[EM] Want me to give you $5? (Or maybe, to donate to the CES)?

[Jameson Quinn]

To congratulate the Center for Election Science for hiring their new
full-time executive director (Aaron Hamlin), I'm running a fundraiser for
them. I'm using a "soft dominant assurance contract" to encourage people to
donate. You can read more about this on
Quora<http://metapolitics.quora.com/Matching-experiment-10x-your-impact-or-Ill-give-you-5-free>
but
here are the basic details:


   - You can make one or more "pledges" by messaging me (Jameson
Quinn<http://www.quora.com/Jameson-Quinn>).
   (email also works)
   - If in 1 week (before noon PST on August 25th), I get 20 pledges in
   total, each pledger commits to giving at least $5 a month (or a single $60
   donation) to the Center for Election Science (CES).
   - If I get exactly 19 pledges, each pledger commits to giving at least a
   $30 donation (basic membership). I will also increase my own donations by
   $5 a month in this specific case.
   - If I get fewer than 19 pledges, I will send $5 of my money to each
   pledger, and the pledgers are not obligated to make any donation.
   - If I get more than 20 pledges, each pledger will give a one-time extra
   donation of the excess number of pledges times $3. So if I get 25 pledges,
   each would give an additional $15. You may optionally put a limit of no
   less than $75 on your total contribution, to insure yourself against the
   case where this is unexpectedly successful.
   - All of this is on the honor system. Please only pledge if you are
   serious about it.

The upshot is that you are putting about $60 on the line. If there are
fewer than 19 pledges, you make a $5 profit. If there are 19 or 20 pledges,
each person is key to making the donations actually happen, so *your money
is effectively being multiplied by 10* (marginally) or 20 (net). If there
are over 20 pledges, the extra money from each person means that your money
is being multiplied by over 2 (marginally) or 20 (net).

*Or, in simple terms: by pledging $5 per month, you can either be key to
enabling $1200 in donations, or get $5 profit.*

The graph again:



Again, message or email me with your pledges (Jameson
Quinn<http://www.quora.com/Jameson-Quinn>)
I'll keep the Quora post updated with the number of pledges (and the
pledgers names, if they want me to) and I'll let all the pledgers know the
result (and if necessary ask how they want their $5) by private message at
the end (Sunday the 25th).

Current pledges: 3/20 (Thank you to Rob Brown<http://www.quora.com/Rob-Brown-13>
, Stephanie Vardavas <http://www.quora.com/Stephanie-Vardavas>, Justin
Rising <http://www.quora.com/Justin-Rising>). That's with 191 views on the
Quora post. I'm starting to get worried; but if you're thinking of
pledging, that's good news for you, because your chances of getting the $5
aren't looking too bad.
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