Our Journey & Sustainable Future

Community Update
Written By Mateya V

Dear FCB Community,

What a journey we've been on together!
We wanted to share an important update about where we stand after our Trinity College conference and our exciting plans for building a sustainable future together.

Our Journey So Far

Friendly Circle Berlin (FCB) began as a Berlin-based AA beginners meeting. What started as a small gathering has evolved into a thriving peer support network that now serves a diverse, worldwide audience. We operate as an autonomous group - independent of traditional 12 Step fellowship structures while staying true to 12 Step principles and values. This incredible growth has brought us to where we are today, along with the sustainability challenges we're thoughtfully addressing.

Reflecting on Our Conference Experience

Our Trinity College conference was truly remarkable, and we learned invaluable lessons. We're deeply proud of what we accomplished and grateful to everyone who made it possible. However, we also faced real challenges - despite outstanding presenters and accessible pricing, we struggled with ticket sales, and about 40 attendees cancelled due to Dublin's accommodation costs. While we gained CPD accreditation, reaching professionals proved more challenging than expected.

Here's where we stand financially: All external conference bills are settled (thanks to generous post-conference contributions), but we still have outstanding costs for work that goes far beyond volunteer capacity. We also lack the reserve funds needed for ongoing monthly operations.

These experiences have guided us to pause planning another live conference for now, so we can focus on more sustainable ways to serve our community.

Our Current Financial Reality

Our Monday workshops regularly attract 200–400 participants but receive minimal donations. Last month's workshop with Jan Winhall had approximately 350 attendees and generated two $2 donations. Yet when we shared information about Jan's $49 workshop series, we received over 100 inquiries.

This shows us something important: our community values meaningful offerings and is ready to invest in growth — we just haven't created clear structures for that investment to sustain our free programming.

Our free offerings — Monday workshops, weekly meetings, and book studies —depend entirely on community donations, not paid programming. Right now, those donations aren't covering basic monthly costs.

Patrick has personally funded our community's expenses for our first three years and remains deeply committed to our mission — not for financial gain, but to ensure we can continue serving this incredible community effectively. With Mateya, we work tirelessly behind the scenes to coordinate workshops, book studies, provide community care, and manage everything technical and administrative.

We're also deeply grateful to our incredible volunteers who host our weekly meetings with such dedication and skill. Their consistent presence and thoughtful facilitation create the warm, supportive environment that makes our community so special.

What This Means Moving Forward

Good news: Our core free meetings and book studies continue — funded by your donations.

The reality: We've reached a crucial point where we need to evolve our approach thoughtfully. To maintain what we've built together, we need sustainable funding that allows us to continue this work, especially where it comes to workshops and our annual conference which involves very many hours of professional work and expertise.

Building Our Sustainable Future -Together

We give this service from the heart, but it also represents many hours of skilled work weekly. At this scale, we need structures that support this level of commitment. We're developing a comprehensive sustainability plan that honors both accessibility and long-term viability.

  • Continuing to offer free programming funded by donations

  • Exploring affordable paid offerings for those who want more in-depth experiences

  • Opening up other revenue streams to support our basic operations

Our goal: Honor both accessibility and sustainability in a healthy, fair way.

How You Can Help Right Now

Thank you for your trust and companionship on this journey.

We're honored to serve and grow alongside you. We're excited about the sustainable community we're building together and look forward to what lies ahead.

With love and gratitude,
Patrick & Mateya ♥️

Mateya V