Ka Wai Ola - Office of Hawaiian Affairs, Volume 33, Number 12, 1 December 2016 — Mālama ʻāina, mālama waiwai [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

Mālama ʻāina, mālama waiwai

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www.oha.org/kwo | kwo@OHA.org NATIVE HAWAIIAN » NEWS | FEATURES | EVENTS

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In dividing the land this way, chiefs and their konohiki managed vast resources within their ahupua'a, whieh provided all life's essentials - wood from uka, the mountains for shelter and canoes, medicinal herbs from deep within forests, sweet potato, kalo, 'ulu and more from kula, inland, along with fish and limu rich in vitamins from the from ke kai, the oeean. Occasionally items were kapu, banned for a period of time to maintain the resource. If items were scarce in one ahupua'a, residents could trade with a neighboring

ahupua'a for what they needed. This model of land and resource management was very successful and the abundance of natural resources helped the populahon to thrive and grow for generations. With this natural resource management model in mind, OHA is taking steps

improve its hnaneial resource management by taking a thorough inventory of all its hnaneial assets, ineome and expenses, and then working with hnaneial management experts to develop policies and strategies that ean be implemented to ensure resources are available to better the lives of Native Hawaiians for generations to eome. "We need to take care of the resources as a whole - the investment portfolio, the commercial properties, the legacy lands, the core operating budget, the grants, the sponsorships, the contracts, the procurement, the I Mana Ka Lāhui and the Ka Wai 01 a ," said OHA CEO and Ka Pouhana Kamana'opono Crabbe. "We need to have a full inventory of what our assets are because if we are expending more than we are taking in, we are not fiscally healthy. So, we will need to diversify and exercise fiscal discipline, whieh means we have to scale down and stay within our budget. In other words I can't go out and eat $12 worth of food if I only have $8." OHA has an enormous task with its mandate to improve the lives of Native Hawaiians, whieh ean mean many things to the many different sectors of the eommunity, but it has limited resources to achieve this. "Prioritizing is sometimes like a juggling act," explained Crabbe. "Between housing, homelessness, jobs, diabetes, obesity, acquiring land, fighting off law suits, whieh are unfunded liahili-

ties that take resources from programs for beneficiaries, it ean be a struggle deciding what to focus on first, second and third." There are fundamental things OHA must do to keep its doors open. Its consultants have helped take a very comprehensive look at the whole organization and then put it into a structured model that ean project scenarios into the future, whieh will help OHA make more informed decisions. "I would say this was a healthy

exercise," said Crabbe. "I see this as something that ean unify OHA as a whole organization, where we are all on the same page. There is agreement now between the board and administration on what the priorities and goals are for the future. The office is committed to ensuring services and programs are consistently available and delivered to our lāhui through fiscally responsible and sustainable spending. Its implementation plan will include a hnaneial structure that will establish fiscal objectives and result in increases to the value of OHA's assets and endowments, improving capacity to deliver on its vision and mission, specific success indicators, progress reports and a code of ethics applieahle to trustees, officers and employees. There are plans to grow OHA's investments and revenue, taking into consideration eeonomie and market volatility, whether temporary that affects world markets, such as huge drops in a country's gross nahonal product (GNP). For example, in 10 years China's GNP grew to 10 percent, but in the past two years it fell to 6 percent. If that were to happen in the United States there would be massive unemployment across the nation. There is also political volatility around the world that affects the value of the dollar, at times causing inflation. This

means the same items will cost more, and with inflation expenses usually continue to rise. Subject to extemal factors that it cannot control, rather than reacting, OHA plans to minimize unwarranted risks by being proactive, anticipating different scenarios, strengthening internal processes, finding additional earning possibilities and diversifying. The board hopes to fully implement its new sustainability plan starting next fiscal year, in July 2017. Most agencies don't have a fiscal sustain-

ability plan. But OHA is not a typical government agency, it wears two hats - often operating as a nonprofit serving its beneficiaries, but also as a quasi-state agency that has to abide by state procurement and other rules and regulations. As a quasi-state

agency, OHA differs from other state agencies like the Department of Heahh or Department of Land and Natural Resources, whieh receive revenue from taxes and funds their departments may generate. OHA gets some revenue from that but the majority of OHA's funding is from the Native Hawaiian Trust Fund, whieh is why OHA feels compelled to manage the trust responsibly and in perpetuity so that it is sustainable for the Native Hawaiian community. "It took a lot of work, really digging deep into OHA's spending patterns, eontracts, grants, investment reports, work plans and everything else, such as nation building, purchasing this building and the potential for us to grow, all in anticipation of our new direction of fiscal sustainability," said Crabbe. "It's been a complicated process, but this plan will elevate OHA into the next era. "I believe fiscal sustainability is really about integrity, whieh means the decisions we make are prudent, using our money wisely and making it count on meaningful programs and projects for our beneficiaries, while perpetuating the trust. We always think about how to improve the conditions and well-being of our people and our communities. The best way for us to do that is to have a solid fiscal foundation." ■

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We need to have a full inventory of what our assets are because if we are expending more than we are taking in, we are not fiscally healthy." — OHA CEO and Ka Pouhana Kamana opono Crabbe