Listen up, fellow life extensionists!
I received the following (excerpted) email just a couple hours ago!
Let me say that again, with emotion:...and boy do we have an exciting opportunity.
Here's the deal:
Michael Cooper would like to drive us above the $100,000 cash mark before the end of the year and is committed to donate $23,700 of NYSE stock to the Longevity Prize. He will do this IF we get what it takes to top the $50,000 mark in the Longevity Prize - which will trigger Bob Gelfond's $5,000 challenge funds. Reason is willing to put a $2,000 donation towards the Longevity Prize, all of which puts us in shouting distance.
The short of it is that we need only another $2000, but we need it fast. Between our own resources and those of our immediate friends in the life-extension world, I believe we can. Can you help?
Please reply and let me know what you think we can do to meet this $2000 challenge before the year runs out!
I look forward to hearing from you!
Michael Cooper would like to drive us above the $100,000 cash mark before the end of the year and is committed to donate $23,700 [:o] of NYSE stock to the Longevity Prize. He will do this IF we get what it takes to top the $50,000 mark in the Longevity Prize - which will trigger Bob Gelfond's $5,000 challenge funds [wis]. Reason is willing to put a $2,000 [thumb] donation towards the Longevity Prize, all of which puts us in shouting distance. [g:)]
The short of it is that we need only another $2000, but we need it fast. Between our own resources and those of our immediate friends in the life-extension world (psst, that's you!), I believe we can. Can you help?
Clear enough? I have already donated $100. I don't know who else has donated, so I'll assume that NOBODY has. Why? Because if someone has donated, then the numbers below get even better!!!
The Meta-Prize
Here's an excerpt of the email I sent back:
It's a sort of meta-prize. Prizes traditionally generate about 16
times their value in research, or so we've been saying. In this case,
we need $30,568.11 to get the Longevity Prize to $50,000.00.
$28,695.62 of that money is already pledged: $23,700 from Michael
Cooper, $2,000 from Reason, and I see $2995.62 in matching funds.
However, that money is contingent on being able to raise another
$1,872.49. I'm already committing $100, so we still need $1,772.49.
Imagine that! Just $1,772.49 can trigger an additional $28,795.62 of
donations, which will itself trigger another $5,000 of funds. That's
a 16:1 return on our money, not including Bob Gelfond's $5,000
challenge! A meta-prize for the M Prize!
So, we need your help!! It's not a lot to ask. I know that the M Prize has been asking for our money for over a year, and I know that we've been emphasizing how critical every dollar is, etc.
But let's not look at the big picture. Let's ignore the fact that every dollar raised today may inspire ten dollars in donations in the next decade. Let's ignore the fact that every dollar in the prize might inspire ten dollars in longevity research that would otherwise be spent on cancer or Alzheimer's or diabetes or airport screeners or textbooks or other worthy, but far inferior causes. In other words, let's ignore the fact that every dollar raised today might inspire $100 or more in research in the War on Aging.
Okay, is your mind a blank slate? Have you forgotten all the really good reasons you should be donating to the Methuselah Mouse Prize anyway? Okay, now consider this:
If we can collect $1772.49 in the next week, then we can help put $30,568.11 in the Longevity Prize, and another $5,000 towards the M Prize. Where would that leave us? That depends on where Bob's money goes. Assuming he splits it 50/50, we'd have a Longevity Prize value of $52,500, a Rejuvenation Prize value of $56,574.61, and a Total Prize Value of $748184.78!!!
So, let's see if we can do it! We only need $1,772.49!!!
