Local man hoping to turn deficit-organization into non-profit organization at some point in the future

By Rogier Kievit

Ned Whitely, a 43 year-old resident of the rural village of Lebnitt, Nebraska has high hopes for his charity organization as it goes into its fourth year of existence. The main goal of this one-man charity is the protection of the black-capped mushroom, a relatively rare type of mushroom that has seen its number dwindle in recent years. ‘It seems like people just don’t care about these poor mushrooms. When I ask them to support this charity all I usually get are blank looks. Only occasionally does someone spare a few quarters. It just seems like people don’t care about species that are not cuddly like pandas’.

Due to these hard times in public opinion, Ned has not been able to achieve his goal of creating a non-profit organization. The last three years have produced a steady leak of funds, totaling in a 2.500 dollar deficiency. Due to these financial hardships, Ned has not been able to actually implementing any concrete protection projects, so far mainly focusing on not losing any more money.

When asked, Ned is still highly optimistic about the future. ‘You always hear things about non-profit organizations doing all kinds of good things, and I can tell you one thing, being a non-profit organization is not an easy goal to achieve. So far, I’m still a consistent deficit-organization’. The first years where marked by minor misfortunes that kept the one-man organization in the red figures. ‘The third year I got pretty close, I was breaking even and about to set up a protected area in a nearby forest before the tornado swept away the shed I used for administration’ says Ned, sadly gazing in the direction of his former headquarters. Nevertheless, he keeps his spirits up for this year. ‘I’m only down $350 so far, so I only need one proper sized contribution from a real fungus-philanthropist and I’ll be right in there with the other non-profit organizations.’