X-Message-Number: 7230 Date: Thu, 28 Nov 96 10:24:42 From: Dave Pizer <> Subject: Help for Prometheus Suggestions for Prometheus, from Dave Pizer In a previous message Paul wrote: > Message #7224 > Date: 27 Nov 96 02:00:48 EST > From: Paul Wakfer <> > Subject: Prometheus Project Update > > The Prometheus Project pledge total now stands at $314,100 per year > for the first ten years of the Project from 60 pledgers. The Project has > been "repackaged" as a project to perfect long-term fully reversible human > suspended animation within 20 years. snip > Unfortunately, the pledge campaign has greatly slowed down. The two > California meetings were very poorly attended and not worth the effort of > their arrangements. That was a shame because all those who didn't attend > missed a very interesting talk (with pictures of live grafted dog heads, no > less) by the Project's consulting cryobiologist. Because of these meeting > failures, no more meetings are planned at this time. snip > I quite openly admit that I am in somewhat of a quandary as to how to > increase the rate at which pledges are being received. snip > ............which will be needed before I or anyone else can write a > business plan for the Project. Then you will all have your chance to > legitimately say "it can't be done" and we will make changes to try to come > up with a Project plan which is both workable and valuable. > > In closing, I want to make it very clear that while I sometimes feel > discouraged, I am still determined to continue with this Project which has > already accomplished more in gaining potential funding support for research > than has ever been done in cryonics before. I am open to any suggestions as > to what can to done or changed to accomplish this goal. I posted some suggestions last time about concentrating on wealthy members. Here are some more, based on what I have been studying in ways to raise money: 1. Create a steering committee. This should include one or two leaders from each cryonics organization. This would give many more members confidence that Prometheus is not just under the control of one person but is being steered by successful leaders of the cryonics community. This can NOT be a paper committee. You must transfer control and authority to the steering committee if you want them to adopt the Prometheus as their own. Once the steering committee has adopted Prometheus as their project they should get as involved as you have been and you then multiply the ability to promote this idea. Of course you will be on the steering committee and might be the coordinator. However, the president should be one of the most respected and nicest people in the cryonics movement. A diplomat is needed to be the leader, one who has the standing to be able stop any misunderstandings before they start. Look for someone like Bob Ettinger or Steve Bridge (or both of them). If this sounds like an idea you want to pursue, I will be glad to help you discuss this with either of these gentlemen. The committee should be at least 10 members and not larger than 5% of the total cryonics community. There should be requirements to be on the committee, like making a pledge. The pledge can be small or large depending on the resources of the person. The main theme is that once can not go out an promote an idea and raise money for it unless one has pledged themself. 2. Write a simple and concise business plan. Not more than 2 pages. If the plan it too complicated, many people will not read it. If you can't get the plan on 2 pages or less, make a 2 page outline of it. It is important to keep the plan simple. Most of the very wealthy members I know consider their own business policy simple. (although their policy may seem complicated to others, its not to them). Although you have emphasized many times that people only have to make pledges and they can back out if they don't like the plan, that statement has a negative effect on some potential contributors. Some potential contributors won't get involved because they won't take the existing pledges seriously because the existing pledgers can easily back out. Other potential contributors don't like the policy of making a pledge (even thought they can later back out) without a concrete business plan and simple research plan. Yes, I know you have said umpteen times they can back out, but many of the wealthy and successful people in cryonics became that way because they don't ever back out. They make their plan first and examine it from many directions, tweek it, alter it, scrap and rebuild it, and then when they have the plan where it "feels" good, they proceed with full commitment and no thought of backing out. Other potential investors might be afraid that even thought you have said they can back out (and I assume you implied or said somewhere) and there will be no attempts to embarass them if they do back out, (In other words, "no questions asked!"), in reality they will be embarassed if they feel they have to back out because they don't like the final plan. So show it to them in front. 3. Your existing pledgers are your best potential supporters. Develop a plan to raise the money involving the steering committee and those existing pledgers who will volunteer. You, or someone with experience, coordinate the others to leverage the work in collecting pledges. Get a list of wealthy cryonicists and have wealthy existing pledgers contact the prospects. Try to find matches in some area for assigning the communications. In other words, if a person on the steering committee is a CPA, have them contact other cryonics CPAs. If the person on the steering is a self- employed businesspersons, have them contact other self-employed businesspersons. ECT. Don't always insist on the big investment on the first contact. It is ok to ask softly for a contribution, but if the prospect says "no" then let it go and the best the solicitor can do is thank the prospect for listening and leave the door open. Perhaps in a few months the solicitor can contact the prospect again. Perhaps the steering committee and the most dedicated pledgers might want to make small donations to underwrite the expenses of travel, information gathering, and operations during the money raising period. You might even raise money for a full time person to man the phone and do telemarketing. 4. Form a neutral nonprofit organization to allow those people who don't want to make an investment to make pledges of tax- deductable donations. Also the use of a 501 (c) 3 would allow people to make Charitable Remainder Trusts and Unitrusts which might be a big tax benefit to them. 5. Another approach might be to form the company and try to sell stock and get pledges for future sales first. Then you could employ prosessional stock sales persons to try to go outside the cryonics community. This might be enhanced by combining the research of Prometheus to also perfecting frozen organs for transplant. If Prometheus makes billions in organ transplantation along with learning how to save our lives, so be it. 6. Hire a professional fundraiser to raise money for the nonprofit arm. If you combined the fundraising to include the present Promethes ideas and learning how to freeze organs for transplantation you widen (by orders of magnitude) the arena where you can solicit money from kind-hearted persons. Some of the trueisms in raising this much money are: Good information on potential investors, leverage the solicitations with a committee, involve the whole (cryonics) community by having the committee be representative of all organizations, in-person solicitations, enthusiasm, when one thing ain't workin' try something else, and hard work. No body said living forever would be easy. Dave Pizer Rate This Message: http://www.cryonet.org/cgi-bin/rate.cgi?msg=7230