I think Curie is a very good idea, but it's hard to assess whether they are helping new authors or not (I've seen some established authors on their list).
One way you could assess whether you are making an impact is to count the number of unique authors Curie has rewarded and find out what percentage they are of authors as a whole. That way you can gauge whether you really are helping the site. The authors who have about 1 million vests arn't being helped.