A Fundraising Idea: Donating a Small Sum of Money to Build a Pot That We Can Invest

Who would be interested in donating a small sum of money to build a pot that we can invest? We have the potential to take a smallish amount and grow it exponentially. If successful, the money could be used to issue grants, help with research, promote awareness, etc, etc. By taking a risk, we could substantially grow the profile of Tinnitus Talk and make more of an impact.

I think we should invest in a project called Pulse Chain. To all those who aren't Tinnitus Talk Benefactors and haven't seen the investment section, it's a hard fork of Ethereum that is faster and cheaper and is an excellent candidate for exponential growth.

There is of course risk associated with this, but that's needed in order to make lots of money. I look at it this way: who would be upset about losing, say, $5/$10, if the upside is that we could collectively generate a lot of money? It could also be locked away so that we could acquire interest. It's food for thought.

I will be putting something in on behalf of Tinnitus Talk (along with the current Ocean Protocol investment) regardless of whether this campaign takes off or not. I see this as a way of boosting the position.

As an example of what's possible, this is my position in Hex (a partner project of Pulse Chain) from January 8th of this year when I entered:



And this is it now as I type this message:



I have to stress that I got in late on this. If I had got in at the start, that $330 would now be worth over $2m (over the course of 19 months)! As some of you know (from the investment section), a friend of mine did get in at the start and he made a ridiculous amount of money.

This does not mean that Pulse Chain will make the same kind of gains. It is merely an example of what's possible.

Who would willingly sacrifice a few dollars to take that chance?

 

Who would control the money? Who decides what to invest in and when it's time to cash out?

 

I would suggest that we donate the money to Tinnitus Talk and let @Markku and @Hazel separate the total raised from their regular donations. Then we invest it in Pulse Chain (or something that has similar exponential growth qualities) and leave it for a few years. Either lock it in, so it accumulates interest, or leave full control with Markku and Hazel.

So for example, if we raise $1k, and it does 100x, they might wanna sell and take the $100k, but if you're locked in you can't. The decision is taken out of your hands. As a reward for holding, you are given interest. This is called staking.

It's just an idea. I'm doing it either way.

In addition to the post above, if you look at the small writing underneath the total in the second picture that says incl $1.63k accrued, that's the interest.

 

If anyone wants to join in, please comment below after you've donated to make it easy to track. The total doesn't really matter; there are no targets as such.

 

I am in.

 

I've implored the ATA to create an endowment with their recent windfalls, but they don't appear to be interested.

 

I am in.

 

Brilliant Idea Ed! Count me in! How do I donate? I have no knowledge about investments, but I like a little bit of gambling. There is potentiel for much to win and hardly any to lose.

 

If we're talking about a relatively minor sum, like say, up to $100 or $200, I'm all in.

 

I think $5 each is sufficient (I will personally put around £50 on behalf of Tinnitus Talk, but that's my choice). We certainly don't have to go overboard. What I don't want is people feeling aggrieved if it doesn't go to plan. This is a risky business, so anyone who wants to be involved must have the mindset that their money is gone if they decide they are in. But, as I've already stated, there's a chance we could generate a nice pot of money that we could use for the greater good. Also, I think it'd be fun. The ups and downs are a rollercoaster ride of emotions.

 

Hex is relentless.

 

I'll donate too.

 

I'm in too once all this is setup

 

Count me in too.

 

I also plan to donate.

 

I’m in. When will it be possible to buy Pulse? Will it be on Uniswap?

 

Yea, it'll be on Uniswap.

 

Do you know when?

 

I don't think anyone does at the moment, but it's likely to be a matter of weeks.

 

Ok cool, thanks!

 

I’ll donate.

 

Let me tell you where I'm at with this.

I agree with @Ed209's previous assertions, that the tinnitus community is not doing enough to help itself.

Something to the effect of: If we the sufferers, are not willing to donate to the funding of research and treatments, then how could we ever expect regular people with no idea how crippling this illness is, to?

That said, I feel the terms "donation" and "investment" in the same sentence are an oxymoron, and I don't like the idea of giving my money to something that is effectively gambling, as it contravenes the entire standard by which an NPO is supposed to be run.

But so that I'm not leaving this thread with nothing constructive to add: I was incredibly moved by the Danny Boy Memorial Fund (I believe you setup @Ed209) and personally would like to see more initiatives like that, mirrored in future. Not necessarily in memory of people we have lost (of course), but just in general, something like crowdfunding; a collection we can all donate to over the course of a 3 month period, and then vote on which research group or organisation, we'd like to receive our donation.

I know I'm not the first person to raise this idea on Tinnitus Talk, however it seems to have stagnated somewhere down the line, despite the ongoing posts of people showing a desire to give their money towards anything that progresses our cause (that isn't the useless ATA or BTA).

So far all we can do to show our dedication to digging our way out of this hole, is by donating to the forum, which is great. But if we can expand that support to labs and scientists that are looking at realistic ways to alleviate this illness, without looking for a return, that would sit much better with me than seeing Tinnitus Talk playing the stock market.

 

I wasn't here when the Danny Boy Fund was launched, but I seem to remember reading that the amount of money raised was much less than expected.

This forum has a list of researchers who you can donate to directly.

 

Link?

 

https://www.tinnitustalk.com/forums/worthy-causes.31/

 

This is really cool, and I've never noticed it before, which is a problem.

Should really be one of the first things you see when you enter the website (but that's a discussion for another thread).

Still, the more I think about it, the less I like even my own idea.

To be honest, I just see too many ways in which, the idea of a "pot" can go wrong.

Contributing to the running of Tinnitus Talk is one thing, but pooling one's money into anything (outside of donating to a registered charity, if you choose to define that as "pooling") is quite another.

I think it would just be better to focus on the "Worthy Causes" part of the website, advertise it more, and do collective directed funding of one or two of the organisations we agree, seem like the winning horse (that rules out the ATA and BTA right off the bat).

So, as if I needed to make it any more obvious, regarding the "group investment" idea, I'm out.

But best of luck to those of you going ahead with it.

 

I'm in on this too.

 

I would be willing to donate to this. Is there an update on how/whether it's being implemented?

I think @Damocles makes a good point about not seeing the Worthy Causes and Awareness / Fundraising sections of the site readily. When I log on I have to scroll down to see any of those sections. They aren't highlighted in any way to differentiate them from the other sections. I normally don't go beyond the support forums for tinnitus and hyperacusis. Occasionally I take a peak at the research section and general chat.

Looking through my posts in this section I've only made like two before this, yikes!