Minutes: Full Board of Trustees
Thursday, November 21, 2019
5:00-6:30 p.m. NOTE EXTENDED TIME
Conference Call # (605) 472-5304
Participant code: 488333#
1. Call to order/Serenity Prayer- Scott
In attendance: Paul, Scott, Steve, Derita, Colleen, Elaine
Absent: John
2. Approval of October Board minutes**- Scotta. Motion by Colleen, seconded by Steve. Unanimous approval.
3. Old Businessa. 5 Scholarships given since last meeting- Elaineb. # of potential new groups
contacted since last meeting- Scott
Information is on the google drive. Trustees will try to catch up on initial follow
up calls and the 6 weeks after calls
c. Bylaw and Communications cmt application
process/update- Steve/ColleenSteve – Bylaw committee: They have held two one-hour meetings. Not making
as much progress as they would like so will begin meeting more often. Veryrobust email exchange among the members. Working on term definition forclarity/agreement first.
Colleen – Communications Committee: The application deadline was extended;
received one application. The group, including Scott, will start work soon.
d. Connection material ownership- ScottBoard action requires all materials submitted are property of EAI. Scottaddressing.
e. Italian language/intergroup issues**- Elaine
The Milan group is an official intergroup. The Aosta group is part of theFrancophone intergroup. All translations must be made from English into theother language. Scott and Elaine will address this in person and send
recommendations to the Trustees via email in order to respond to the twogroups involved in a timely matter.
4. Review of finances**- Paula. October report**
Currently in the red in the financials – need to try find ways to encourage
members to give. Elaine will look into how to encourage sustaining
contributions.
b. Approval of 990**
Motion to approve the 990 by Paul, Seconded by Steve. Unanimous vote (Derita
left before the vote).
5. New Business:
a. Response to petition to cancel bylaw/comm- Scott

b.

c.

d.
e.

f.

g.

h.

Committees and literature review
Scott created a response to these petitions.
“Regional manager” program* – Lynne S.
- Elaine
Elaine will get back to Lynne and have him start working on it based on theseguidelines as a trial.
POI: eliminating color copy materials due to cost - Elaine$3,000 spent on color copies – as a cost saving measure we’re eliminating theseitems.
Proposed policy for ‘hardship’ materials*- Elaine
Approved.
Conference attendance- PaulPaul mentioned that he looked into 5 or more health conferences to attend on
behalf of EA and settled on a conference that thousands of therapists attend. He
suggested exhibiting at the conference to inform therapists of the EA program.
Steve, Scott, Colleen and Elaine agree that it is worth pursuing. Paul also notedthat AA exhibits at NatCon.
Google Adwords- PaulPaul reported that Google Adwords has a program that awards charities$10,000 in free advertising per month. Steve, Scott, Colleen and Elaine agree
that it is worth pursuing. Ads displayed will be purely informative, notpromotional.
Copyright requirements for new materials*- Steve
Steve suggested that in every place EAI solicits submissions from the EA
fellowship, there needs to be a disclaimer included that once written work issubmitted, EAI has the right to use it. Paul, Colleen and Scott agreed.
i. Where to post
- Elaineii. Method to review new materials- Elaine
Anonymity issue policy- Steve
Steve referenced wording that he developed that details that in certain
circumstances (when someones life is in danger and if someone has been
harmed by an unreported crime) it is up to the person(s) who heard are privy tothe information whether they will report it beyond the group or not. Scott,Colleen and Paul agreed.

It was agreed that since the meeting ran 1 hr and 50 minutes, we would delay item
5i for the next board meeting.
i.

Approval of new/revised literature**i. Trustii. Self Pityiii. Welcome to a New Way of Life

*See further detail on next pages.
**Documents sent via email- Elaine

#2Minutes 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. ( See
minutes 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 presentedand 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 toSteve in regard to those who did apply and plan to work on this working group, to accept all of
the 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 bigimpact. 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 affordEA 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.
#5b
Regional Manager concept:
The idea is to get more people involved outside of groups, encourage more activities, and to have avehicle to share ideas among groups.
1. These individuals would not be on the Board of Trustees.
2. They would self-select (no elections).
3. Their role would be to get in contact with existing groups to answer questions/office support sothey continue to operate.
4. They would NOT be ‘in charge’ of groups or able to set policy. They would not speak for EAI inany way.
5. They would be asked to get in contact with each group contact…2x? 4x? each year to see if theyneed anything or if there is anything they think the Board should know about.
6. There could be multiple managers within one region. No regional manager would have morethan 10?20? groups to look after. OR one manager would be responsible for one state. In states(like CA) where there are many groups we would need multiple managers.
7. The regional manager would be responsible for encouraging regional activities – not running theactivity themselves, but asking others to do something/helping plan or think about them.

8. Trustees would STILL be the first contact for any new groups that form. Trustees would thenhand over the new group to the regional manager (have to decide how regional managers get
new groups – location? #?)#5d
Policy on Hardship materialsIndividuals may request up to $40 in free materials during a 12 month period by contacting the EAI
office by phone, email or USPS mail. EAI office staff will track all requests and fulfillment of requests.
Shipping and handling charges, in addition to the retail cost of the materials, will be charged to theHardship Fund. Fulfillment of requests will only be made if/when funds are available.

#5g: Copyright language
All suggestions, writings, concepts, images, testimonials, reflections, and other materials (except yourpersonal information) submitted to Emotions Anonymous International (“EAI”) through this website orby any other means become the property of EAI immediately upon submission. By making such asubmission, you irrevocably assign, transfer, and convey to EAI in perpetuity all rights, titles, andinterests in and to the submission, without limitation, and in and to all copyrights on the submission,including any derivative work arising from it.
#5h
DRAFT: Exception to Anonymity & Confidentiality
Policy:An EA member is not required to maintain anonymity and confidentiality concerning (1) a credible
threat of harm to themself or another, or (2) an admission to a past crime.
Discussion:
Tradition 12 informs us that “anonymity is the spiritual foundation” of our EA traditions. Helpful
Concept 12 explicitly admonishes us that “anything we hear at a meeting, on the telephone, orfrom another member is confidential and is not to be repeated to anyone.”
Anonymity and confidentiality are some of the greatest gifts of the EA fellowship. These principles
are essential for fostering an atmosphere of trust and openness at our meetings. However, theseprinciples are not absolute. Tradition 12 continues that we must “place principles beforepersonalities.”
One such principle concerns the safety of ourselves and others. If someone’s sharing conveys acredible threat of future harm to themselves or others, our principles of anonymity andconfidentiality do not prevent EA members from reporting this threat to the appropriateauthorities.
Another principle concerns taking personal responsibility and accepting the full consequences ofour past acts. If someone’s sharing includes an admission to a past crime which was never solved orfor which the person sharing never accepted responsibility or was held accountable, our principles
of anonymity and confidentiality do not prevent EA members from reporting this to the appropriate

authorities.
In either case, future threat or past crime, the decision whether or not to report this information isa personal one that will be left to the individual EA member and his/her Higher Power.