Two very real companies (one publicly traded on NASDAQ) hire for these very real positions.
That is at least as hard for me to substantiate as the very claim in question, and doesn't look like a "too good to be true" opportunity in the first place.
Can't you donate $47.50 to SIAI and keep the extra money to pay yourself back for interest?
1) It's not the interest I'm worried about; it's the principle (pun intended). (The interest would be practically nothing anyway.)
2) I have donated to SIAI already, several times this amount; I just don't mention it at every opportunity.
3) The question is whether I should donate a marginal $50 in anticipation of getting $50 from ING, under the assumption this is nearly costless to me. "Why don't you just donate ~$50 to SIAI?" is non-responsive to that question, and makes me wonder why you got voted up, as did the praise of that suggestion.
I upvoted and praised it because it's a good point regardless of its irrelevance.
If I gave you $50 you hadn't planned on receiving, would you consider giving it to charity?
Here's your chance to find out.
Just in time for the Tallin-Evans matching fundraiser, ING Direct has started offering a free $50 cash sign-up bonus. I've personally used ING for 10 years and referred over 20 people to similar promotions of theirs in the past so I can confirm that this is legit.1
It's a simple, effective way to get started as an optimal philanthropist for free:
Full disclosure: I was an SIAI Visiting Fellow in 2010. I've also used ING Direct as a customer the past 10 years, but otherwise have no financial interest in them.
[1] This isn't one of those bogus "intro" deals where you have to make sure you cancel the service later on or risk getting charged fees. ING has no fees, no minimum balance requirements, no sleazy marketing emails, and consistently good savings rates. If you want to use them for their good service after signing up, great, if not, no worries. All you have to do to qualify for the $50 is make 3 small purchases you were planning to make anyway with their new debit card. I know it's a trivial inconvenience, but I think it's worth it to be able to donate up to $100 to charity without actually spending any money.
[2] Profit denominated in warm fuzzies, karma, and post-Singularity catgirls.