Future Competitions and the future of the folding project?

[kelliegang]

Due to the very difficult nature of comparing contribution between users who are all equally as important[?] uniprocessor, smp, gpu, ps3 & server farms [though some might say the latter is a little more important than the aforementioned clients]... and the fact that we're at about 400,000 active processors worldwide, including only 40,000 graphics cards... Does it not stand to reason that future competitions should be aimed at expanding the user base? Referring new users, making bigger teams, encouraging people to get more processors folding.... which in the end would hopefully have flow-on effects when the new users upgrade their hardware as technology advances.

If anyone were to sponsor a future competition I would hope that it will reward individuals for recruitment efforts, say, a measure of how many processors are active over 7 days in a username, or some form of referral code where new folders credit those who brought them in. I know there are problems that this might cause, but the legitimacy of the project and the charitable nature of it should outweigh any possible bad memories created or relived..

I think the folding project is at the stage now where it needs to focus on increasing awareness of it's existance worldwide, particularly in related or sympathetic fields; Universities, Disease counselling, Support groups for diseases which might possibly benefit from the research, IT schools/programs. I am enrolled in a school of public health situated right beside various IT classes and had not heard of folding@home until I discovered it on my PS3... this seems wrong somehow.

I also think it would be a great step forward if folding@home were a registered charity WORLDWIDE .. or at least in countries like the US, Canada, Australia and the EU for the case of monetary donations [not so that the processing time/hardware/electricity etc could be claimed though that would be an interesting turn of events if that ever came about].

Just food for thought.

[kelliegang]

By the same token.....

Have the Pande group approached the relevant disease support groups [who often have mailing lists and newsletters] with information about how folding@home works, any progress related to the specific disease and a request that they inform their members about the important groundwork folding@home is laying for further research?
If they have a mailing list of emails then they have direct contact information for RELEVANT people who would likely be interested in supporting the kind of research going on with folding@home... and you KNOW that they have computers which are more than likely capable of running at least the uniprocessor client. Seems like a good avenue to increase awareness and perhaps even financial support for the project.

[kiore]

By the same token.....

Have the Pande group approached the relevant disease support groups [who often have mailing lists and newsletters] with information about how folding@home works, any progress related to the specific disease and a request that they inform their members about the important groundwork folding@home is laying for further research?
If they have a mailing list of emails then they have direct contact information for RELEVANT people who would likely be interested in supporting the kind of research going on with folding@home... and you KNOW that they have computers which are more than likely capable of running at least the uniprocessor client. Seems like a good avenue to increase awareness and perhaps even financial support for the project.

Now this is a good idea, many people after a friend or loved one has had a diagnosis or passed away wish to make a contribution/memorial. Perhaps a link to donate directly, or encouragement to contribute computing resources may be a successful strategy. Think the message of distributed computing still not getting out so well, I only became aware of this project due to a team being formed on a site I contribute to and I am a health professional and post grad public health specialist. Another member of my team started after his mother received a diagnosis. I have tried to recruit others after started folding myself this year and am surprised at how few of my peers are aware of this important work.
kiore.

[kelliegang]

Has there been any thought within the Pande team [or other associated people] of creating a social networking page related to folding@home?
Myspace, Facebook and Twitter seem to be all the rage these days... a presence on these types of social networking sites may be another very effective place to raise the broader community's awareness of folding@home and the cause.
A lot of disease support groups are on these networking sites now as are a few research groups...

It might even make for some decent sociology major's case study or Phd thesis?

[kelliegang]

Just saw this on Prof. Pande's blog...

Stanford is a 501(c)(3) non-profit entity and thus a donation of money to Folding@home is tax deductible. Stanford's Federal Tax ID number is 94-1156365. Also, many companies help individuals donate to Stanford by providing matching funds.

Does anyone know how donations to American "not-profit" entities are treated by taxation offices worldwide? [ie. if you're not in the US and you know your Country's taxation policy for donations can you please post? ]

edit: in Australia at least, the following applies:

Is your organisation entitled to DGR endorsement?

To be entitled to DGR endorsement, your organisation must:

- fall within a general DGR category as set out in the tax law
- have an Australian business number
- have an appropriate dissolution/revocation of endorsement clause(s)
- maintain a gift fund (if seeking endorsement for the operation of a fund, authority or institution), and
- be in Australia (with some exceptions).

I'd imagine similar taxation rules apply in most countries particularly with the requirement that the charity be within that country ...
Internationally donations are probably a no-go in terms of being tax deductable :\