reminder that we are collecting applications
through the end of September. Steve said he would send the 4 applications around to theboard.
Colleen is looking for a trustee to co-chair the communications committee. Scott to co-chair
Elaine- update on Italian/French issue. Still waiting for a response from the Italian groupregarding the rights of the French group to translate materials into Italian.
Steve motion to accept budget, John seconded. Everyone approves. From the initial forecast
budget, the cost of books (as represented in the budget) needs to be increased as book sales
are forecast to increase. Also, we will invest another $1,000 extra for pamphlets and othermaterial. Will review material investment at the 6 month mark to see where finances are.
Everyone discussed year to date finances. We have $4,000 year to date losses, while revenue isup notably. Administrative expenses are higher, offsetting the gain in revenue. We are going toanalyze the expected payroll for the remainder of the year so that we can accurately forecast
the remainder of the year.
Chat room needs to be healthier. Need to put out the value statement and make it clear toeveryone. Trustees will hop onto chat room and help facilitate healthy guidelines andprinciples.
As a board, we are working towards developing the idea of partnership and creating a pamphlet
to define the partnership idea. John noted that any sort of partnership needs to be structured.
This would not replace the idea of sponsorship but be an additional way members could workwith each other, as sponsorship is something EA members continue to request but few are
willing to act as sponsors.
That’s the end of the Sept. 14th trustees’ meeting minutes.