Thanks to a very generous donation of $620 from occasional reader Swarup, we passed the $2000 mark with a couple of days to spare. With my matching donation, and a bit more coming in, the total is now $3055.10. I’ve got some new ideas planned to reach the $5000 target, and any others are gratefully welcome.

As was noted in commens, most of the contributions so far seem to have come from social democrats. So to spread the love around, I thought I’d invite self-identified adherents of other viewpoints to pitch in, and offer a more direct incentive. Give me and make a note in comments that you’re doing so, identifying your philosophical position or political affiliation (libertarian, Howard-lover, neoconservative, radical left or whatever). The first group to reach a total of $250 gets a 500 word post from me, commending some aspect of your position,

To donate, just click here, or send me a cheque at the School of Economics, University of Queensland

Thanks to everyone who has donated so far. The total raised is now $1180. Donations have been flagging over the last couple of days, so the pace needs to increase if people want to extract my matching contribution. Suggestions for further incentives/ gimmicks gratefully accepted.

To donate, just click here

Condolences to those who have lost family members and friends in the air crash in Indonesia yesterday. Of those killed or missing the only one whose name is known to me was Morgan Mellish, Jakarta correspondent for the Australian Financial Review, but others who died were serving our country, and of course any loss of life is a tragedy for the family concerned.

This is also a good time to think about the routine and preventable loss of life and limb on our roads, and about the far larger loss of life caused by poverty and disease around the world. As well as sharing the grief surrounding this tragic event we should act to ensure that such things become less common.

With the skin incentive having raised $1000, it’s time to switch to money for the next round. If the total sponsorship reaches $2000 by midnight next Monday, I’ll put in $1000 of my own to match the extra donations. Bearing in mind that donations are tax-deductible, this is a great way to amplify your gifts, particularly for anyone facing high marginal tax rates (and since I hear complaints about this pretty regularly, there must be quite a few readers in this category). If you’re on the top marginal tax rates, and give $200, the government will give nearly $100 back, so you only pay about $100, while the Leukemia Foundation gets $400. Sounds like a good deal to me.

Of course, not everyone is on the top marginal tax rate, or flush with cash. Just give what you can afford here, or think about joining the Great Shave (colouring is a less drastic option) yourself.

Sponsorship for my entry in the World’s Greatest Shave has passed the target of $1000, so you’ll be seeing a picture of me sans beard. I’m as much in the dark as anyone regarding how it will look.

There’s still ten days to go, so I’ve decided to get really ambitious and set a target of $5000, with more incentives/gimmicks along the way. I’m lining up a really good one for $2000, and I hope to make an announcement tomorrow. Remember all proceeds go to the Leukemia Foundation, and all donations are tax deductible, so keep the money coming in!