Until now, the only real funding strategy pursued by Mars advocates has been to lobby for NASA and the US government to pay for humans to Mars, but it is obvious to everyone that this is not the solution. Dwindling numbers in all advocate groups proves that people are becoming frustrated with concepts and methods that don't work. You need to understand that most advocate groups are lead by scientists/engineers who are used to being given government grants for work, so they have little to no real understanding of the wider business or political world and how funding decisions are really made.
You may have also read about our Consortium Funding concept and been puzzled by it, but a bit of background may help. This idea is really not unique to MarsDrive. It has been advocated by leaders such as the last 2 administrators of NASA who spoke strongly about "international collaboration" on missions to Mars for humans. What we have done is to take that concept and look at the weak points, and the one that stands out is the political partnerships wrangling which has caused so many issues with the ISS.
Our idea to break this deadlock in the political realm is to have the private sector be the "pointy end of the spear" as it were, to be the initiator of a humans to Mars Drive. It does not mean they pay for it all, maybe only 10%, but by leading the way, and organizing it, they get all the benefits, and sooner than waiting on governments to agree to it. Yes, it is a complex idea, but it is a complex mission after all. It will take all our initiative, all our intelligence for Mars. Our very best.
MarsDrive is dedicated to driving this push, to getting the players talking to each other, seeking solutions and pushing it forward in new ways. Your support will enable us to make the Consortium concept the new way to mars, in whatever form it finally takes.
In the next year or so we would like to put together our Mars Expo for this conference and for displays to the general public of private space projects, but to do it we need your help.