AIS FAQs

What is AIS? AIS stands for Al-Anon Information Service. Our Greater Seattle AIS serves groups in Districts 14-22 in Washington state. That area is basically King County plus a small part of Snohomish County. An AIS is a service arm of Al-Anon that helps Districts located close enough to one another to share information and to answer calls from those seeking information about Al-Anon. Our mission: "To provide a network of communication to our communities and to our fellowship." Many AIS offices, like ours, also have a Literature Distribution Center.
What exactly does the Greater Seattle Al-Anon do? A key service that AIS volunteers provide is a Phone Service to take the calls of potential members, newcomers, and others seeking more information about Al-Anon. Many member's first contact with Al-Anon is hearing the welcoming voice of a phone volunteer. Our Literature Distribution Center stocks Al-Anon Conference Approved Literature so our members can more quickly receive their literature. We produce a Meeting Directory of our local meetings, the BITS newsletter, and this Website. We also perform Public Outreach to raise awareness of Al-Anon and Alateen in our communities. These tasks are performed by volunteers. Please consider volunteering!
When are the AIS Council meetings? AIS Council meetings are held on the second Thursday of each month from 7:30 to 9:00 PM via Zoom. All members are welcome. See the Events page for details.
Do Groups have a vote at an AIS Council meetings? Yes. Each Group is strongly encouraged to send a representative to AIS Council meetings. The Al-Anon/Alateen Service Manual suggests that the Alternate Group representative attend the meetings, but any representative sent by their Group (except those also belonging to AA) have a vote. And all members are encouraged to volunteer for service.
Where can I find minutes from AIS Board and Council meetings? Please contact your AIS Council Representative or District Representative for the full minutes. A summary of the minutes is included in each month's BITS newsletter.
Where can I find financial information for AIS? AIS Info .page.
Who are the AIS officers and coordinators and how do I contact them? On the AIS Info page.
How do I know when there is a new edition of the BITS newsletter and what is the best way to read it? The BITS newsletter is published on this website at the first of each month. To be notified when it is published, please subscribe. You will receive the notification in your inbox which includes a link to the BITS. You can read the newsletter on that browser page or If you prefer to read the BITS on paper, click on the button for the .pdf print version.
When I subscribe to the BITS, how many emails will I get each month? You can expect to receive one email each month. It is sent out when that month's BITS newsletter is posted to this website. On rare occasions, there might be the need to send a special communication as we did to help meetings get up and going and listed when meetings shutdown during the COVID pandemic.
Where can I find the AIS Bylaws and Standing Rules and Procedures Manual? Click on the links on the AIS Info page.