Foregen has been a non profit (onlus) in Italy since April 2010. We are extremely happy to report that in addition to the Italian non-profit status, Foregen is now officially a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization in the United States.  This status was achieved on April 11, 2012.You can see the approval letter by clicking here.

Not only does this status allow Foregen to be legally recognized as a public charity, it also provides us (and our supporters) with many other benefits which are listed below:

• Public recognition of our non profit 501(c)(3) tax-exempt status.
• We can assure our donors that their United States donations are tax deductible.
• We are eligible to receive federal, state and local grants.
• We will be exempt from federal taxes.
• We will be exempt from state income taxes, sales taxes and property taxes.
• Non profit mailing privileges and cheaper classified rates.

We will be updating our website shortly with the following information:

• Confirmation that we have relocated to Los Angeles and registered as a non profit there.
• A copy of our 501(c)(3) non profit status registration documents.
• Confirmation on the donation page that donations from the United States are now tax deductible.
• A link to the Internal Revenue Service charities page confirming our 501(c)(3) status as soon as our entry is added to the relevant IRS database.

We decided to found a Foregen in the USA because non-religious circumcision in the US is the most widespread out of all the countries in the world.  Now that we have achieved our goal of obtaining official non profit recognition in the US, we have not excluded the possibility of founding the same type of non profit in even more countries where circumcision is widespread.
If you have any questions or comments about this article, you can contact us through the comments section below, the forum, our twitter page, our facebook page, or by sending an email to info@foregen.org.

Thank you for your support.

Like many other sites you may visit, Foregen uses online forums to allow our visitors and members to post questions and discuss issues which relate to Foregen.

What you may not know is that Foregen uses two different forums, having both a “guest” forum, and a “supporters forum”.  The guest forum is open to anybody who visits the site, but the supporters forum is only available to individuals who have signed up via the Become a Supporter page.

There are a number of reason for having a separate supporters forum, some of which are listed below:

• The $50 supporter fee goes towards the clinical trial donation fund.
• To provide a positive place in which to discuss our progression plans.
• To provide exclusive content to supporting members.
• Posts are not moderated, so they are visible immediately.

Although people who sign up as supporters have access to both forums, most supporters generally only access the supporters forum as there is a higher level of discussion and interaction there. To demonstrate this, a screenshot has been provided below to show the difference in activity on the two forums as it stood on March 29, 2012:

A source of frustration for guest members is that the guest forum does not allow them to create topics or post comments which are immediately visible.  The reason behind these restrictions is to prevent forum spam.  Prior to imposing these restrictions, the guest forum, like public forums found on many websites, was targeted on a daily basis by spammers providing links to a number of illegal and dangerous products such as fake medications and virus infected software.  Since the introduction of these restrictions, forum spam has been eliminated.

We hope this article explains the reasons behind having two separate forums, but if you have any questions or comments, you can contact us through the comments section below, the forum, our twitter page, our facebook page, or by sending an email to info@foregen.org.

If you wish to sign up as a supporter to gain access to the supporters forum and the benefits this brings, you can do so now by visiting the Become a Supporter page.

Thank you for your support.

Foregen:Hi, can you introduce yourself?

Nickolas: My name is Nickolas Kusturis and I live in Canonsburg, Pa (about 25 minutes south of Pittsburgh). I really didn’t know what circumcision actually was when I got it done because growing up in a society that normalizes it, all you hear mostly are the lies and misinformation making it out to seem like it’s not that big of a deal or that it’s only a flap of skin. It’s scary when you realize how bad the people in society and culture can be lied to and brainwashed by misinformation.  I didn’t have the internet either at the time and that was the only place to get the correct facts and information since there is so much misinformation and lies about the subject. If I would have had the internet things probably would be different.

Foregen: Why did you get circumcised, and at what age did it occur?

Nickolas: I was circumcised around 18 years old.  At the time I had an older friend named Dan (we’re not friends anymore though) that was actually intact and he actually was always saying how much better it would be to get circumcised. He said I should do it because most people are like that and that I would like it better. I don’t know why though, he was telling me this but he didn’t get it done himself.  He had said that he was going to eventually get it done because if you don’t that you might have problems when you get older but he never ended up getting it done. That was strange. He might have had a circumcision fetish possibly now that I think about it, I don’t know. The whole thing is very bizarre looking back on it now that I know the truth. It’s not easy though to talk about because I find the whole thing very disturbing now. He called the doctor up though and made the appointment for me because he said he could help me. The doctor was in Pittsburgh, Pa (Shadyside UPMC hospital) and he was your typical pro-circumcision doctor. He didn’t tell me anything bad about circumcision. He never stated that there would be a difference in feeling and he said that I should have no problems with the circumcision so I had no idea what I really was giving up and how extremely different a circumcised penis was going to feel and function.  Circumcision is also a very taboo subject in societies and cultures that do this abuse because of all the lies and misinformation. They don’t want to admit that they have damaged generations and generations of men. Ignorance, denial, lies, and misinformation lets this cycle of abuse to keep happening. Thanks to the internet the truth has been put out there; before the internet people were left in the dark and not told the accurate information.  If men actually knew what was taken from them though and they could experience being intact, they would never try to defend and be ok with their circumcision. Guys in circumcising cultures and societies want to normalize their mutilation because it’s easier to do that than to face what actually happened to themselves.

Foregen: Can you tell us how you have been manipulated; was it the doctors, society, etc?

Nickolas: I would say the manipulation was a combination of a circumcising society, the doctor and my supposed friend that I don’t talk to anymore. I also didn’t have anybody around me at the time that I could turn to that was a good influence. No one around me tried to persuade me not to do it and never told me this would be an extremely horrible mistake. That’s why I wish I had the internet because if I did at least I could have got the correct information and facts and I wouldn’t have to have gone through the trauma. Since no one around me was helping me though with the correct information, I believed all the misinformation and lies about circumcision.

Foregen: Do you think that the doctor was envious of your intact penis?

Nickolas: Yes, I do think he had an envy to my intact penis because he seen something that he didn’t have. He didn’t try to persuade me not to do it and actually said that it would be a good choice. I think though a lot of these doctors who have no problem at all doing this to other people are victims and have a foreskin envy. That’s why they pass on this cycle of abuse. Most doctors that are circumcised at birth though have no idea what they are missing so they continue the cycle of abuse by spreading false information to patients.

Foregen: When did you find out about Foregen?

Nickolas: I found out about Foregen I think maybe about 1 or 2 years ago. I was very thankful and excited to hear that something like this was coming along because I always had wondered if there was a way to grow the foreskin back with stem cell regeneration. Having already did regular foreskin restoration (and completed it) I knew that you still couldn’t get a lot of the functions of the foreskin back with just foreskin restoration.  It was a little better because it helped undo a little of the damage (by covering the head with the restored foreskin for example) but there are still a lot of the functions you really could never get back with foreskin restoration (all the erogenous tissue and specialized nerves etc..). Foregen gave me a new hope that maybe I could eventually get back exactly what was lost due to the damage from my circumcision.

Foregen: Who was the person you have spoken with in Foregen?

Nickolas: I have spoken with Ron Miller; he started NORM in Pittsburgh and really was the first one to help me out the most with regular foreskin restoration so it only helped my trust with Foregen even more when he got involved. I really just always hoped for the best though with Foregen because I knew that if this would be successful it would be huge and would benefit so many people. I also want more than anything myself to have the normal functions of the foreskin back because getting circumcised was such an extremely traumatizing experience.

Foregen: What did you think about Foregen?  Were you suspicious about this organization?

Nickolas: I really wasn’t suspicious about the organization like some people in the intactivist movement. I always tried to be optimistic with it even though I heard from some people in the intactivist movement that they didn’t trust it. I also trusted the organization even more when my good friend Ron Miller became scientific projects coordinator.  Now that Foregen will eventually have their 501(c)(3) charity status in the U.S I have no doubts at all about Foregen being a legitimate and trustworthy organization.

Foregen: You have donated over $2,000 to Foregen.  Can you tell us why?

Nickolas:  I just try to donate and help out as much as I can because I want Foregen to be successful.  I donate money frequently or whenever I can and I donate whatever I can afford at the time. Sometimes I give as low as 10 to 15 dollars, sometimes 30, and sometimes 60 or 100 etc… Just whatever I can spare at the time. I want me and other guys to be helped from this damage done by circumcision. I do believe it will be eventually successful with re-growing the foreskin back. I believe with enough research that over time they will hopefully find a way because they already know how to grow back other body parts. They just never thought to research how to grow back the foreskin until Foregen came along because most guys are in denial or don’t complain because they have no idea what they are missing.

Foregen:  What would you say to circumcised men?

Nickolas:  Whenever regeneration is possible I think all circumcised guys should definitely do it and find out what they have been robbed of and missing because an intact penis is so much different from a circumcised penis. Knowing the difference myself I know that if any circumcised guy could experience being intact then they would NEVER want to go back to being circumcised.