Sponsorship

​In Financial UA we strongly encourage our members to work with a Qualified Sponsor. A Qualified Sponsor is an experienced member of Financial UA who has completed a significant amount of the FUA Stepwork, specifically having completing Step Five -- turning over his/her Fourth Step inventory in person, face to face with his/her own Qualified Sponsor. Qualified Sponsors have also achieved Prosperity through working the FUA Program, the first Tool of which is to get a JOB. A Qualified Sponsor will have firsthand working knowledge of the Step-Work up to the level of their experience; and also significant firsthand experience with using the Tools of Recovery, the Tools of Prosperity and the Spiritual Techniques of FUA. Qualified Sponsors have a JOB and may also have a business. Eventually Qualified Sponsors may retire from the workplace and use their accumulated experience, strength and hope to help Newcomers to FUA.  

The experience of Sponsorship is about building a safe spiritual relationship with someone with whom we can create and hold space for healing and recovery. In Financial UA we look for someone who has what we want, typically someone who has recovery and prosperity, and is willing to share their experience, strength and hope with us. We look for a stable, available mentor who walks alongside us through the spiritual journey of working the FUA Steps or Traditions as well as the FUA Tools & Techniques. This Qualified Sponsor will help teach you to connect with and then channel your Higher Power in the form of Earning Power.  

Here are some ways to find a Qualified Sponsor in FUA.
​Consider attending a few FUA Workshops. Any member of FUA may Moderate a Meeting but ONLY Qualified Sponsors can Facilitate a FUA Workshop. Meetings generally are a fellowship-focused environment, whereas a Workshop is a teaching & learning focused environment. Qualified Sponsors frequently attend Workshops due to the focused level of information and committed recovery that is present in the Workshop setting. This is like realizing that the most prosperous place to find a loaf of bread is going to be at the Bakery, since that is where all the dough is made.  

Consider asking a Qualified Sponsor to introduce you to other Qualified Sponsors since generally they all know each other well. Spiritual networking is a very useful strategy to use once you connect with your first Qualified Sponsor.  

Consider asking your Higher Power or Earning Power to lead you to the most suitable or most compatible Qualified Sponsor; then begin interviewing all the Workshop Facilitators and build positive relationships with them; and then create and hold space for the organic spiritual process to occur where you "click" with one of them and your relationship evolves into Sponsorship.  

Qualified Sponsors have accumulated significant firsthand experience with the following:

1. They work with a Qualified Sponsor of their own.

2. They have a JOB.

3. They have completed Step Five in person, face to face with their own Qualified Sponsor

4. They are currently working Steps Six through Twelve and furthering their study of the 12 Traditions of FUA with their own Qualified Sponsor.

5. They are regularly doing Service for the FUA Program, such as: facilitating a Workshop or moderating a Meeting, participating in giving PRG's, developing Prosperity Teams with and for other FUA members, and Sponsoring newer members of FUA.

6. They have achieved Prosperity, meaning earning enough to cover all of their needs, some of their wants and to still have enough earnings left over to put into Savings.

7. They are developing their Work Ethic by holding a JOB; and sometimes running a Business or holding any type of position where they are a Trusted Servant in exchange for pay.

8. They are practicing the "Principles" (The 12 Steps) in all areas of their lives, meaning they typically attend several other 12 Step Fellowships in addition to FUA.

9. They are setting healthy spiritual and emotional boundaries in their relationships both inside and outside recovery. It is very common and encouraged that Qualified Sponsors also utilize other relationship based programs such as: Al-Anon, CODA, ACOA, SLAA and RCA. By Sponsoring another person in recovery they are "in relationship" with an addict / alcoholic and therefore qualify for Al-Anon. Qualified Sponsors utilize the process of Sponsorship to help improve and heal their own personal boundaries and then demonstrate and teach this to those they Sponsor.  
   
   Once a new member is ready to start working with a Qualified Sponsor we suggest immediately starting a Savings Envelope. This envelope will accumulate money over time, through earning and saving, that will eventually be used to fund the journey and to cover any expenses associated with visiting one's Qualified Sponsor to complete Step Five in-person, face to face. There are instances where a member prefers instead to have his/her Qualified Sponsor visit him/her, in which case the funds saved can be used to cover these expenses. Our experience has shown that face to face, in-person recovery experiences are the MOST potent and effective ways to work the FUA program. The process of setting a Goal, developing a Trajectory, using the Tool of Envelopes & Notecards, developing a Savings Plan, developing an Earning Plan, organizing a PRG or Action Meeting, and following the plan through to completion all leading up to the spiritual rite of passage of doing a Fifth Step in-person, face to face is an incredible catalyst for having spiritual experiences. All of these actions are learned in the process of working up through Step Four. These skills are further practiced as an FUA member continues to work the program, eventually becoming a Qualified Sponsor themselves, and then onwards as they develop and achieve financial and career success out in the world.  
   
   Healthy Boundaries within Sponsorship include:
   --  Sharing experience, strength and hope
   --  Offering gentle suggestions
   --  Creating and holding space for healing and recovery
   --  Honoring spiritual intimacy where people can feel safe to share their true self (both the good and the bad)
   --  Teaching through firsthand demonstration
   --  Encouraging others to learn through getting firsthand experience
   --  Empowering others to recover and prosper by encouraging them to use the Steps, Tools, Techniques & Traditions
   --  Encouraging Sponsees to expand their Recovery by attending additional 12 Step Fellowships to work on issues other than Financial Underearning
   --  Supporting a Sponsee's healthy independence, as they move toward developing Autonomy and
        becoming fully self-supporting.
   --  Demonstrating how to connect with Higher Power and channel it in the form of Earning Power
   --  Honoring that a Sponsee has a Higher Power and that Recovery is based on helping them to connect with and rely upon that Higher Power for guidance and direction.  
   --  Walking a Sponsee through the FUA literature, giving them assignments or homework relevant to the Step, Tool, Technique, Topic or Tradition being studied.
   --  Communicating or connecting on a daily or weekly schedule
   --  Offering a Sponsee opportunities to do Service within FUA (such as Moderating a Meeting)
   --  Meeting in-person, face to face to do a Fifth Step (and possibly other Steps in the FUA process)
   --  Holding a Sponsee accountable for those actions to which they have committed
   --  Honoring the understanding that the Sponsee needs to find within him or herself a Burning Desire to go to any lengths for Recovery.
   --  Respecting that the spiritual process of Recovery is FREE and that Sponsorship is FREE, with the understanding that there may be costs associated with buying supplies or literature, travel costs and participating in the Seventh Tradition.
   --  That doing Service for the FUA Fellowship or through Sponsorship is part of how we maintain our own recovery & prosperity and that we pass it on in order to keep it.
   --  Taking on Sponsees and also setting them free when appropriate
   --  Trusting that everyone has the capacity to connect with and channel Earning Power, and trusting that everyone has equal access to the Spirit of Recovery or Higher Power, and can learn to channel that energy in the form of Earning Power.  
   
   Healthy Boundaries also include:
   --  Never doing for your Sponsee what he or she can do for themselves
   --  Not enabling them or becoming codependent with them
   --  Not paying for something that they can earn and save towards for themselves
   --  Not covering the costs of a Sponsee's Fifth Step experience
   --  Not making their recovery journey easier, shorter or faster
   --  Not trying to take on the role of being their Higher Power or Earning Power
   --  Not forcing recovery upon them if they do not want it
   --  Not investing time or energy in a Sponsee if they are not earning it or doing the work
   --  Not engaging in inappropriate behavior or entertaining inappropriate behavior from a Sponsee
   --  Not bringing drama, chaos or stability boredom into the Sponsorship relationship
   
   During times when there is a large demand for Qualified Sponsors in FUA, combined with a limited supply, The General Service Office will encourage all Qualified Sponsors to lead "12 Step" Workshops. Step Workshops, and the Qualified Sponsors who facilitate them, create and hold a space where newcomers can get access to starting the Stepwork process even if it is limited in scope. In this space, the Qualified Sponsor becomes a Temporary Sponsor for all the members of the group and often will try to be available to meet with individual members 1 on 1 outside the Group space, as a way of offering additional support. This Temporary Sponsorship of the entire group is different from but similar to working one on one with committed Sponsees. Usually the Qualified Sponsor, acting in this Temporary Sponsor role, helps the new members to get through the first few Steps and to learn and practice many of the FUA Tools & Techniques. These new members, having received help to build a foundation for additional recovery, are in a much better position to then secure a Qualified Sponsor with whom to work in a committed one on one relationship. Once they commit to a Qualified Sponsor, they may revisit previous Stepwork or they may proceed with working the Steps in sequence. This is typically done at the discretion of their new Qualified Sponsor.  
   
   Qualified Sponsors, at their discretion, are free to discontinue working with any of their Sponsees. Any Sponsees, at their discretion, are free to discontinue working with their Qualified Sponsor. FUA Sponsorship is a spiritual relationship where both people agree to work together cooperatively to create and hold a space for healing, recovery and prosperity. In FUA, this healing, recovery and prosperity benefits both Sponsor and Sponsee. Additionally we propose that the benevolent and prosperous energy, that is created and then channeled, flows outwards like ripples in a pond, and ultimately this energy benefits all people, the World and those things beyond it.