Tradition 9 · September 2

Won't Money Spoil This Thing?

Daily Traditions · September 2

Before the Tradition

December 1937. Bill sat in John D. Rockefeller Jr.'s board room and asked for money to build something specific: a chain of hospitals where alcoholics would be treated, staffed by A.A. members, paid for out of the proceeds. Albert Scott, who chaired the trustees of Riverside Church, asked the question that ended it (A.A. Comes of Age): "Won't money spoil this thing?" Rockefeller sent a man to Akron to look, got back a recommendation for fifty thousand dollars, read it, and said no. "I think money will spoil this." Be clear about what A.A. almost became. Not a fellowship that referred people to hospitals — a fellowship that owned them. Beds, staff, fees, admissions, discharges. And whoever owns the building has to govern it: decide who gets in, who pays, and who is asked to leave. That is an organization, and Tradition 9 is the sentence saying A.A. can never be one. Tradition 9 asks one thing of any body doing A.A.'s work: is it "directly responsible to those they serve" (Big Book, p. 562)? Nine years after that board room, A.A. wrote the answer down, so it would never again depend on a rich man saying no.

Sit with

Rockefeller's refusal is the only reason A.A. didn't end up owning the places where people get sober — that was luck, not principle, and it held exactly once. Where in my own recovery am I still counting on luck to hold again?

Grounded in: A.A. Comes of Age (the board room; Rockefeller's refusal); P-44.

Tradition 9

"A.A., as such, ought never be organized; but we may create service boards or committees directly responsible to those they serve."

Read the Long Form (pp. 563–566). The short form on pp. 561–562 is the one everybody quotes — but the Long Form is where the Traditions actually say what they mean. Tradition 3's "no other affiliation" clause, for instance, exists only in the Long Form. That single clause is why no treatment centre can own an A.A. group. Most of what circulates online skips it.

And a distinction worth keeping straight: the Traditions are governance, not theology. They bind A.A. groups and the Fellowship — not individuals, and not outside businesses. They were adopted in 1950 to keep A.A. from being owned or co-opted. They are not a rulebook for your personal life.

What the Traditions actually say → The Long Form, p. 563 → Search the Big Book → Every day this month →

Ask Recovery Einstein about Tradition 9 → Get the app →

← September 1Not an Organization Tradition 9All of September September 3 →In the Supposed Interest of Efficiency

Daily Traditions is an independent educational resource from Recovery Starts — not official A.A. literature, not affiliated with Alcoholics Anonymous World Services, and not medical advice. The Twelve Traditions are the property of A.A. Page references are to Alcoholics Anonymous (the Big Book), 4th Edition: short form 561–562, long form 563–566. If you're in crisis, call or text 988 (Suicide & Crisis Lifeline).