Every A.A. group ought to be fully self-supporting, declining outside contributions.
TWELVE STEPS AND TWELVE TRADITIONS, p. 160
When I shop, I check the prices, and if I see something I need, I buy it and pay. Now that I’m in recovery, I need to get my life straight. When I go to a meeting, I drink coffee with milk and sugar, sometimes more than one cup. But during the collection, I’m too busy to take money out of my wallet, or I don’t have enough, but I’m there because I need this meeting. I heard someone offer to donate the equivalent of a pint of beer, and I thought to myself—that’s too much! I almost never give a dollar. Like others, I rely on my more generous friends to fund the fellowship. I forget that it takes money to pay for the meeting room, to buy the milk, the cups, and the sugar. I will pay for coffee at a coffee shop after the meeting without hesitation; I always have the money for that. What, then, is the value of my sobriety and inner peace?