Past contributions
MOAS & Sea-Watch
Image Credit: MOAS
The Migrant
Offshore Aid Station and Sea-Watch.org,
in response to the 2015 European migrant crisis off the shores of Malta, Italy, and Greece,
saved thousands of lives in the Mediterranean. MOAS, an international group of humanitarians,
search and rescue professionals, medical staff, and maritime officers provides medical aid to migrants stranded or
in distress, fleeing conflicts and humanitarian crises in Sub-Saharan Africa and the Middle East,
taking deadly risks and dying at sea in their attempts to escape. Sea-watch is a private initiative
of several families – entrepreneurs, craftsmen, educators, engineers – from Germany, who
aim to provide help to refugees in distress.
I supported
entrepreneurs in developing countries through Kiva by offering small units of capital interest-free.
Kiva Microfunds is a non-profit microcredit organization that offers affordable credit
through its field partners – microfinance institutions, schools, charities and other non-profits.
Kiva aggregates loan capital from individual lenders via the Internet and
transfers it to the field partners, who then disburse the loans interest-free or below the
local interest rates. Kiva is a great crowdfunding tool to support those who strive for a better life and
are willing to work but have limited access to capital.
My primary focus is on agriculture and food production
but I also lend to certain service providers who produce something tangible, like carpentry,
sewing or weaving. I also support borrowers who wish to cover higher education costs.
Most of my loans go to East Africa – Kenya, Uganda, Rwanda, South Sudan –
but I try to keep an eye out for young borrowers and single parents in other regions as well.
Join here »
Atlatszo.hu
is an independent non-profit watchdog organization that
produces investigative reports, accepts and publishes information from whistleblowers, files
freedom of information requests, and promotes transparency and accountability in Hungary.
For over two decades, the Hungarian Civil Liberties Union
has been active in protecting the rights of citizens against undue interference by those in position of public power.
Image Credit: Henry ReichMinutePhysics
is a series of sharp, fun and effective educational “time-lapse drawing” videos by Henry Reich
on Youtube which explain physics-related topics in around one minute, from Schrödinger’s Cat through
quantum tunneling to magnets. Support Henry via Patreon.
Image Credit: The Planetary Society
I backed the LightSail project by The Planetary Society to build a prototype spacecraft
propelled by the energy of the Sun. The initiative aims to revolutionize access to space for CubeSats and
other low-cost citizen projects in space exploration.
Image Credit: David Pintye
The Benedictine
Archabbey of Pannonhalma, founded in 996, maintains an
independent Roman Catholic boarding school for boys.
Although paying a tuition fee is required, students who participate in
the school’s grant program receive substantial financial aid based on their social circumstances
and performance. As a former student I supported the social fund of the grant program to
help out talented students if the tuition fee or day-to-day living costs are beyond their means.
Image Credit: Wikimedia Foundation
The English
language Wikipedia
– along with its smaller localized sister projects – has become
an invaluable reference tool available for free to anyone. The collaboratively edited,
multilingual Internet encyclopedia contributes enormously to the democratization of human
knowledge, serving more than 360 million global visitors every month. I
support
the non-profit Wikimedia Foundation in their efforts to bring free
educational content to the world.
Join here »
Image Credit: Takashi Nomura
As a former International Space Camp
participant I supported the U.S. Space and Rocket Center in Huntsville, Alabama during the COVID-19 crisis, in
a campaign to Save Space Camp
and to help the Rocket Center survive.
Image Credit: Keith Pomakis
I supported the restoration of the Saturn V rocket on exhibition
at the US Space and Rocket Center in Huntsville, Alabama. The
vehicle,
though never flew, was instrumental in the development of the Saturn V rockets which propelled
the first men to the Moon. After decades resting (and rusting) unprotected outdoors
it was restored and moved into a new museum building in 2007.
I supported the Foundation in their work to promote free software in Hungary, and their efforts in
localization of OpenOffice.org, Firefox, Thunderbird, GNOME and other open source projects.
The Society is a non-government, nonprofit organization, involved in research and engineering
projects related to astronomy, planetary science and space exploration.
Join here »
Image Credit: Wait But WhyWait But Why
is an entertainging, thoughtful blog by Tim Urban and Andrew Finn covering a wide range of topics from baby
names to colonizing Mars, carefully illustrated with stick figures. Support them via
Patreon.
Image Credit: Eugene on Unsplash
