Charity

Some people started by saying they would give you a cut if you were the first person to submit the location of a balloon (there's an authentication thing there: What, no you weren't first!) Lots of teams are saying they will donate the proceeds to charity. But why stop there? If it's not about the money, it's about the fame. Who says you shouldn't pay money for that? It seems rational to pay out more than the total value of the money. Think of all of these rocket ship competitions (e.g. the Ansari X Prize). Certain the money did not cover their expenses. But then again, they are sending ships up into space, and you are finding red balloons.