The New Model of Philanthropy: Think Big

Substantial prizes like the ten million dollars X Prize have been spurring progress since the 1920s when Charles Lindbergh stepped up to the twenty-five thousand dollar purse he went on to claim. Virtually any innovation that will benefit humanity is up for an X Prize – from sequencing the human genome, to skimming surface oil, to mobile medical diagnosis (sponsored by Qualcomm) to early detection of tuberculosis (sponsored by Bill and Melinda Gates). These purses are incentivizing teams to solve problems for the greater good and each effort will produce ten times the amount of the prize itself in spending for research and development. Jobs, jobs, jobs!!!