The Future of Debtors Anonymous
Member Survey for D.A. Strategic Planning
Every five years, the Debtors Anonymous General Service Board spends valuable time planning long-term strategies to support D.A.’s long-term health, focusing on program growth, outreach, and sustainability. Like a Pressure Relief Group (PRG) Action Plan, it reflects the Fellowship’s needs and vision for the future.
In July 2025, D.A. members were asked to take part in a 44-question survey to inform the next strategic plan. The 2025 Strategic Planning Survey closed on December 31, 2025.
Exactly 400 D.A. members filled out the survey! Thank you to all who spread the word and, especially, those who shared their experience, strength, and hope.
This “Word Cloud” reveals all 123 shared responses written by two or more members to the open-ended question, “What three words come to mind when you think of the D.A. program?” The total responses resulted in 310 unique words or phrases. “Clarity” was shared 75 times!
Please feel free to download and share this graphic at your meetings. We plan to create more graphs, charts, and maps from anonymized data in the coming year.
12 years have passed since the last GSB-approved 5-Year Plan covering 2009-2014. Much has changed.
- 3 new D.A. books have been published, plus a 2nd edition of 1 book
- 26 literature translations of books and pamphlets have been approved in 4 languages
- Meetings grew from 16 countries to meetings in 31 countries
- There are increased ways to donate online around the world to support D.A.
Yet, Debtors Anonymous still faces some of the same challenges. It’s clear what’s needed: Positive culture shifts program-wide in the areas of Service, Sponsorship, Membership Growth and Diversity, Public Awareness of D.A., and Contributing at the World Level. The majority of meetings are now online and no longer in person, which has resulted in greater accessibility but also a significant drop in 7th Tradition donations that support General Service Office staffing, D.A. literature publication/translation, Public Information (PI) outreach, and other valuable programs that get reduced or delayed, year after year.
Our focus is on a plan that captures the group conscience of our Fellowship to guide us through the next five years and beyond. We need to set overarching goals, define our objectives for reaching those goals, and develop specific, measurable, achievable, relevant, and time-based actions that can be implemented and/or delegated by the D.A. General Service Board (GSB).
What we are doing now:
- Conducting survey analysis
- Selecting diverse members for small focus groups
- Selecting diverse members for 1-1 interviews
- Preparing an in-depth report on the 2025 Strategic Planning Member Survey
- Developing possible action lists for D.A.’s next 5-Year Strategic Plan
In observance of our Traditions, the following steps were taken throughout survey development
to ensure they were held in integrity. The Strategic Planning Subcommittee consulted with experts to ensure all questions were in line with 12-step standard practices. The Subcommittee also researched similar membership surveys in other 12-step fellowships, like the Alcoholic Anonymous 2022 Membership Survey. To that end, we assure the D.A. Fellowship that:
- All survey questions about member identities were optional.
- The options related to identities were focused on collecting serviceable data.
- Data collected will stay confidential, preserving anonymity.
- The majority of data will be reported in aggregate form; excerpts from written responses will not be linked to any individual.
- Data will inform who we reach out to for small focus groups and 1-1 interviews in order to represent a diversity of experiences and needs.
If you have strategic planning or data analysis experience, please consider volunteering.