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What is crowdfunding?

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Crowdfunding is funding a project by raising money from a large number of people

Crowdfunding is a form of crowdsourcing and of alternative finance. In 2015, it was estimated that worldwide over US$34 billion was raised this way.

Crowdfunding is often performed via Internet-based registries. This crowdfunding model is generally based on three types of actors: the project initiator who proposes the idea and/or project to be funded, individuals or groups who support the idea, and a moderating organization (the platform) that brings the parties together to launch the idea.

Crowdfunding has been used to fund a wide range for-profit entrepreneurial ventures such as artistic and creative projects, medical expenses, travel, or community-oriented social entrepreneurship projects. The biggest crowdfunding platforms are Kickstarter and Indiegogo.

Source: Wikipedia

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What is Red Nose Day?

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Red Nose Day is a big British fundraising event

Red Nose Day is organised by Comic Relief, a British charity, founded in 1985 by the comedy scriptwriter Richard Curtis (known from Love Actually) and comedian Lenny Henry. Comic Relief was founded in response to famine in Ethiopia but has since then supported many projects in the world and in the UK. The highlight of Comic Reliefs appeal is Red Nose Day, a biennial telethon held in March. Here many celebrities lend a hand in order to raise money for people who need a hand. Red Nose Day alternates with Sport Relief which is also held every 2 year. Here sporters help raising funds for a wide range of projects.

This year’s Red Nose Day will be held on Friday the 24th of March 2017. It will culminate in a night of unmissable live comedy o with hosts including Sir Lenny Henry, Joe Lycett, Miranda Hart, Rob Beckett, Romesh Ranganathan, Warwick Davis, Sally Phillips, Greg Davies, Jonathan Ross and French & Saunders.

Read more about Red Nose Day on their website.

Source: Wikipedia

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What is Kickstarter?

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Kickstarter is a global crowdfunding platform

Kickstarter’s stated mission is to help bring creative projects to life through crowdfunding. With crowdfunding people can pledge to support your project with money and together raise the sum needed to kickstart the project. Kickstarter has reportedly received more than $1.9 billion in pledges from 9.4 million backers to fund 257,000 creative projects, such as films, music, stage shows, comics, journalism, video games, technology and food-related projects.

People who back Kickstarter projects (so called backers) are offered rewards and one of a kind experiences in exchange for their pledges.

Source: Wikipedia

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SheDecides

What is Shedecides?

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Shedecides is a charity

For years, the United States has been an important partner to help bring these numbers down. With a yearly budget of over $600 million for family planning and reproductive health programs, many women and couples around the world received contraceptive services and supplies. Every year, according to the Guttmacher Institute, two million unsafe abortions were prevented and over 11.000 deaths were averted.

But these gains are now at risk. The reinstatement of the so-called Mexico City Policy prohibits US government funding of organizations that provide access to (information about) abortions. Many of these organizations also provide access to family planning and HIV/AIDS prevention.

We cannot let that happen. Women and girls should have the right to make their own choices. They should have access to adequate health care.

That is why Lilianne Ploumen, the Dutch minister for Foreign Trade and Development Cooperation, decided to launch the She Decides – Global Fundraising Initiative. It aims to ensure that millions of women and girls are in charge of their own bodies.

The financial contributions for the She Decides -Global Fundraising Initiative will be made available to organizations affected by the Mexico City Policy. They will fund reproductive health initiatives in developing countries.

Several governments have already announced they will join the She Decides: Global Fundraising Initiative.

The Initiative is also open to individual contributions. You can help! Donations for She Decides are coordinated by The Rutgers Foundation.

You can find more information and make a donation on the website of shedecides.com

What does SCOTUS mean?

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SCOTUS means the Supreme Court of the United States

SCOTUS is the highest federal court of the United States. It has ultimate (and largely discretionary) appellate jurisdiction over all federal courts and over state court cases involving issues of federal law, plus original jurisdiction over a small range of cases. In the legal system of the United States, the Supreme Court is the final interpreter of federal constitutional law, although it may only act within the context of a case in which it has jurisdiction.

The Court meets in the United States Supreme Court Building in Washington, D.C. The Supreme Court is sometimes referred to as SCOTUS, in analogy to other acronyms such as POTUS.

Source: Wikipedia

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What is Breitbart?

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Breitbart is a news website

Breitbart News Network (known commonly as Breitbart News, Breitbart or Breitbartcom) is a far-right American news, opinion and commentary website founded in 2007 by conservative commentator and entrepreneur Andrew Breitbart. It also has a daily radio program on the Sirius XM Patriot channel called Breitbart News Daily.

Conceived by Andrew Breitbart during a visit to Israel in summer 2007, with the aim of founding a site that would be unapologetically pro-freedom and pro-Israel, Breitbart later aligned with the European populist right and American alt-right under the management of former executive chairman Steven K. Bannon.

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What does ACLU mean?

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ACLU means The American Civil Liberties Union

The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) is a nonpartisan, non-profit organization whose stated mission is to defend and preserve the individual rights and liberties guaranteed to every person in the USA by the Constitution and laws of the United States

It works through litigation, lobbying, and community empowerment. The ACLU has over 750,000 members and an annual budget of over $100 million. Local affiliates of the ACLU are active in all 50 states and Puerto Rico. The ACLU provides legal assistance in cases when it considers civil liberties to be at risk. Legal support from the ACLU can take the form of direct legal representation or preparation of amicus curiae briefs expressing legal arguments when another law firm is already providing representation.

When the ACLU was founded in 1920, its focus was on freedom of speech, primarily for anti-war protesters. During the 1920s, the ACLU expanded its scope to include protecting the free speech rights of artists and striking workers, and working with the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) to decrease racism and discrimination.

Source: Wikipedia

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What is NSF?

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NSF is The National Science Foundation

The NSF is a United States government agency that supports fundamental research and education in all the non-medical fields of science and engineering. With an annual budget of about US$7.0 billion (fiscal year 2012), the NSF funds approximately 24% of all federally supported basic research conducted by the United States colleges and universities. In some fields, such as mathematics, computer science, economics, and the social sciences, the NSF is the major source of federal backing.

The NSFs director and deputy director are appointed by the President of the United States, and confirmed by the United States Senate, whereas the 24 presidentially appointed members of the National Science Board (NSB) do not require Senate confirmation. The current NSF director, confirmed in March 2014, is astronomer France A. Córdova, former president of Purdue University.

Source: Wikipedia

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What is Chinese New Year?

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Chinese New Year is a Chinese festival celebrated at the turn of the traditional lunisolar Chinese calendar

Chinese New Year, known in modern Chinese as the Spring Festival in Mainland China, is an important Chinese festival celebrated at the turn of the traditional lunisolar Chinese calendar. Celebrations traditionally run from the evening preceding the first day, to the Lantern Festival on the 15th day of the first calendar month. The first day of the New Year falls on the new moon between 21 January and 20 February. In 2017, the first day of the Chinese New Year is on Saturday, 28 January, initiating the year of the Rooster.

The New Year festival is centuries old and gains significance because of several myths and traditions. Traditionally, the festival was a time to honor deities as well as ancestors. Chinese New Year is celebrated in countries and territories with significant Chinese populations, including Mainland China, Hong Kong (officially as Lunar New Year), Macau, Taiwan, Singapore, Indonesia, Malaysia, Thailand, Vietnam, Cambodia & Mauritius, Chinese New Year is considered a major holiday for the Chinese and has had influence on the lunar new year celebrations of its geographic neighbours.

Within China, regional customs and traditions concerning the celebration of the Chinese New Year vary widely. Often, the evening preceding Chinese New Years Day is an occasion for Chinese families to gather for the annual reunion dinner. It is also traditional for every family to thoroughly cleanse the house, in order to sweep away any ill-fortune and to make way for good incoming luck. Windows and doors will be decorated with red color paper-cuts and couplets with popular themes of good fortune or happiness, wealth, and longevity. Other activities include lighting firecrackers and giving money in red paper envelopes. Among about one third of the Mainland population, or 500 million Northerners, dumplings (especially those of vegetarian fillings) feature prominently in the meals celebrating the festival.

Source: Wikipedia

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