"The money thing" can be very volatile.  For example, in 1995 I put up
$1000 of my own money for the first amateur launch to reach 200km:

http://www.geocities.com/jim_bowery/bafar.html

2 years later someone with a lot more money had put up a quarter
million dollars for the same criterion (but with a time limit):

http://groups-beta.google.com/group/sci.space.tech/browse_frm/thread/...
aka
http://tinyurl.com/bo7py

Then some guys in St. Louis started the ball rolling on the X-Prize,
with a bit different rules, which eventually paid out $10 million
dollars.

A similar story has happened with the M-Prize which is now quite
active.  Indeed the money is rolling in:

http://mprize.org/index.php?pagename=releases

Prize legislation I drafted for fusion energy technology back in 1992
didn't get funded but it did pick up the support of one of the founders
of the Tokamak program:

http://www.geocities.com/jim_bowery/BussardsLetter.html

Prize awards for technology milestones are gaining credibility these
days and if people "get it" the C-Prize could take off in an even
bigger way than the rest of them.