Reply To: Questions regarding DPF.

[Rezwan]

Warwick wrote: My understanding was that LPP didn’t need any more cash to finance proof of concept but now it’s not clear for me? Rezwan?

What gave you this understanding? Let me know so I can clarify it elsewhere on the web.

LPP has partial funding. They will need more funding to complete the proof of concept.

Kyle wrote: I am confident that a non-profit micro-contributor approach could, through several low-to-no cost marketing approaches, raise these monies for the non-profit and the non-profit could, through a grant process, help fund the LPP proof of concept.

Advocacy groups from environmental lobbying organizations to space advocacy groups use this approach; in particular, the planetary society raised seven figures on multiple occasions for its “Solar Sail” projects. I imagine that a number of the regular posters to this forum might, like me, have received the many requests for funding for this project the planetary society put out in the past several years.

Kyle, you’re right on with this. It’s a very good approach to take. We tried this initially, but not in an organized fashion as a nonprofit would. Just as a website, with a linked paypal account, and no dedicated person or team of people following through.

We now have some seed money to try and develop into a fully-functioning, effective nonprofit to do what you have suggested here.

Is the primary problem with the above solution just the lack of expertise and the money for office supplies and shipping?

Money isn’t just for office supplies and shipping. It’s mostly for expertise. The major budget of a nonprofit organization is staff salaries. The staff raises money to cover their own salaries, and the programs. Programs also usually involve salaries. Like, if you want to give healthcare to people, you pay the people delivering the health care. If you want science to happen, you pay scientists to work.

Unfortunately, it takes money and time to raise money. Like fusion, the nuclei don’t want to fuse unless you hit them with a lot of energy. And once they do, they give back energy. More out than in makes it sustainable – I’m not expressing this analogy well.

The nonprofit development goal here is to turn FFS into an effective, resilient fusion advocacy organization that reaches out to everyone it can, and attracts action and money for the pursuit of fusion.

Obviously, a focus fusion 501c organization would not benefit from the decades long and lengthy existing donor base the planetary society had to call on for its project, …

Yes, we don’t have their well developed donor base. That is our number one goal! Although it’s really cool that we have a core group of consistent donors (more than 40! Thank you all! You’re the best! The only folks on this site who actually pay cash! Your names will go down in the book of Fusion!) From this base, we raised over four thousand dollars this year.

Doesn’t sound like much – but over the years it’s kept the site afloat and attracted investor $ to real research. Think what we could do with more typical nonprofit organization funding. FFS’ goal is definitely to grow along the lines of the planetary society. It’ll take expertise, and building on our strengths – on all the folks who are interested in FFS now.

What is your own expertise in this field?

but this project would likely have two things going for it: one, broader, ‘sexier’ appeal;

Sexier appeal? How do you figure? Do elaborate.

What I get from most people is that fusion is just impossible, a pipe dream, so we can’t do it (a lesser problem is the group that thinks this is so self-evident and simple, it must already be funded and done).

When you think of other nonprofits, they offer something with immediate and risk-free benefits. Food for the poor, job training, pictures of stars and planets…Fusion research is pretty risky. It might not work.

This is why we have to make the quest itself sexy, and the successful resolution of the quest – well I think that reward is pretty self-evident.

Yes. The real challenge here is how to make the quest for fusion as sexy as a net-energy result.

I’m wondering how Edison kept up his spirits after the 50th useless lightbulb. Maybe after the 600th worked, he looked back fondly at lightbulb 263 and thought – “that one was really my favorite”.

and two, a much smaller financial target. (A six-figure target is much easier to raise than seven.)

I think LPP needs a low 7 to complete things.

But you’re right. Once we develop into an effective nonprofit with all the mechanisms of fundraising that come with that, the money could be raised. Humanity needs fusion, and we have to pull together to make it happen. It’s a collective endeavor. Perfect for a nonprofit to champion.

Additionally, don’t forget the tax advantage with the non-profit approach for the micro contributors; we wouldn’t have the possible roi, but I suspect most of us would want to contribute for more altruistic and scientific reasons anyway.

Ugh. Taxes. We’ll have to be careful to maintain our 501c3 status. We can’t be a fundraiser for LPP which is a private company. But if we do start raising serious money, I’m sure there are ways to be compliant and still achieve these goals.