Ka Wai Ola - Office of Hawaiian Affairs, Volume 33, Number 2, 1 February 2016 — Report on the Annual Report [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

Report on the Annual Report

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HA has recently published its , 20 15 Annual Report about how it spent its monev last

year. Annual hnaneial reports about

how an orgamzation spends its money is normally an "I see the numbers but what do they mean" and scratch your head experienee. After reviewing the report I want to take the time to eommend OHA administration for an outstanding 2015 Annual Report. I encourage OHA beneficiaries or anyone else who might be interested to eheek it out.

The report is available on line by googling Office of Hawaiian Affairs 2015 Annual Report but I would highly recommend interested parties to access the printed publication, whieh I believe ean be made available by calling OHA. While the website posting is good and not to be dismissed as less informative than the on-line version the printed publication is beautifully formatted and the hnaneial information well organized with brief but informative explanations that makes it a very easy read.

Total Value of Assets

OHA's Trust assets include a Wall Street investment portfolio of about $350 million, revenue derived from a number of other sources that include legislative appropriations, state ceded land revenue, real estate properties, and a number of grants, androunds out to asset base of about $630 million.

Annual Operating Budget 8ynopsis

OHA's annual operating budget is subject to an overall Trustee imposed spending limit. In 2015 the spending limit was $52, 892, 434.00. OHA employs 160 employees with an annual payroll of about $13 million.

The rest of the money is broken down into budget spending categories as follows:

•Grants $11,354,142 • Overhead Costs $3,267,741 • Program Services $1,021,860 • Core Personnel $13,921,590 • Property Management, $6,007,840 • Special Programs, $2,046,251 • Governance Planning, $3,700,000 • Contract Services, $7,653, 056

Spread throughout the above expenditures are a plethora of services and initiatives that include, but are not limited to cultural programs, education, poliheal advocacy, eeonomie self-suffi-ciency, various beneficiary loan programs, health programs, housing, improving family lifestyle, improving family ineome, and more. It is unfortunate that most mainstream media accounts of OHA activity always end up being so controversy-centered it renders the news reporting as an unreliable and skewed characterization of what OHA does and a total distraction for beneficiaries and the general puhlie who tend to rely on the news for their information. Even if unintentional, these media-driven news accounts have the chilling effect of casting a cloud of obscurity over the bulk of OHA's operations and how our 160 employees spend most of their time. So unfortunately, OHA operations resemble an iceberg - most of it is submerged and out of sight. OHA's 2015 Annual Report print versions should be available at the OHA offices in the Nā Lama Kukui building (formerly the Gentry-Pacific building), 560 N. Nimitz Hwy., or easily accessed on the home page of OHA's website at www.oha.org. ■

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PetEr Apo

TrustEE, O'ahu