Have you seen https://www.whatsyourprice.com/ ?

Most amazing spin ever. Here's the ad targeted at women https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GK2MrUOfAPE and the one targeted at men https://vimeo.com/21179683

Also https://misstravel.com and their pitch https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JLSiy4nUvnc

Ha. Fascinating. What's even better is the bracketing in the two videos - the guy offered $20 and went on a date with "an attractive female" yet the female only accepted the $100 offer.

So as a man you're primed thinking your date will cost you on the order of $20, but the woman is expecting offers in the order of $100. Expectations are already mismatched before you've even signed up!

Wow, this is as close to escorting as it gets.

I could think of a gentle spin where the money would go to pay the date (restaurant/drinks/activity), which is expensive anyway, but the way it's framed I am speechless.

Yeah, attractive people should be able to build a wish list of dates (restaurant, cafe, movie) with a price tag and less attractive people could then choose whether they want an expensive, medium or cheap date with that person. It would still have an element of escorting because there is an incentive to go on as many dates as possible but there would be no reward beyond the date itself.

Perhaps just donate the money to the recipient's favorite charity.

Nope. Meeting in person ain’t prostitution. This is how a bunch of Americans meet their partners (in bars, coffee shops etc.).

The issue is the payment part, not the meeting in person part.

Yes, but sending compensation to a person in order to meet (unless they're a confidential informant) is usually seen by law enforcement as suspicious.