The once powerful all inclusive only Nepali umbrella organization ANA is showing signs of becoming defunct after last year's financial fiasco during the Boston convention.

2011 ANA Convention was to be held at Denver Colorado, but ANA has recently made a press release announcing this year's ANA convention to be held in Washington DC. It is a known fact that organizers of Denver, Colorado had major reservations partnering with the ANA after witnessing the bitter partnership with the organizers from Boston. The fact that they had to resort to organizing the ANA at their home turf shows that they were not capable of capturing any interest from any of the plentiful Nepali organizations spread across the United States. Observers have noted that pretty soon ANA would be lucky to end up serving the VA/MD/DC area in the future if they are not able to regain the trust of Nepalis residing the US.

ANA used to be the only influencial Nepali organization in the the US as a whole, but this influence is gradually slipping away due to the incompetence and personal agenda displayed within it's core committee.

At this point, there is a panic within it's central committee because of the accounting abnormalies haunting them from the Boston convention. Observers have noted that the Boston convention abnormalties are just a tip of the iceberg. As the largest Nepali organization in the US, ANA has accumulated a lot of fixed assets amounting to few million US dollars. Now, with the future of the organization under question, the assets need to be scrutinized before it becomes a playing ground of the few priviledged.

When ANA was formed, the number of Nepalis were a handful so it made sense for ANA to become a central organizing body to hold convention for this handful of people. Now even a small city has more Nepalis than at that time. It is now time to shift the focus to more local events and reigional conventions.  What ANA could do is have a decentralized presence and support more local events and interactions than hold one converence a year - the executions of which have been failing, disorganized and incompetent to say the least - mostly due to lack of leadership and guidance.

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I am not one bit surprized.  ANA is rung by a bunch of bureaucrats mirroring Nepali Politicians.  Their fugging BHAIHALCHA NI attitute brought them to this pathetic state.  These fuggers are more interested in their power play than bettering the Nepali Community.  They treated ANA like their Cash Cow and look where it lead them....   And yet these incompetent nincompoops have yet to find out where that $80,000 dissappeared from last year's ANA.

I'd say hold these buggers accountable and take them to court for embezzling money or rather stealing money from the organization.

 Well said! BC.

100% agreed with wikileaks and BC. Here is what I had posted in the other ANA related thread: http://sajha.com/sajha/html/openthread.cfm?threadid=88458


I am still wondering what happened to the $70K plus money that went missing from the last ANA that created such a stir not too long ago. I can't find any update or any related news regarding this issue and it seems as if the trail has gone cold. I visited ANA website and I can't find anything? Am i missing something? On top of that now I hear, without even having this issue resolved, ANA has announced their next convention venue to be Washington DC (moved from Denver)  which was announced during a meeting in the DC metro area which was supposedly called to address missing money issue? I find it hard to digest.  If i were Simon Dhungana I would have voluntarily stepped down as a result of such controversy taking place under my presidency rather than trying to bring the convention to and around my home town. 

On a separate note ANA, being registered as a non profit organization has not shared any financial documents ever since they started, which makes me question where the money is going to or has gone all these years?  As long as this organization does not publicly disclose its financial documents for the number of years it has existed to me nobody in that organization is clean. Send them to prison and make an example out of them.

 Looks like Simon Dhungana single handedly brought down a 30(?) years old institution.

I have no sympathy for the likes of Dhungana who misuse the money that belong to an organization.  It used to be nice to hang out with friends during ANA, but I guess no more.

I have been in US for almost 5 years and have been hearing about ANA conventions in SAJHA.

I have no idea how i have benefitted from ANA and how it affects me?

I think helding ANA Convention is their only purpose.

Was it suppose to send you money?

 Jhapaliketo,

It seems like you are looking for your benefit --without even attending ANA convention. 

Look, no one is going to offer you any benefit. Organizations or conventions like these are offering services to people who want these services. If you don't want, they are not forcing you to have these services.

What kind of services are they? Well, my first trip to ANA convention was to meet fellow Nepali, because just to find out there are other fellow Nepalese like me around was a nice feeling. I was willing to spend more than 200 dollars in travel alone to go to the convention. I crashed at someone's apartment. And the convention felt good.

The second time I went, I wanted to meet a girl who could have been my prospective wife. She was sweet, and for me, it turned out to be a good investment. It was clear to me that a lot of men of my age had an experience not similar to "The March Of Penguin" type-- we marched long to find soulmate. There is no bound on how much people are willing to pay or spend for such experience:)

ANA conventions normally are fun. I hope they take care of the organization well, and run it well. It is by now a cultural event. We don't have to travel very far to meet our own people. And yet, every once in a while, ANAko bahanama we can travel far, and meet many people under the same roof.

If you are not using these services,  please don't blame others for not 'benefitting' you.

I took my some co workers to ANA one time as they were interested in cultural aspect of the event. The ANA presented a fashion show with bunch of " 50 cents and Lil Kim  Wanna bes nepali models. I was so embarassed. The even still has been a joke at my work to this day. Some attention craving morons have made ANA a " Maagi Khane Bhado"

This organization does not represent Nepal or Nepali.

Pire I totally agree with your latter comment. People are here bashing ANA as if their tax money goes to running it. Sure as a not-for-profit it has some responsibilities which it clearly had failed on, but over bashing of ANA sounds like I-dind't-do-It-So-I-will-Bash-you tirade, borderline jealous (of an almost defunct org).

Now for your former comment, I wouldn't drag anybody's name here w/o knowing the full and final story.

pire it has not been proven yet that Simon Dhungana is responsible, the problem is that a huge sum of money was lost after the ANA convention in Boston and it happened under Mr.Dhungana's presidency. There hasn't been any update or any initiative to find out and to punish those who were involved. If there has been any on going investigation why aren't the public informed about what is going on? how come we hear that Mr.Dhungana has announced the next venue for the next ANA rather than what is going on with the investigation? why has Mr.Dhungana not stepped down?  the point is everyone on the board should step down as a result of this huge mis management especially the president.

Stifler,

When i paid $25 for that Fashion Show, i did not pay that amount with a hope to see hot Nepali Models and their attires. It was a contribution to ANA, the association  for the associations benefit. Ofcourse i feel like a tax payer. So goes for the Hotel Premiums, Dance Club premium and the purchases of gifts and such. I do not buy or spend at ANA because there is a best deal around, i do it to help out the organization.


The problem with people who run ANA is that they have the same thought process as yours. They think its their hard earned money and they can spend it however they want it, for personal benefit or communal.

"When i paid $25 for that Fashion Show, i did not pay that amount with a hope to see hot Nepali Models and their attires. It was a contribution to ANA, the association  for the associations benefit. "

I will use this joke next time in a large Nepali crowd. Thatta garya ki sachhai ho Sidster? That's like saying I goto Strip bar to keep the economy moving and support those hungry stripper's kids. Not that I am comparing the fashion show to stripshow, just saying.

Thatta hoina serious comment ho.

$25 strip club ma kharcha garda...hotness bhanerai garne ho....Fashion show chain...tori laure show nai huncha thaha thiyo tara...Nepali Association le Gari Khaos bhanera kineko ho.

Again, that was not a fashion show and those models were not worth $25 per show.

I thinl this finger pointing pakka Nepali politics!! Convention manegement arkai raicha. So Kaam bigarne [Disallowed String for - use of word not allowed] gaali khaane kaalu.

http://ana-convention.org/2010/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=94&Itemid=85

hare...nepali haru jaha gaye pane estai!
 

 

I do not want to sound hasty here but my gut feeling is that the missing funds are most likely a result of years of financial mismanagement. I commented about this and the ANA board in my last post:

http://sajha.com/sajha/html/OpenThread.cfm?ThreadID=86733#799747

Non-profits, by its nature, are supposed to be transparent about every activity they pursue - they should, in large, disclose these to their members. The general health of the organization can only be assessed through its financials - so this too should be part of the disclosure. They are required by federal law to submit Form 990 to the IRS - in the absense of balance sheets and profit & loss statements, ANA should be able to distribute a copy of the 990 to their members. The form should tell you the amount of equity (net worth) they have built up. I have decided long ago not to become a member (my own choice, of course) - however, if you are a member I urge you to contact ANA and request a copy of the form.

I hope that senior members of the board have been honest in their dealings and what is reported on the 990 is in fact the reflection of true business reality of the past P&L. Accounting can be such a dirty game - to that end, ANA can hire an external auditor (at their own expense) to provide some assurance to the members and the community - and rebuild some lost credibility - that their hands are clean.

I do not know much about ANA and its leadership team (please ignore if they are doing these already) - but if I happened to be in their position I would do whatever I can to undo the reputational damage and stop the train from derailing. We should not let a national cultural organization such as ANA go defunct - it is not the existence of the organization that's in question its the people who run it - although some restructuring and overhaul is called for. As an adamant believer of honesty and hard work, I believe if the funds are really missing then the executive board needs to be held accountable and impeached if required (I'm sure the bylaws cater for this). Once the funds are found, why not start by announcing a merit based college scholarship fund for an aspiring young talented nepali to give the organization another go?

And lets not judge ourselves or fellow nepali with that of ANA's behavior as it merely represents an average nepali american in my opinion. With a slight modification from one of the most competent individuals in the world, let this be the guiding light:

"When a management team with a reputation for (incompetence) tackles a (non-profit) business with a reputation for (good) economics, it is the reputation of the (non-profit) business that remains intact."

@242 what are you talking about? are you saying that ANA board is not responsible and only Boston organizers are to blame? what nepali politics are you talking about? you do understand that ANA, a non profit organization, is in the middle of money mismanagement mess? if we the people don't point our fingers at the ANA board members and ask them about it  who else will? what is there so wrong about raising questions to the ANA board members? if they were responsible and careful enough there should have been no difficulty answering any of it? especially questions about the lost money from the last convention and finances of the organization for the past 15-20 yrs. People have been too laid back and let this organization run free like a "chada gai" all these years in my opinion.

No matter who took the money, it is evident that this mismanagement occured under Simon Dhungana's presidency, therefore he and the rest of the board members are equally responsible (guilty or not remains to be seen) and as a result they should all step down by virtue of the them not being able to prevent it from happening. The guilty party, whoever it is, should be sent to jail and made an example.

सजिलै र चाडो आर्जन गर्ने बानी हाम्रो मौका पाउदा किन गुमाउथे पाको पालो । देश मा होस वा बिदेश मौका पाउदा चैट गरिदिए ।
It reminded me a proverb.
गिदडकी खाल बदली जा सकती है लेकिन आदते कभी नही !

हिनामिना को पुर्पक्ष हुनु पर्‍यो , निर्क्यौल अनुसार तिर्नु पर्ने भए बक्यौता बुझाउनु पर्‍यो , हैन र । जेल भन्दा पनि हिनामिना भएको रकम पुर्ताल पहिलो कुरो हो ।
 

Sidster,"The problem with people who run ANA is that they have the same thought process as yours. They think its their hard earned money and they can spend it however they want it, for personal benefit or communal."

Ha ha ha  Its their hard earned money ?  Are you fugging kidding me ?  WTF did they do to earn this money ?  I KNOW FOR A FACT THAT  THEY DID NOT DO SHIT FOR THE CONVENTION.  EVERYTHING WAS DONE BY VOLUNTEERS IN BOSTON.... WHO HAD TO PAY FOR THEIR OWN TICKET TO BE A VOLUNTEER.... WHILE THE EXECUTIVES(in some cases and their families) OF ANA WERE ENTITLED TO EVRYTHING FREE OF COST ?   BLOOD SEAT AND TEARS OF BOSTON VOLUNTEERS WAS WHAT MADE THAT EVENT POSSIBLE AND ANA EXECUTIVES CAME PARTIED WITH MOOJ MASTIII(all for free) AND LEFT .  ON TOP OF THAT ANA WANTED $70,000 FROM THE TOTAL REVENUE.  I HAD HEARD THAT THERE WERE 2 ANA PRESIDENTS WHO WERE THROWING THEIR WEIGHT AROUND IN BOSTON ? lol!!  TYO GADHA HARU SAAB AAFU LEY AFAI LAI MAIIIHUU BHANNEY HARU MATRA HO JUST LIKE THEM USELESS NEPALI POLITICIANS.  Cannot believe those fat asses wanted $70,000 for doing nothing but sit on their fat asses.  These GADHAS have no fugging shame.