Scientists Are Waiting

Would it be possible to donate funds to one of the sponsors as seed money or as matching funds to get them started? And would it be tax deductible in the USA (501c3 organization)? This is a common practice on National Public Radio to raise funds.

Instead of a land-trust, there could be a second fund which could be used to make the venture economically viable. This fund could take the money from the auction and use it for a research grant whose purpose is to fund research to find and describe new species. This would have to be a tax-free grant, and the money in exchange for naminc rights would have to be able to be given as a tax-free donation. But lets say my lichen nets 15,000$ from a major company, and is to be named Peltigera pepsii. That 15,000 can now fund travel money to get to remote islands, collecting and survival equipment, PCR reactions and sequencing, and publication costs. If done right, that 15,000 could find, say, two new species. These are bought by companies, and named caloplaca coca-colii and Lecanora mountaindewii for 20,000$ and 15,000$. Well, now we have an approximate income. Lets hire more grad students!

Overall, though, I think this could work. Heck, you can ‘buy’ and name stars, and those most likely won’t ever be recognized in the future (and since multiple companies sell stars, several people name the same star different names, so we almost KNOW the names given will never be recognized in the future). At least this has some solidarity to it, because the species are tangible now.