Dear Supporter,

On behalf of the Nichi Bei Foundation, we would like to thank you for your past support. Many of you have already reached into your pockets to help to kick-start our movement, donating funds that were absolutely essential to our launch of the first nonprofit ethnic newspaper of its kind in the country, the Nichi Bei Weekly.

However, as we face serious financial challenges, we are once again seeking your help to ensure that the community will stay connected, informed and empowered for years to come.

We are looking for a few select people who can become Founding Circle members at the following donor levels:

• Diamond Level Founder: $10,000

• Platinum Level Founder: $5,000

• Gold Level Founder: $2,500

• Silver Level Founder: $1,000

As with any community-based nonprofit organization, we are constantly facing funding difficulties in this, one of the most challenging of economic times in decades. Moreover, given our emergency start-up, we’ve had to launch the Nichi Bei Weekly with virtually no seed money. Contrary to popular belief, the old Nichi Bei Times board of directors did not give us any funds whatsoever.

We fully realize that we are not alone in such financial difficulties, as many community organizations are faced with funding cuts of their own. However, our mission is to help empower all community organizations and individuals, so your support in our endeavors will assist us in helping to support many, many others.

Thus, we ask for your help in this new initiative. We need to immediately raise desperately-needed seed money while we work to establish our nonprofit infrastructure. We must expand our capacity so that we can hold fundraisers to supplement our cashflow challenges. Our goal is to raise at least $50,000 by the end of the month, much of which will be saved as reserve funds in order to help secure adequate staffing.

This entire experiment of a community-initiated rebirth of the newspaper is at stake. We hope to continue our mission, while documenting our community’s history, but we need your help.

Many of you have already graciously contributed to this movement by becoming members or donors, which is something we truly appreciate. For those who have given already, we hope that the product we have published since Sept. 17, 2009 — and the legacy that we were born out of — will inspire you to contribute even more. For those who have yet to donate, we hope that the mission of this foundation is one that you can believe in, and encourage with your financial support.

We are looking for a few people who could help us build a solid foundation, brick by brick, for generations to come.

Sincerely,

Kenji G. Taguma

President, Nichi Bei Foundation