to solve funding , private investors need a place to go to offer their funding to scientist who are asking, by bringing awarness to a funder of the potentials of the science being explored.
if its tax diductable, why not give charity money to science ? at least then the giver might feel that there makeing a difference in the human race, as opposed to flushing it to a "charity" that gives only 5% to the charity and pockets the rest.
Donors Choose is one way to donate money to a science-type cause. It is science education projects rather than funding projects. Of course there is also projects like
Galaxy Zoo, where you actually get involved in the project (there are too many galaxies for trained cosmologists to classify them all, it is still too difficult to get a computer to do it better than a layperson with a smattering of training...thus galaxy zoo).
There is also
The Richard Dawkins Foundation or
JREF. These are primarily educational based charities still.
It would be nice, I agree, if a way to pledge small donations towards less mainstream projects was possible and easy - but there are at least some things we can do at the moment