FAQ
You will find answers to most of your common questions by browsing through various pages at our web site. This FAQ site is created to make it a little easier for you to get answers for some common questions.
General Questions
Who can become OSA members?
According to the constitution guidelines, anyone interested in Orissa and Oriya culture can become a member of OSA by paying the required membership fee. We do want to point out that membership is voluntary and at will basis. None of the OSA members or voluntary OSA officers will not be liable for any dissatisfaction of anybody’s membership.
What are the benefits of OSA membership?
Please check OSA membership page for details. The main benefit is more of psychological than material. It’s the satisfaction of being in a group of our interest and being included and involved.
Can I resign from my membership? In that case can I get back my membership fee?
You can resign from your current membership by sending a signed letter to the Secretary of OSA by US mail. The membership fee will not be returned. We are a very small organization and have no Human Resource Department to take care of complications.
I want to volunteer for OSA. What should I do?
Please check OSA webpage on committees to find out any particular activity that you would like to be involved in. Then you can contact OSA executives with your interest. The current executives have kept OSA volunteer standard as “Respect”, respect for self, respect for fellow OSA members and respect for the organization. Please make sure that you can confirm to this standard.
Does OSA have any events that I can participate?
OSA has its main event as its Annual Convention. Please check the convention page for details. The convention takes place during July 4th weekend. Apart from that various OSA chapters also organize several events throughout the year. Please check OSA chapter page and its administration page to get contacts of various chapter representatives.
Who is the convention for or who can attend the convention ?
Anybody who has interest in Orissa and or in Oriya culture. However, non-members do have to pay OSA membership fee for attending the convention.
What are the advantages of attending OSA Convention ?
(1) It is a thrilling experience to be in the middle of the largest gathering of Oriyas outside of India and to be able to witness and share the pride of Oriya heritage thousands of miles away from Orissa; (2) Enjoy live performances by top-notch artists from Orissa and distinguished Oriya artists living in North America; (3) opportunity to meet and listen to celebrated guest speakers/dignitaries from Orissa; (4) participate in forums dedicated to significant issues; (5) meet and discover old friends and acquaintances and make new ones; (6) opportunity for your children to perform, participate, and network; (7) it also makes a great family vacation.
I am an OSA member. Can I advertise my company is OSA webpage?
After we receive request from you, we can provide a link to your (only for members) company’s website free of charge. However, to use any words or phrases, we would charge $200.00 per year for each advertisement containing less than 200 words.
I am an OSA member. I want to publish articles in Utkarsa. What should I do?
Please contact OSA editors. You can get all of their contact information from OSA administraion page.
I am not a member of OSA. I want to publish articles in Utkarsa. What should I do?
We request you to become a member. We are sorry to say that we would not be able to publish any articles of non-members. However, Utkarsa editors can invite articles from established writers that may be non-members of OSA.
I am a permanent member of OSA. I did not attend the convention. When and from whom should I receive the souvenir and directory?
Your first point of contact should be your chapter president. If your chapter president did not attend the convention, he/she should supervise the activities and should be able to know. You can directly contact Sridhar Rana at sridhar_rana@yahoo.com by November 1, 2009 with your address and choice of CD or book format.
I am a permanent member of OSA. I did not attend the convention. How can I get information about GBM report?
The GBM minutes is published in the September issue of the newsletter. Please check the publication page for details.
Questions on Awards
Who appoints the award committee?
Currently (at least from 2004) the award process is managed by the Vice President of OSA. The award coordinator/committee is first selected by the Vice President. After VP’s initial recommendation it is passed to the National Executive Committee for formal approval. After the approval, OSA president makes formal appointment.
Who finally selects the winners ?
The award coordinator/committee selects judges for each award category. Depending on the scores provided by the judges, the award coordinator sends the names of the winners to the Vice President. The VP then consults OSA President and other members of the executive team for the formal approval of the awards.
Are the records of the deliberations before and after the nomination process kept and if so available for viewing by members say after few years?
For privacy purposes, the names of the judges and the nominators are not disclosed to public. The task is given to the award coordinator/committee. It is left to him/her/them to follow a procedure that is fair and ethical. OSA National Executives do not intend to micromanage the activities of all committee member volunteers. On the other hand OSA newsletters publish nformation about the award coordinators and the awardees. One may contact the individual award coordinators to get any information he/she wants.
Questions on OSA Expense
How is OSA expense approved?
According to the constitution, for the office bearers travel expenses. Any one item of expenditure beyond $300 (instead of current $200) must be approved by the President. Any amount over $500 (instead of current $400) on a single non-budgeted item must be approved by a majority of the Governing Board. The approval from the Governing Board will be sought through e-mail. In case of no response within two weeks from a Board member, it will be assumed that the particular member has approved the request. The same rule will apply for donations by various OSA members to charitable/educational/developmental organizations in Orissa. Such collections and expenditures must be reflected as regular income/expenditure items in OSA account. Any OSA operational expenditure over $10,000 shall require an approval from the General Body.
*For unpredicted emergency situations like when OSA as an organization is sued, OSA should defend itself at any cost.
Who makes the decision on OSA expense?
For emergency situations like when there is Injunction Hearing within 4 hour notice, OSA executives or OSA President, or Acting President can take emergency decision on OSA expense for hiring attorney to represent OSA. In other cases for regular OSA expenses, BOG should be consulted and a decision will be taken after 2 weeks considering the voting results. For expense on a particular new item for which fundraising is done, all the money raised for that particular cause should be used for that cause.
