Such things are quite possible, if the infrastructure is created to support them.

Comments GMU professor Robin Hanson on the blog post of philanthropy expert Lucy Bernholz.

Here’s an excerpt of Lucy Bernholz’s blog post on the potential social utility of prediction markets subsidized by foundations:

Could communities be asked to predict what kind of grant making strategies would achieve certain goals? What about predicting the likelihood of certain public policy futures, and using those to inform philanthropic decision making? Or simply look for future social trends that would influence philanthropy, such as one Long Bets prediction that, “By 2100 racism will no longer be significant phenomenon in most countries of the world.” Given the money (and social issues) at stake, forecast tools that work would be of great benefit to philanthropy. Who knows, maybe one day philanthropically-subsidized social issue prediction markets will be as familiar to us as stock indices and the weather report? Of course, such forecasts may have to be printed in philanthropically-subsidized community newspapers. Independent, credible information – critical in value, and seemingly scarcer every day. It could very well be the philanthropic currency of the future.

Related Note: Both the Rand Corporation and one very big West Coast foundation have projects on prediction markets.