Once Upon a Time Inc

“Mark and teresa aubel have been married since 1980, the year once upon a time was incorporated.”

“As you read this, the greatest transfer of wealth in our history is happening. Fifty-nine trillion dollars ($59,000,000,000,000) will be passed down to heirs and charities between 2007 and 2061. Much of the money that goes to charities is passed through a board of directors. This sounds like a plan and it is one that works generally. However, it fails when one of the board members is dishonest and treats the charity as if it were its own personal atm. Just as parents exercise their faith and entrust their precious children to our care, we as a non-profit corporation must place our trust with those whom we have deemed not merely trustworthy, but beyond personal reproach as well. Since 1980, we have striven to establish and maintain the highest level of integrity, while establishing a basically non-judgmental environment. What follows is the story of how once upon a time inc. ("ouat") misplaced its trust in an individual whose primary motivation became his personal gain as opposed to that of the children whom we serve on a daily basis. In 1993, dr. Ben adler jointed our faculty as a consultant. He had served as both a school and clinical psychologist as well as a consultant and came highly recommended by another clinical psychologist, who had known him since their teenage days as camp counselors and now had two daughters of his own enrolled in our after school program. For three years dr. Adler provided referrals to families in need, of donated sterile gloves and dressings for the school's first aid kits, helped organize and maintain students' medical records and was generally helpful in his service to ouat. During this period, fundraising was accomplished via two main streams, both of which required the hands-on, proactive approach that had become synonymous with ouat. First was the implementation of flea markets, which consisted of clients emptying their closets and the resale of the contents by miss terry, who utilized the school's driveway for this purpose. Secondly, the submission of grant proposals, which resulted in nominal support from local banks, arts councils, politicians and, very rarely, corporations and foundations. The latter was researched and written by mr. Mark. In 1996, the board of ouat voted to begin an academic school and the theatre street school was granted its first charter by the nys education department. At this juncture, dr. Adler, who had often voiced his disdain for the flea markets - citing risk/reward factors and labor intensiveness - approached ouat's board with a passive fundraiser that would truly be passive, bingo. As a matter of fact, the parent/psychologist, who had originally referred dr. Adler, was now employed by a non-profit agency which utilized these games for the same purposes! Ouat was eminently qualified to sponsor bingo, being a 501(c)(3) corporation, filing annually with the charities bureau of the nys attorney general and the willingness of the board to comply with the state gaming commission and the nyc department of consumer affairs, the two governing bodies of bingo. The only missing piece was that ouat needed a board member present at each game. Dr. Adler not only presented himself as that very person, but volunteered to handle all banking and paperwork pertaining to the games. The bingo facility, nostrand bingo hall in midwood, brooklyn, was only steps from his home and the income from the games would relieve a significant fundraising burden from mr. Mark, miss terry and the board members of ouat. The board voted unanimously to embrace dr. Adler as a member and in apparent acknowledgment of his business acumen, voted him chairman. Dr. Adler did not specify the income to be derived, but assured the board ad officers of ouat the fundraising results would be significantly greater than those realized through the flea markets. True to his word, he began by delivering a check to ouat for $500, the supposed initial payment for the corporation's sponsorship of games at the nostrand”

“A copy of the return is submitted to the organization for approval before the return is filed”

“The return is available upon request at the organization's office”