Thoughts on Tradition Six from the Shropshire (UK) Intergroup (More HERE):

Short form

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.

Long form

Problems of money, property, and authority may easily divert us from our primary spiritual aim. We think, therefore, that any considerable property of genuine use to A.A. should be separately incorporated and managed, thus dividing the material from the spiritual. An A.A. group, as such, should never go into business. Secondary aids to A.A. such as clubs or hospitals which require much property or administration, ought to be incorporated and so set apart that, if necessary, they can be freely discarded by the groups. Hence such facilities ought not to use the A.A. name. Their management should be the sole responsibility of those people who financially support them. For clubs, A.A. managers are usually preferred. But hospitals, as well as other places of recuperation, ought to be well outside A.A.— and medically supervised. While an A.A. group may cooperate with anyone, such cooperation ought never to go so far as affiliation or endorsement, actual or implied. An A.A. group can bind itself to no one.

Tradition Six Discussion Questions

1. Should my fellow group members and I go out and raise money to endow several AA beds in our local hospital?
2. Is it good for a group to lease a small building?
3. Would it be acceptable to make a special donation to the owners of the building we meet in to express our gratitude?
4. Should the secretary of our group serve on the council’s advisory committee on alcoholism?
5. Should our group make donations to charities or organisations we wish to support.

Thoughts on Tradition Six

So what does it mean to appear to affiliate? In my time in service, I have seen this tradition frequently quoted and applied to extreme lengths. And perhaps sometimes this is right. But there are certainly occasions where the term 'implied affiliation' has been taken to mean that AA cannot even work with other agencies or engage the services it needs (such a telephone company). I feel that this extreme interpretation is unnecessary and unhelpful in fulfilling our primary purpose.

If we look at the long form of the tradition, we can see that Bill really intended this tradition to be a warning to groups who might consider undertaking projects that fall outside of our primary purpose of carrying the message. AA clubs are clearly exempt from this restriction, but starting a recovery centre or a charitable local project would certainly be a large distraction. But despite Bill's examples in the long form, the principle of endorsement is an important one to follow in all areas.

Let's say that a group decides to support a local homeless project. Group members are recruited to walk the streets at night offering help to those in need. On occasion they may find a potential member who they welcome to their meetings. The group grows and on the surface everything looks great. The charity being supported then begins to seek new funding and so begins a marketing campaign. In this campaign they proudly cite their association with AA. To outsiders it now appears that AA has moved into working with the homeless. Perhaps even worse, it also appears that AA is also seeking funds for this work. Before long the group appears to the outside that it is now a homeless charity. There is also the risk of the group's meetings being taken up with frequent discussions about this project thereby eating into meeting time that ought to be used to help alcoholics. The group and AA as a whole is also then at the mercy of an outside organisation who can publish their views on any matter that they wish.

A more recent example I experienced was from concerns from a member that an Intergroup advert for AA in a local paper meant that we were affiliating with that newspaper. Here, I believe, is where an important line of cleavage ought to be drawn. Nationally, AA groups and service bodies use a wide range of services. These include newspaper adverts and editorial, telephone companies, IT services, bookings at church and community halls and insurance, etcetera. If we were to read this tradition to mean that the use of a service implies affiliation, AA would be seriously handicapped in carrying the message of recovery.

It's important to note too that this tradition applies to groups, not to individuals. AA members are free to affiliate with whatever cause, politics or organisation they wish, but these affiliations are not appropriate at group level.

This tradition aims to preserve the integrity of AA and prevent us from becoming sidetracked from our primary purpose.