Charitable Status!
After applying in August, and some back-and-forth since, the Charities Service has awarded us Charitable Status. This is great news, as it allows an donations made to be tax-deductible for whoever is donating, and it allows us to not have to pay tax (as long as we keep to our stated charitable purpose and provide lots of documentation and accounts to the Charities Service).
As part of the requirements we were asked to have at least one more Director, particularly to make sure any potential conflicts of interest are handled appropriately. We’re delighted to welcome Lewis Kitchen as our new Director, who help make sure everything is done properly and in accordance with our stated goal of trying to understand didymo so that one day we can hopefully provide the science that will have the potential to control it and return our rivers back to their natrual, diverse, pre-didymo state.
On the research front, we are now ready in the lab to undertake out first study (trying to identify viruses that infect didymo), but we’ve been hampered by all the rain. We’ve tried a couple of sample-gathering days, but the floods have either made it too dangerous, or have washed the usual didymo away. We are presuming this will only be a temporary reprieve, and will try to collect the first didymo samples in the coming weeks/months, as per the conditions stipulated by MPI (who have agreed to allow us to collect samples, as long as we make sure every cell is dead, by using a special stabilising solution and liquid nitrogen as the riverside).
On the funding front, there continue to be a small group of fantastic supporters, who are donating every month (thanks heaps), as well as some one-off donations from friends, contacts, supporting groups and total strangers! We now have almost $5000 in funds, which is enough to get the first study done. In addition we’ve had 2 very generous pledges, which would help us for our second study, but we are reluctant to accept them until we can demonstrate capacity and capability by gettin gthe first study done first (so I’ll be in touch then!).
Huge thanks for your interest and support, cheers,
tom
