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The organization OSA has currently spread into 15 regional Chapters, which operate as a social umbrella for different regions in USA and Canada. The chapters are local/regional Oriya groups consisting of OSA National members. The chapters arrange religious festivals, social get together, cultural events and participate in the cultural life of the local community as representatives of Oriya culture.
A particular chapter is delegated to host the convention of the year. The chapter chooses volunteers, leaders from its community to coordinate various tasks related to the convention. The chapters are administered by locally elected officials. The National Governing Body and the Presidents of the chapters form the OSA Executive Council, which acts as a policy-making body.
Chapter Membership versus OSA National Membership
Chapter formation procedure is described in Article VIII of OSA Constitution in following sections.
Section
1 (a)To form a new chapter,
a minimum of 15 families, with signatures of
at least 20 local OSA members residing in the local community, must
submit a written request to the Board of Governors through the
Executive Committee. The decision of the Board shall be conveyed in
writing. (b)All members of the
chapter should have a contact address within the
defined geographical territory.
© Every
Chapter should have a geographical
territory as defined during its formation as approved by OSA BOG.
That definition cannot overlap another existing chapter's
territory. Section
2 A petition to form a
chapter must be made to the Secretary of OSA for
approval by the Board of Governors at least two months prior to the
targeted date of its establishment. Section3
(a) The President of a
chapter or an elected representative shall
become a member of the OSA Board for a term of two years. A
notification to that effect shall be submitted to the Secretary of OSA
by the respective Board Members on or before the June 30th of the
OSA election year. The chapter President or his representative to OSA
Board must be a life member or patron or benefactor member
(i.e., permanent member) of OSA in good standing.
(b) The
President/Coordinator of a
Chapter is eligible to continue on the Board for a second two-year term
if reelected by the chapter, but no more than two consecutive two-year
terms. A notification to that effect shall be submitted to the
Secretary of OSA on or before the June 30th of the OSA election year.
(a) The President of a
chapter shall provide a membership list of the
chapter to the Secretary of OSA by June 15th of each year. (b) When members move to a
different local address by virtue of their
job-relocation or other reasons, permanently, they should cease to be
the member of the chapter. Section
5 Any donation and
membership dues collected by a chapter in the name of
OSA shall be deposited with the Treasurer of the OSA. A chapter shall,
however, be free to raise its own membership fees and other donations
for local activities. Section
6 All financial accounts
owned by Chapters must reflect OSA EIN and all
funds raised by Chapters shall follow OSA rules and IRS regulations.
Chapter shall submit a copy of its annual financial statement to the
Treasurer at the end of each fiscal year. Failure to report such
transactions in time is subjected to expulsion from Chapter status.
CanOSA will be exempted from this rule, however, CanOSA must report
annual chapter financial report upon Treasurer’s request. Section
7 At anytime if the chapter
falls short of 15 local families of OSA
National in the vicinity of the chapter’s operating area, the
chapter will stay under probation and the so called chapter president
will lose the seat in the BOG until the member requirement is
satisfied. The chapter can be reinstated with a fresh application with
the signatures of 20 individual members and consent of 15 OSA member
families. Section
8 A single person must not
serve in the position of chapter president for
more than 4 years in total in a span of 10 years. Section
9 All Chapter officials must
be OSA permanent members with good standing
and are subjected to the same standards as National executives. Section
10 A chapter must maintain
the minimum requirement to remain as a chapter
in good standing. The minimum requirements will be described in the
chapter’s standard document.
A Chapter President is a member of the OSA Board of Governors (BOG). Accordingly, the Chapter President participates in policy and decision making process of the organization. This is described in Article V of OSA constituion.
(a)OSA will have a Board of Governors (hereafter referred to as Board) to serve as the custodian of the Society. The Board will be responsible for making policy decisions to be implemented by the Executive Council (as defined below). The membership of the Board will consist of:
(b) The President of OSA shall
serve as the chairperson of the Board and the Secretary as the
Secretary of the Board.
Under the same article under Section 7: Powers and functions of the Treasurer, it is stated that any amount over $500 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.
When OSA was formed in 1969, four decades back and the chapters were formed within a few years of its existence, chapter formation procedure was very simple. There were no written rules, policy, agreement, signature and document requirement for the chapters. No endorsement of the President was recorded. Even if we are so many years of existence and many things are changed, chapters still operate by following their predecessors and sometimes many chapter presidents just do what they feel like doing. All chapters are encouraged to discuss with their members and come up with a chapter operation manual for their chapter. OSA BOG will also take the initiative to come up with a better chapter management program.
Chapter Membership versus OSA Membership
There are many confusions over chapter membership versus OSA National membership. While OSA National has its own fee structure and various membership categories, several chapters do have their own membership structure such as annual and life membership. OSA National membership is the eligibility of a person to be a chapter member. Although the same word "membership" creates confusion at times and thus there was a suggestion to use the word "chapter activity fee" instead of "chapter membership fee", it should be fine to use "chapter membership fee". It is up-to the chapters to decide how much and what type of membership fee they may charge. However, there should be some prudent way to distinguish a member of the chapter than a non-member. Only permanent members of OSA National and the respective chapter would be able to hold any positions in the chapter. However, the chapters may allow guests and decide on how they treat guests versus members for deciding event fee structure.
There are 14 chapters in USA and 1 chapter in Canada. To know more about a particular chapter, please follow the respective link. You can also get their contact information from the page on OSA Leadership.
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