I was inspired by a blog posting, The Cause to Find Cancer Causes: Direct Funding for Cancer Research by Crowd Sourcing from Millions on Causes, written by Harvard researcher, Eric Ding.

Okay, it's not a title that rolls off the tongue.  But what is easily talked about and remembered is this:

Three years ago, Ding founded the Campaign for Cancer Prevention.  Today, it's a community of 6 million people from around the world, with a shared interest in funding research for cancer prevention, and at the same time, allowing the average citizen to connect with leading edge researchers.  So far, this community has raised $300,000, to fund the first breast cancer study through public grassroots donations.  The Internet excels at cutting out the middleman.  Why not with medical research, by creating direct donor-to-researcher funding?

The impact of this new funding model is significant. According to Ding, traditional funding organizations typically have 25-35% overhead and often experience 2-5 years of bureaucratic delays in administration.  Ding estimates that by crowdsourcing the funding, 9 months or less for "innovation delivery time"  is realistic.

In an email exchange with Ding, his commitment to this cause comes through loud and clear:

"This is just the beginning…we're going to expand this cancer funding-research model even more in the coming year." 

I can't help but love that rare mix of passion, commitment and vision, leading to results worth talking about.  

Ding goes on to say how part of pioneering this new model is to allow donors to see the fruits of their "donation labor."  This is the type of transparency that plagues traditional command and control organizations and is the value-add/competitive edge for those who embrace Web 2.0.

What other stunning results can communities produce that otherwise would be unthinkable?  How are you rallying your kindred spirits to pioneer new ways of doing things?  Do let us know…..