Sunil Fotedar's Column

A HUMBLE APPEAL to India-based KP associations As written earlier, KOA has several board-approved programs to monetarily support our community back in India that is in need of our support. Some of these programs, educational and medical, have been in existence since the mid-1990s. The office bearers of KOA, such as its executive team comprising the president, vice president, secretary, and treasurer, as well as directors that comprise its board, and the program directors, are all volunteers that are not monetarily compensated for their respective responsibilities. The program directors collect donations from the US-based KP community, and some Canada-based, on an annual basis for their respective programs. Of course, KOA cannot work in vacuum. It depends on India-based KP organizations to help identify the needy and distribute our checks among the beneficiaries. They are in true sense ‘service providers’ as KOA pays them for their services provided - such as maintaining their office,...

I have noticed quite a few appeals for funds coming from India over the years for various reasons, such as meeting medical and educational needs of our brethren back home. This has made me look deep into the KOA financials for the past 31 years starting from the year 1990 until the year 2020 (records for the year 2020 are unaudited as taxes for this year have not been filed yet). I have collected these records from several past KOA administrations and public tax records. Acknowledging what has been done in past serves two purposes: firstly, it provides recognition for the effort of previous KOA administrations, their team of volunteers and donors, and secondly, it helps to use available resources based on the experiences from such previous programs. Disclaimer The purpose of this writeup is three-fold: firstly, an appeal to all India-based KPs (Kashmiri Pandits) and their associations to look deeper into their own pockets and start donating generously just as their US-based brethren ha...