19 replies to this topic

[Ghostrider]

I checked out the funding statistics for SENS research. Mr. Theil has generously provided a matching donation of $3M, but so far it looks like we have only tapped $3k of it. Total received donations is just under $400k. This is not bad, but how do we do better? The last donation we received was on December 1st and the fund has been idling since. Meanwhile, wikipedia started collecting donations and their fund is accelerating much faster. Over the course of 1-2 hours this morning, their fund collected around $2k. Wikipedia is an excellent resource, I love it and use it often. However, donating to wiki is not a matter of life and death and they already have many wealthy sponsors. I think SENS funding could do better if more people knew about it, especially around tax time. What can we do to get the word out?

[da vinci]

Arrange a Biology contest for kids, give out free products to the winners and let their school and parent know about us.

Open Stem Cell dental clinics, as well as stem cell treatments to public like what Richard Branson did, he opened a Stem Cell Bank.

[brokenportal]

Find out who the person in charge of putting that thing on your tax form that says stuff like, "donate x amount to your local stadium, check here" or "donate to cancer research, check here" and figure out what it takes to talk them into putting "donate x amount to sens, check here" and then outline a course to make it happen.

[Ghostrider]

Find out who the person in charge of putting that thing on your tax form that says stuff like, "donate x amount to your local stadium, check here" or "donate to cancer research, check here" and figure out what it takes to talk them into putting "donate x amount to sens, check here" and then outline a course to make it happen.

Humm...that's a good idea. I wonder if there is some sort of requirement to appear on that forum. Otherwise, all charities would be listed, right?

[John_Ventureville]

I would recommend attempting to contact John Sperling, he is a multi-billionaire who founded the online University of Phoenix. The reason I mention his name is that he is a very strong proponent of anti-aging research and his will states that he will leave the bulk of his fortune to this cause (THREE BILLION DOLLARS!). Wired magazine had a great article about him a few years ago.

http://en.wikipedia....i/John_Sperling

Good luck!,

John Grigg

[Live Forever]

I would recommend attempting to contact John Sperling, he is a multi-billionaire who founded the online University of Phoenix.  The reason I mention his name is that he is a very strong proponent of anti-aging research and his will states that he will leave the bulk of his fortune to this cause (THREE BILLION DOLLARS!).  Wired magazine had a great article about him a few years ago.   

http://en.wikipedia....i/John_Sperling

Good luck!,

John Grigg

Here is the Wired article John mentioned: http://www.wired.com...tw=wn_tophead_4

[Danila Medvedev]

I would recommend attempting to contact John Sperling, he is a multi-billionaire who founded the online University of Phoenix.  The reason I mention his name is that he is a very strong proponent of anti-aging research and his will states that he will leave the bulk of his fortune to this cause (THREE BILLION DOLLARS!).  Wired magazine had a great article about him a few years ago.   

http://en.wikipedia....i/John_Sperling

Good luck!,

John Grigg

What an idiot... It would make so much more SENS to donate most of his fortune BEFORE he dies. [lol]

[Mind]

As reference, Imminst was able to contact Mr. Sperling in the past (3 or 4 years ago). He agreed to do an interview (I think the set-up was Imminst would send a list of questions and he would respond). Unfortunately, members were too anxious to ask about funding things like SENS and anti-aging research and I think this was a turn-off because the questions were never answered. I think there is an old Imminst thread about this. I'll have to go looking. Anyway, the lesson I took from it is to not be overt in asking for money from the super-rich. First just peak their interest, and then hopefully, gradually, they will come around to loosening up their wallets.

[Mind]

here is the link and the lesson learned.

[Shepard]

Unfortunately, members were too anxious to ask about funding things like SENS and anti-aging research and I think this was a turn-off because the questions were never answered.

Yeah, that's just a bad idea all around. No one wants to be treated as a piggy bank.

[churchill]

Good effort anyway, if it had worked it would have been a huge boost to the prospects of life extension.

[xalepos]

I just joined and it seems to me that in order to increase funding and research there are three levels that action needs to take place on (although to a certain extent they all intertwine), one is the personal level where an individual dedicates his or her personal funds and time to an effort and that seems to be quite successful through this organization, the second is on a fund raising level where you persuade other individuals to donate vast amounts or whatever amount that they can but do not expect them to become directly or completely involved with the organization, which from my impression has been only partially effective, and the third is on the political level where one uses the government's resources to accomplish a certain objective, in this case research and funding. This last level, the political level, seems to have been ignored as a means of fund raising. Again, I have just joined and have been hunting around the news and forum sections so I may have missed some information about efforts on that level, but it seems if the government is giving grants to universities and other institutions to perform research or to help farmers by subsidizing their industry then those of us who are interested in longevity research should try to use the government's wealth as well and an even more grandiose goal might be to influence politicians to support the research. In terms of individual donations I agree with the previous posters, that an effort has to be made to get out the word about longevity research. Everyone knows about Wikipedia and other Wiki projects, very few know about longevity or this institute. In terms of the second two levels, I think the most effective way to gain funding is to create a group dedicated to fund raising and lobbying. There should be a committee or volunteers or paid professionals who fund raise and lobby. Two different groups would probably be preferable because the tasks are quite different. I'm actually interested in becoming more involved so if you are actively engaged in the institute I would appreciate if you could leave me a response. These ideas seem pretty obvious but I'm not sure if they are currently beyond the scope of ImmInst.

[Live Forever]

Hey there xalepos, and welcome to the boards. (perhaps you might think about putting a post in the Introduction forum if you plan on sticking around [thumb] )

Some good thoughts on the subject, I think, but you might consider breaking up your text block into separate paragraphs in the future. That big block of text is kind of overwhelming on a message board.

As far as your political suggestion, having an arm of ImmInst for political lobbying has been kicked around before. (in this thread and other places) This is beyond the ability of ImmInst at its current stage of development, but perhaps at some point in the future..

[Mind]

Jay Olshansky is working the government angle with the "Longevity Dividend".

[Live Forever]

Jay Olshansky is working the government angle with the "Longevity Dividend".

Aah, yes. I should have remembered to mention that as well. Dr. Olshansky (among others) are working on that angle and doing a wonderful job. For more on the "Longevity Dividend" see this thread:
http://www.imminst.o...f=69&t=11847&s=
(these two entries having to do with the seminar they just had on it, so it is still going strong)

[xalepos]

Thanks for the responses and thanks for the tips. I have a penchant to write longer posts and I will see if I can control myself.

Is there a an outline of goals and developments for ImmInst? For example:

2008: Raise 1 million dollars, develop volunteer outreach program
2009: Raise 1 million dollars, create small lobbyist group

I assume the directors etc. are responsible for setting the direction, but I don't see any clear goals outlined that are tied to practical accomplishments. Missions statements are wonderful but unless they are consistently translated into practical action they are meaningless. If there is a section where these are listed can anyone point the way and if not, who can we ask or nudge to make these goals?

To raise money in any form a clear and concise notion of what the money will create is a necessary motivator.

[Live Forever]

Thanks for the responses and thanks for the tips.  I have a penchant to write longer posts and I will see if I can control myself. 

Is there a an outline of goals and developments for ImmInst?  For example:

2008:  Raise 1 million dollars, develop volunteer outreach program
2009:  Raise 1 million dollars, create small lobbyist group

I assume the directors etc. are responsible for setting the direction, but I don't see any clear goals outlined that are tied to practical accomplishments.  Missions statements are wonderful but unless they are consistently translated into practical action they are meaningless.  If there is a section where these are listed  can anyone point the way and if not, who can  we ask or nudge to make these goals? 

To raise money in any form a clear and concise notion of what the money will create is a necessary motivator.

If we could get a million dollars at any point that would be fantastic, haha. We have lots of little projects brewing right now (of which you can see some of I am guessing), but you seem to be asking about big things. There is an active discussion going on right now in the full member area about whether or not to add a paid leader position (kind of like a CEO, but probably won't be called a "CEO") to help us refocus on some bigger things, fund raising, stuff like that. I am sure any suggestions that you would like to make would be greatly appreciated. [thumb]

[xalepos]

Although I'm interested in personally becoming involved in something on a larger scale, my point about goals is simply to alert members to the current concrete activities that are going on.

So to reiterate, is there a part of this site where concrete goals and projects underway are listed? Or are there no concrete goals that have been developed?

And on a side note why are there "private" conversations? It seems counterproductive to have certain conversations only accessible to paying members if the majority of the members are not paying.

[Luna]

Well, Aubrey de Grey said we have 50% chance to get it done within 25 years with 1 billion funding I think..

[Aegist]

Well, Aubrey de Grey said we have 50% chance to get it done within 25 years with 1 billion funding I think..

While I completely support and love everything Aubrey does...I think he just made that up. I can't imagine how you can

Xalepos, you raise a good point. A series of good points actually.

We do need a list of short term goals, and basic members should see them. The reason there are conversations 'going on in secret' is simply an attempt at incentivizing full membership. We need donations in order to enable the institute to undertake productive activities. And rightfully so, we need to present a single simple list of "This is what we are achieving" to the non-members, which would obviously further help to incentivize joining.

This is definitely the sort of thing we hope to achieve by hiring a Project Manager to coordinate all of our efforts, because at the moment we really are just a rag tag group of individuals who all want to see results, but otherwise have full time pursuits which limit our time, efforts and energies. So we often propose big ideas, but can't always follow through on them, nor spend the time organising them.

I like the idea of a "Project List" published on the main website. I think we will make this happen shortly.