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Yes, it’s tax time. Again. There you are, sorting through your shoebox of receipts, searching to find something, anything, that might qualify as a charitable deduction. Those faint chits with the unreadable headers? Come on, you know those are from the corner deli. But what’s this? A donation to the X Prize? Congratulations, you’ve redirected a few of your dollars not only to the future of space travel but away from the federal government: The X Prize Foundation is a tax-free nonprofit. Here, some other potential deductions you may not have realized you qualify for. (And if you didn’t give last year, there are always next year’s taxes to prepare for.) Who knew you could do your part to help find extraterrestrial life — or spit in the eye of Microsoft — with
Uncle Sam’s blessing?
Electronic Frontier Foundation
Defends First Amendment rights and promotes fair intellectual-property laws online. eff.org
FAIR-Society (Future Asteroid Interception Research)
Dedicated to deflecting asteroids on a collision course with our humble home. It’s good to know that someone is watching our backs. fair-society.org
GNU Project
This group is developing a free, open-source, Unix-like operating system,
to stop proprietary software from holding programmers back. “Hacking” doesn’t have to be a dirty word. www.gnu.org
SETI Institute
On the vanguard in the hunt for extraterrestrial intelligence. No one likes to be alone. seti.org
The Planetary Society
Founded by Carl Sagan et al. to promote exploration of the solar system. With all the hype about Mars and the Moon, this just might be the only major non-NASA group still advocating for a mission to Pluto. planetary.org
Society for Amateur Scientists
Just because the Ph.D. didn’t quite happen doesn’t mean you don’t have plenty to contribute. sas.org
The X Prize Foundation
Bent on inspiring entrepreneurs to build the tourist rockets of tomorrow, for ever-expanding vacation choices. Why go mountain climbing when you can go suborbital? xprize.org