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Chase Community Giving charity contest


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#1 Florin

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Posted 22 November 2009 - 01:14 AM


Imminst might want to participate in the Chase Community Giving charity contest on Facebook for a chance to win $25k in Round 1 of voting (from 11/15/2009 to 12/11/2009) and up to $1 million in Round 2 (from 01/15/2010 to 01/22/2010). If Imminst is interested, it should start an all-out promotion NOW—not wait until the last minute since this contest will likely be much more competitive than 3banana's contest (i.e., the total quantity of votes will be more important than overwhelming votes at the last minute). Since any Facebook member can vote for up to 20 charities in Round 1 and up to 5 in Round 2, Imminst might want to draw up a list of recommended organizations for its members to vote for such as the following:

Round 1

$25k awarded to each of 100 charities receiving the most votes from 11/15/2009 to 12/11/2009, 11:59:59 PM ET. Facebook members can vote for up to 20 charities.
Round 2

$1 million awarded to the charity receiving the most votes and $100k to the 5 runners up from 01/15/2010 to 01/22/2010, 11:59:59 PM ET. The Chase Community Giving Advisory Board will select one or more nominated charities to receive donations with a combined total of $1 million. Facebook members can vote for up to 5 charities.
More detailed info is available at Chase Community Giving's FAQ and Official Rules page.

Edited by Florin Clapa, 22 November 2009 - 01:26 AM.


#2 j0lt_c0la

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Posted 22 November 2009 - 05:21 AM

Since there's not likely to be 20 different longevity charities, may I make a personal request? One of the charities in the running means a lot to me, as I am a former director and I care a lot about the cause. It's the National Youth Rights Association, which fights for the rights of students and youth in general. As it affects people here, ageism is a bad thing both ways, and the precedent that treats youth who are otherwise competent different from adults of the same level is part and parcel of the attitude that treats old people as different, expecting them to die gracefully and also treating them as incompetent because of their age alone. I don't expect you to vote for it in the finals, but if you could vote for it in this round, I would be eternally :) grateful. National Youth Rights Association

#3 Mind

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Posted 23 November 2009 - 10:14 PM

Thanks for the idea Florin. I am glad there is someone out there finding out about these fundraising opportunities.

Recorders deadline is December 4th - shorter than usual because of the 1st round deadline.

I voted for Imminst. It was pretty simple.

Is there any place to see the progress of the voting? If we are down by 10s of thousands of votes, then I am sorry to say but we probably cannot make up that ground. However, all we have to do is make it into the top 100. Previous social network vote fundraisers have netted a couple thousand votes for life extension related charity. Is this enough to make it into the top 100?

I also recall the AMEX challenge when MF got the required votes but then was rejected by the panel. Is there a chance of that happening this time?

SENSF wants Imminst help in getting 10,000 X $100 (on facebook as well) Might we "wear out" our supporters? This one would be easier since there is no financial requirement.

#4 Florin

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Posted 24 November 2009 - 05:39 AM

Thanks for the idea Florin. I am glad there is someone out there finding out about these fundraising opportunities.

I got the idea from Otto's post at the MF's forum.

I votes for Imminst. It was pretty simple.

You don't have to vote for only one charity; you can vote for up to 20 in Round 1. For example, if 2,000 people vote for both Imminst and the MF, that's 2,000 votes for Imminst PLUS a separate 2,000 votes for the MF. So, you don't need to choose between any of the 20 possible charities; you can vote for all of them.

Is there any place to see the progress of the voting? If we are down by 10s of thousands of votes, then I am sorry to say but we probably cannot make up that ground. However, all we have to do is make it into the top 100. Previous social network vote fundraisers have netted a couple thousand votes for life extension related charity. Is this enough to make it into the top 100?

Since I haven't see any "scoreboard" page, I don't it's possible to keep track of which charities are in the lead except to guess which ones might be and look at their page. I'll look at a few popular charities which typically get a lot of attention and see how many votes they have. However, it might be very time consuming to try to see if 100 charities have over 2,500 votes which was about what the 3banana contest produced. So, I might need help in compiling such a list. Whoever wants to help can post vote totals in this thread. In any case, more than about 5,000 votes, which was what the AMEX contest produced, is unlikely.

Another confounding factor might be the MF's participation which could field additional votes, but I'm not sure how many they can produce.

I also recall the AMEX challenge when MF got the required votes but then was rejected by the panel. Is there a chance of that happening this time?

There is an Advisory Board similar to the AMEX panel but its function seems to be restricted to making sure that the contest is fair.

From the "Advisory Board" page:

The Advisory Board has been assembled to promote the spirit of giving and help oversee the voting process. Their role is to screen the finalists in Round 1 and Round 2 and to help ensure that the charities meet the eligibility requirements. They will also award an additional $1 million. The Advisory Board and Chase reserve the right to eliminate any organization that does not meet program eligibility requirements. The Advisory Board consists of experts from a range of philanthropic areas.

Here's a summary of the eligibility requirements:

Eligible charities must be 501©(3) organizations with an operating budget of under $10 million, and must meet the other listed requirements. A Charity that, by itself or through an affiliated entity, discriminates on the basis of race, color, national origin, religion, sex, sexual orientation, disability, age, veteran status, medical condition, citizenship, ancestry or marital status is not eligible. Complete eligibility requirements for charities can be found in the Official Rules.

I've seen nothing in the Official Rules rules that indicates that the Advisory Board can arbitrarily disqualify an eligible charity.

SENSF wants Imminst help in getting 10,0Imminst to accomplish?

I'm not sure what you mean by "...getting 10,0Imminst...." Anyhow, it's not possible, unfortunately, to vote for the SENSF due to their current lack of 501c3 status.

Might we "wear out" our supporters? This one would be easier since there is no financial requirement.

Well, I would assume that's up to each supporter to decide if they want to vote or not. Since this is such an easy way to help and requires no financial commitment as you've pointed out, I can't image why they'd be "worn out."

Edited by Florin Clapa, 24 November 2009 - 05:51 AM.


#5 j0lt_c0la

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Posted 24 November 2009 - 07:04 AM

Here's the weasel words that might be a problem in the end: "Other Charities that are ineligible include, but are not limited to ... organizations otherwise not in alignment with Sponsor's corporate social responsibility guidelines." It's unlikely that they'd deny ImmInst based on that clause alone, but they reserve the right to do so for essentially no objective reason whatsoever.

#6 Florin

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Posted 24 November 2009 - 08:08 AM

After looking around a bit, I think we have a respectable chance of winning this contest for the following reasons:
  • Since the contest is very short and the awards are somewhat small, large charities may not have the time or motivation to launch a big campaign
  • Some of the largest charities could be excluded due to the requirement that only charities with annual operating expenses of less than $10 million can participate (see section 4 "Eligibility" of the Official Rules)
  • The most votes I've seen are almost 1k for a few obscure charities (e.g., Jakara Movement), around 500 for others, with under 100 for most (click on the charities in the "Recent Activity" section on the )
  • The banana contest was between relatively obscure charities
  • I've read that other similar charity contests are often won by small charities
The stiffest competition will likely come from relatively smaller charities like the winners of America's Giving Challenge charity contest:So, I'd recommend drawing up a list of 20 charites (perhaps with Aubrey's input as well) and start promoting this contest ASAP.

Edited by Florin Clapa, 24 November 2009 - 08:10 AM.


#7 Florin

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Posted 24 November 2009 - 08:17 AM

Here's the weasel words that might be a problem in the end: "Other Charities that are ineligible include, but are not limited to ... organizations otherwise not in alignment with Sponsor's corporate social responsibility guidelines." It's unlikely that they'd deny ImmInst based on that clause alone, but they reserve the right to do so for essentially no objective reason whatsoever.

Yeah, I've seen that clause before but couldn't find it again; thanks for mentioning it. Even if they reject Imminst, there will still be a lot of causes (i.e., up to 20) such as the MF that might make it. Also, the relatively large amount of Round 1 winners (i.e., 100) will provide some cover and thus might take the pressure off the Advisory Board to exclude "weird" causes.

Edited by Florin Clapa, 24 November 2009 - 08:17 AM.


#8 Mind

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Posted 24 November 2009 - 09:22 PM

Methuselah Foundation should be our list. Others should feel free to suggest like-minded orgs. I can't seem to think of many right now or I can't find them in the Chase database.

Does anyone else have a feeling as to our chances of success in this endeavor. If there is no listing of the progress/comparison of the tabulated votes, then I think we have a chance.

#9 Florin

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Posted 24 November 2009 - 11:07 PM

Here's my updated list of orgs:
16 more to go. Perhaps, if we can't come up with anything else soon, we might want to support more mainstream aging, stem cell, Alzheimer's disease, and cancer research orgs. I don't know which ones to specifically support however.

Edited by Florin Clapa, 24 November 2009 - 11:08 PM.


#10 Mind

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Posted 24 November 2009 - 11:23 PM

I suppose we should liaise with these organizations and work out a deal that we all vote for each other to enhance our chances. I am Imminst-centric and would like to see Imminst win the biggest prize available, however, it would be quite beneficial to the life extension movement in general to coordinate and get a significant percentage of the $25,000 grants for like-minded orgs. I suspect Imminst might get the lowest number of votes from a multi-org coordinated effort (because we might be the least familiar) and even miss out on a grant award but...I suppose that is the nature of sacrifice.

#11 Florin

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Posted 24 November 2009 - 11:34 PM

Right, but first a list has to be created. Also, any coordinated effort might take too much time to organize. However, at least notifiying the more mainstream orgs (e.g., Alliance for Aging Research which has 0 votes) shouldn't take too long and might set the stage for future cooperation.

Edited by Florin Clapa, 24 November 2009 - 11:36 PM.


#12 brokenportal

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Posted 24 November 2009 - 11:59 PM

I hope facebook has contests like this in the future. I imagine they will. This would have gone perfectly with a facebook imminst application that me and the member ComradeF have been discussing for potential proposal in the project ideas section. What we are looking at now is considering whether it would be worth it to propose that we put the application in a drupal page, and in what context and pretenses.

What seems best at this point is a page for the Internetworking team called imminst.org/inw, but we still have to think about how that might look. One part would be the facebook app. We would then have a recruit, hopefully comradef or our other main facebook worker, get a minimum number, say 3, new people to "fan" an imminst facebook page we would propose, (or we would use the existing one) per month.

If that goes through, then I would think that we would be able to get thousands of people in to it with in a year, and then I would think that would make a contest like this Community Giving Charity a slam dunk kind of thing.




As a side note, ComradeF isnt a member, but it doesnt feel right to say, "the Registered User" or "the guest ComradeF" maybe we should consider changing the registered user name again, to maybe "basic member" I think it may have been that at one time.

#13 Florin

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Posted 25 November 2009 - 12:01 AM

Here's my updated list of orgs:
15 more to go.

Edited by Florin Clapa, 25 November 2009 - 12:01 AM.


#14 Anthony

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Posted 25 November 2009 - 02:08 AM

I don't know anything about organization, but the Longevity Medical Research Fund seems like a potential, promising addition to the list. Can anyone provide any information on this company?

Other potential organizations are:

Stem Cell Cancer and Regenerative Medicine Research, Inc.

Alliance for Stem Cell Research, AKA Americans for Cures Foundation

Chai Foundation for Medical Research and Life Extension

The Kronos Longevity Research Institute

Personalized Medicine Coalition


Since I had 20 votes to use, I decided to vote for the companies, which I list here, in addition to the ones Florin posited earlier. As someone else already mentioned, this contest might also provide us with some opportunities to network.

Edited by Anthony, 25 November 2009 - 02:11 AM.


#15 Florin

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Posted 25 November 2009 - 03:44 AM

I don't know anything about organization, but the Longevity Medical Research Fund seems like a potential, promising addition to the list. Can anyone provide any information on this company?

Clicking on the LMRF's donate button generates the following error: "This recipient is currently unable to receive money." Not a good sign. Perhaps someone should contact whoever's in charge to see if this org is still functional.

Stem Cell Cancer and Regenerative Medicine Research, Inc.

Doesn't seem to have a website.

Alliance for Stem Cell Research, AKA Americans for Cures Foundation

The Alliance for Stem Cell Research doesn't seem to have a website and the Americans for Cures Foundation generates an error message.

Chai Foundation for Medical Research and Life Extension

Cancer quackery? From its "Our Grantee" page:

The late Dr. Eric R. Brown, M.D., Ph.D., following the ideology of earlier work, verified and updated a major cancer research treatment breakthrough. Its cornerstone was a belief he shared with others that cancer, contrary to popular thought, is not many diseases, but is in fact a single disease caused by or exacerbated by a particular virus or virus particle which expresses in various ways. The result of his research for CHAI Foundation now supports that belief. "Protein-B (LPN)" which he investigated with help from Chai Foundation, appears to work across the board on many solid tumor sites with little or no toxicity, per se.

The Kronos Longevity Research Institute

Isn't Kronos funded by billionaire John Sperling? Anyhow, he seems to have changed his mind about donating his $3 billion fortune to Kronos when he dies. So, I'm undecided on Kronos.

Personalized Medicine Coalition

Personally, I'm skeptical of the benefits of personalized medicine; I don't see how it can significantly extend lifespan.

#16 Florin

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Posted 25 November 2009 - 03:47 AM

Can't some of Imminst's Advisory Board members such as Aubrey, Michael, John, and Reason comment about which orgs to support?

#17 Anthony

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Posted 25 November 2009 - 04:08 AM

Can't some of Imminst's Advisory Board members such as Aubrey, Michael, John, and Reason comment about which orgs to support?


Florin...Thanks for checking into those organizations. A little off-topic...As for personalized medicine, it is a rather broad topic, but I think some of the advances in pm will help in extending health spans and life spans. As an example, I recently attended a conference in D.C. titled, "Comparative Effectiveness and Personalized Medicine." One of the presenters, an oncologist at Duke, discussed ways in which narrow AI technology could help them rapidly decide which cancer treatments would benefit particular individuals (based on their genetic codes, lifestyles, ages, etc.). Another presenter (from Medco) provided data on recent research looking into which genetic phenotypes respond well to statins, cancer drugs, etc.

Anyway, back on topic...I wish the LifeStar Institute had an entry in this contest.

#18 Mind

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Posted 25 November 2009 - 07:54 AM

Kronos is in the Chase list. There are two Lifestars in the list - not sure if they are the Lifestar we would like to support.

#19 Florin

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Posted 26 November 2009 - 02:43 AM

A little off-topic...As for personalized medicine, it is a rather broad topic, but I think some of the advances in pm will help in extending health spans and life spans.

PM might extend average lifespan, but certainly not maximum lifespan. Anyhow, I have no objection to including orgs that will "merely" square the survival curve if we wouldn't be able to vote for better orgs.

Edited by Florin Clapa, 26 November 2009 - 02:43 AM.


#20 Florin

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Posted 26 November 2009 - 03:07 AM

Kronos is in the Chase list. There are two Lifestars in the list - not sure if they are the Lifestar we would like to support.

Is it worth supporting Kronos?

According to an EIN (Employer Identification Number) search at Guidestar, both Lifestars are some sort of ambulance service unrelated to LifeStar Institute. Also, LifeStar Institute doesn't seem to have 501c3 status.

Edited by Florin Clapa, 26 November 2009 - 03:08 AM.


#21 Shannon Vyff

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Posted 26 November 2009 - 11:06 PM

Your vote goes farther when voting for one, but there are many organizations that I support-including Kronos on the list (not Lifestar) --my vote is for the five in Florin's list.

#22 Florin

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Posted 29 November 2009 - 05:52 AM

Here's my updated list of orgs in which I've incorporated some of Aubrey's suggested orgs (see his list below) and also added mainstream aging, Alzheimer's disease, stem cell, and Parkinson's disease research orgs:
Here's a list of other charities worth supporting:Here's Aubrey's list:
  • Lifestar/Millard Foundation (no results)
  • Alliance for Aging Research
  • Genetics Policy Institute
  • Foresight Institute (no results)
  • Alcor Life Extension Foundation (no results)
  • Vitae Institute/Livly
  • X Prize Foundation (no results)
  • Lifeboat Foundation (no results)
  • Zheng Cui's donation collection org, Stem Cell Cancer & Regenerative Medicine Research Foundation (no results)
  • Network for Open Scientific Innovation (no results)
  • Pink Army Cooperative (no results)
  • CureTogether (no results)
  • PatientsLikeMe (no results)
  • Campaign for Aging Research (thinks it's shutting down)
  • Kronos Longevity Research Institute (thinks it might be too big to qualify)
  • Stem Cell Net Foundation (hasn't heard of it)

Edited by Florin Clapa, 29 November 2009 - 05:55 AM.


#23 Florin

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Posted 29 November 2009 - 06:34 PM

I forgot to mention that the Immortality Institute, Methuselah Foundation, and Supercentenarian Research Foundation were at the top of Aubrey's list as well.

#24 Florin

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Posted 29 November 2009 - 07:33 PM

Here's what I think should happen next:
  • Imminst should decide which charities to support
  • Imminst should encourage its supporters to vote for those charities
  • Someone (any volunteers?) should contact the charities (including the ones that don't make it on the "official" 20-charity list but are worth supporting) in order to get their supporters to vote as well (this could be an excellent opportunity to introduce Imminst)
  • Someone (any volunteers?) should contact Facebook causes and groups related to life extension and transhumanism in order to get their supporters to vote as well (a list of these kinds of causes and groups with a membership of over 500 is available here)
A total of $500k (20 charities x $25k) is at stake in Round 1 alone, and the deadline, December 11th, draws ever closer (only two weeks left!). So, lets start promoting this!

Edited by Florin Clapa, 29 November 2009 - 07:42 PM.


#25 AgeVivo

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Posted 29 November 2009 - 10:04 PM

I voted for those 2. I'm afraid this thread is insufficiently visible to have some chance to win

#26 Mind

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Posted 29 November 2009 - 10:14 PM

I voted for those 2. I'm afraid this thread is insufficiently visible to have some chance to win



No kidding. We are just getting started with this. I would like to have a meeting early this week with Florin, BP, INW team, to hammer out a promotional campaign.

#27 Florin

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Posted 30 November 2009 - 12:54 AM

I would like to have a meeting early this week with Florin, BP, INW team, to hammer out a promotional campaign.

Before starting any promotional campaign, Imminst should create an "official" charity list and perhaps post it as a separate article for easy reference.

Anyhow, the following promotional methods (some of which were used to promote the Laser Research Grant and Share to Win contest) could be deployed in this campaign:
  • Implemented promotional methods
    • Imminst thread
  • Proposed promotional methods
    • Imminst actions
    • Post banner in forum
    • Post banner on website subpages
    • Post charity list article
    • Post homepage announcement
    • Post thread under the "Staff Picks" section
    • Send promotional email to supporters
  • Individual actions
    • Create Facebook posts after voting
    • Create Twitter posts
    • Have blogs related to life extension and transhumanism encourage readers to vote
    • Post on Facebook causes and groups related to life extension and transhumanism in order to get their members to vote (a list of these kinds of causes and groups with memberships of over 500 is available here)
    • Contact the charities (including the ones that don't make it on the "official" charity list but are worth supporting) in order to get their members to vote (this could be an excellent opportunity to introduce Imminst)
    • Contact the admins of Facebook causes and groups related to life extension and transhumanism in order to get their supporters to vote (a list of these kinds of causes and groups with memberships of over 500 is available here)
    • Send Facebook friend invites after voting

Edited by Florin Clapa, 30 November 2009 - 12:55 AM.


#28 Florin

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Posted 30 November 2009 - 07:20 PM

In order to avoid voting fatigue and make sure that voter at least vote for the most important charities, the charity list could be divided into the following sections:

Recommend charities

These charities are the most important ones to vote for as they have a more direct impact on life extension research.
Suggested charities

These charities fund mainstream research related to aging, Alzheimer's disease, stem cells, and Parkinson's disease.Other charities

These charities have political or educational goals related to stem cell research.

Edited by Florin Clapa, 30 November 2009 - 07:45 PM.


#29 Mind

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Posted 01 December 2009 - 08:14 AM

Getting an article ready for the front page, would appreciate some input on the graphic.

#30 Florin

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Posted 01 December 2009 - 07:03 PM

I hope I'm not being too paranoid, but Chase Community Giving's FAQ states: "Facebook users will be able to nominate non profits that serve the general public in the following focus areas: education, healthcare, housing, the environment, combating hunger, arts and culture, human services, and animal welfare." I hope that "healthcare" includes medical research. I'm going to try to find out by emailing them at chasecommunitygiving.inquiry@chase.com.

Edited by Florin Clapa, 01 December 2009 - 07:10 PM.





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