I'm pleased to be able to draw your attention to this latest release from the Methuselah Foundation:

The Methuselah Foundation has appointed Allison Taguchi as its Development Officer, responsible for structuring and executing its fundraising efforts. Allison has over 12 years of fundraising and business development experience at research institutes, universities, government agencies, think tanks, and non-governmental organizations. Examples include: Rushford Nanotech Laboratory, Department of Defense, Oakland Military Institute, and University of Hawaii Biotech Research Center.

Working out of the Bay Area, Allison is arranging a series of outreach events throughout 2007 and beyond, at which Dr. Aubrey de Grey, Chairman and Founder of the Foundation, will articulate the SENS (Strategies for Engineered Negligible Senescence) roadmap for directed research into obviating the fundamental mechanisms of aging. Allison said, "I'm looking forward greatly to working with the Methuselah Foundation. We have a slate of SENS-related research projects ready to go that only await funding; these and the Mprize - which will be awarded to researchers who substantially extend the lifespan of laboratory mice - will attract much interest in the Bay Area tech community and beyond."

As you may or may not know, in addition to her past demonstrations of proficiency in the fundraising arena, Taguchi is involved in a number of professional ventures that have grown out of the transhumanist community in past years. These include the Future of Humanity Institute and the Singularity Institute for Artificial Intelligence; Taguchi is quite the hub.

Successful fundraising in any field has a great deal to do with the arcane talent of networking - with the generation and use of a web of connections to better enable the flow of information, reputation and trust. Now that the Methuselah Foundation has now moved into the realm of expecting - and being expected - to raise millions of dollars in research and advocacy funding over the next couple of years, strands in the network are the coin of the realm. Seven-figure donations don't just happen; a great deal of work and energy lies behind each success.

Folk like you and I can continue to help in this process by showing that we care deeply about serious research aimed at the rapid defeat of aging. Doors to the realm of networking and million dollar donations were opened by the actions of hundreds of ordinary people, those who took the initiative to support the Foundation in the years since its creation in 2003. As more of us step forward to demonstrate that we are willing to help eliminate age-related frailty and suffering, more million dollar doors open, and the network of potential wealthy donors grows - and so the faster the scientific community will turn to effectively engage aging.

Success is the greatest predictor for more success - we pebbles are crafting the start of a mighty avalanche, and soon we'll see the huge boulders join in. Let's keep up the good work!

Technorati tags: activism, fundraising, SENS

Posted by Reason at January 23, 2007 9:36 PM | TrackBack (0)