Taking the Founders Pledge to Donate to Charity Following a Liquidity Event

If there is anything worse than bragging about one's charitable giving, it is bragging about the charitable giving one might accomplish in the future, should one turn out to have the funds to do so. In a world in which establishing cultural norms wasn't so very important to success in non-profit fundraising, none of the audience here would know anything about my donations to the Methuselah Foundation and SENS Research Foundation, made over the years as we moved ever closer to the reality of therapies to treat and reverse aging. But establishing cultural norms is in fact very important in this business of non-profit fundraising. Why does cancer research receive such a large amount of non-profit funding? That has a lot more to do with the culture of charitable giving, and the visibility of giving to cancer research programs, than with the merits of those programs and organizations, or the merits of defeating these medical conditions. It is a great idea to fund effective cancer research, but I don't think that is why most donors give to the cause. Even in small communities, such as the people who have supported work on rejuvenation biotechnology and other forms of development aiming at the treatment of aging as a medical condition, the broader success of fundraising depends upon as many individuals as possible visibly demonstrating their willingness to donate to the cause. It depends on people talking about it, normalizing the idea that this cause is a great one, and that...
Source: Fight Aging! - Category: Research Authors: Tags: Activism, Advocacy and Education Source Type: blogs