Skip to content Skip to navigation

ASA Foundation, Inc., Meeting Minutes

Submitted by admin on Tue, 10/30/2007 - 23:51

Date: 10/21/2007.
Venue: Teleconference

Attendees: Nomal Dutta, Jugal Kalita, Utpal Brahma, Jayantha Thakuria and Mukul Chowdhary

Key points Discussed:

  1. The central focus was on disbursement of the money raised for various social projects in Assam, India during the annual Assamese Conference (Assam 2007) held on Washington DC, Maryland during June 30-July
  2. Nomal Dutta mentioned that donations were received from attendees against the following causes Parijat Academy (solicited by Partho Gogoi), Pragyalaya (solicited by Ankur Bora), Hope Project (an old ASA project which was initiated by Malabika Bora Brahma), Flood Relief (A Core ASA Foundation project).
  3. The members unanimously agreed that while the raised fund is to be used for the purpose it was contributed by the generous community members, for the purpose of book-keeping and compliance against the IRS guidelines (which a tax exempt organization like ASA Foundation is bound by law to comply with), the foundation must receive the legal and tax status of the recipient organization (in this case Parijat Academy and Pragyalaya) as applicable in the country (in this case India) where it operates before the fund can be disbursed.
  4. Utpal Brahma will contact Parijat Academy and Pragyalaya directly to seek the pertinent legal and tax status of these organizations as applicable in the country where it functions (India)
  5. Mukul Chowdhary and Nomal Dutta will provide input to Utpal Brahma with respect to the exact information which will be required from these organizations before money can be disbursed to them.

To make our effort more meaningful and effective, it was decided that

a. A teleconference call involving AFNA members (which will invoke joint effort between ASA Foundation and AFNA for projects relating to Assam) and well wishers within the community will be a good starting point.

b. Seek the help of professional fund raising bodies to raise funds from Assamese and non-Assamese residents in the US for projects in Assam. Nomal Dutta volunteered to work with Dr. Sanjiv Bhuyan regarding this initiative.

Utpal Brahma