Proposal 2025-13 – Post All Committee Minutes or Reports on the ACAWSO.org in a Timely Fashion 

Submitted by: Region 2 (Greater Western USA), CA 915 (Arroyo Grande, CA, USA), WEB 381 (Arroyo Grande, CA, USA) 

Issue: We propose that all WSO committees (Collaboration Committees, Committees, and sub-committees) submit meeting minutes or reports for posting on the ACAWSO.org website within one month of each meeting. 

Background: WSO replaced 12 monthly teleconferences with 4. Very few of the 43 WSO committees listed (Collaboration Committees, Committees, and sub-committees) on the website diagram (ACAWSO.org) are given agenda time to make reports at any teleconference. This is also the case in the 4 Quarterly Delegate Meetings. At recent Annual Business Conferences, only selected committees have made reports. Delegates are, instead, referred to the annually posted Delegate Binder to research committee information. 22 As of September 30, 2024, no reports or minutes were located from any of the four Collaboration Committees that has WSO’s decision-making power. Some committees making quarterly reports are 6 months behind. Literature committee reports were last posted September 2022. The last reports of some committees meeting weekly were posted 3 to 9 months ago. Committees of the WSO Board, such as the Finance Committee, Executive Committee, and Distribution Center, are posting their reports regularly. Entries on SLACK channels and WSO Zoom committee meetings indicate meeting work is occurring. Reports are not, however, being posted in a timely way on the ACAWSO.org website that is accessible to the ACA worldwide fellowship. While the OPPM (p. 36) already states that reports are to be submitted and posted, committees are not complying with this policy. This is a matter of large concern to the fellowship. We cannot make informed decisions about policy or projects without up-to-date information. We cannot discern the best fit for our skills as volunteers on committees or lend support to committee efforts without information. 

Resources/Implementation: IT staff and volunteers post available WSO committee reports. With compliance by all committees to the existing OPPM policy, posting any additional committee reports may increase the IT workload by two to four hours each month. Since it is an expectation that IT posts all available committee reports to adhere to ACA transparency, this is a budgetary item that should be inherent in normal operation. 

WSO Analysis: Factors to Consider: Transparency and periodic reporting are vital to the fellowship’s ability to stay informed and engaged. According to the Operating Policies and Procedures Manual (OPPM), committees are currently required to submit monthly and annual reports for posting on the WSO service website, rather than reports for each meeting. Some committees face challenges in meeting this monthly reporting requirement due to limited resources. Committees with the support of paid special workers, such as the Finance Committee and the WSO Office/Distribution Center, are better able to fulfill this obligation. The proposal to require that all committees “submit meeting minutes or reports for posting on the ACAWSO.org website within one month of each meeting” may significantly increase the workload for committee volunteers. Addressing this issue could include exploring ways to recruit additional volunteers or other methods to support committees in meeting reporting expectations. Implementing such changes would also require a revision to the OPPM.

Note: the Literature Committee submitted its annual report to the 2024 ABC, demonstrating efforts to fulfill this requirement. 

Reference Links:
Find References linked at the end of the proposal at the ‘clickable links to the Ballot’, at the Ballot Prep Committee webpage at acawso.org/bpc