Thursday, July 23, 2015

Chelsea Manning Defense Fund information

Chelsea Manning Defense Fund information

Your donation allows us to fight for Chelsea Manning
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Now that Chelsea’s legal appeals are finally underway, your support is needed more than ever. Our legal team of Nancy Hollander and Vincent Ward are preparing to argue numerous issues before the military courts of appeal–issues that we fully expect can significantly reduce Manning’s 35 year prison sentence. However, it’s more challenging than ever to raise those needed funds without the high-profile media coverage of an upcoming trial. As of May 1, 2015, we owe nearly $82,000 to the legal defense team preparing Chelsea’s appeals.

How to donate to the Chelsea Manning Defense Fund
How to donate to Chelsea Manning’s legal expenses exclusively
  • Check or money order | sent via postal mail | not tax-deductible
    Payable to: “IOLTA/Manning”
    Mail to: Courage to Resist, 484 Lake Park Ave #41, Oakland CA 94610, USA
    Please note “IOLTA/Manning” on the check’s memo line

Fiscal reports

Here is our most recent one month period available (June 2015), as well as a summary of the appeals phase (Jan. 2014 – Dec. 2014). We have also published a summary of the pre-trial and trial history of our efforts, covering 2010-2013. Over 25,000 individuals donated $1.5 million in order to give Chelsea (formerly Bradley) Manning a fighting change for justice during her 2013 trial. We are confident that her sentence will be greatly reduced during the appeal process, but we need your help.

Background and the various ways to donate

The Chelsea (formerly Bradley) Manning Defense Fund is hosted by Courage to Resist (http://couragetoresist.org) in collaboration with the Chelsea Manning Support Network. Courage to Resist is a fiscally sponsored project of the Alliance for Global Justice (AfGJ) non-profit organization.
Funding Chelsea Manning’s chosen legal defense team has always been our top priority. In the wake of the outrageous 35 year prison sentence decreed by military judge Colonel Denise Lind, we believe that the final outcome will depend on not only on legal arguments, but on public opinion as we enter into pardon and clemency petitions, as well as the appeals process.
The majority of donations are made to the Chelsea Manning Defense Fund either online via our primary credit card gateway (https://co.clickandpledge.com/sp/d1/default.aspx?wid=38591), or postal mailed to us via check. In either of these situations, donors receive a tax-deduction for their contribution. However, when folks mail a check, we save credit card processing fees that amount to 2.75-4% of each online donation. Checks payable to “Courage to Resist/AFGJ” can be mailed to Courage to Resist, 484 Lake Park Ave #41, Oakland CA 94610, USA–please note “Chelsea Manning” on the check’s memo line.
PayPal
Some folks have problems with our primary donation gateway, especially friends trying to use credit cards outside of the USA. We encourage those folks to try donating via PayPal (https://www.paypal.com/cgi-bin/webscr?cmd=_s-xclick&hosted_button_id=VDTDZV62A23KW). However, these PayPal transactions are not tax-deductible. Our relationship with PayPal has been “complicated” to put it mildly. On January 29, 2011, PayPal restricted access to our account based on the “need for additional information.” After a month of trying to find a possible resolution with senior PayPal staff, we issued a statement on February 24, 2011, regarding the situation. After thousands of supporters signed a petition and contacted PayPal in protest, our account was restored without explanation.
The Chelsea Manning legal trust account is managed by her lead appeals attorney Nancy Hollander, under regulation of the Interest on Lawyers Trust Accounts (IOLTA) Program and the American Bar Association. 100% of contributions directly offset Chelsea’s ongoing legal expenses. Any funds remaining at the end of her legal jeopardy would become hers with interest. However, these IOLTA contributions are not tax-deductible. Checks payable to “IOLTA / Manning” can be mailed to Courage to Resist, 484 Lake Park Ave #41, Oakland CA 94610, USA. These checks are deposited into Chelsea’s IOLTA account at the Dubuque Bank & Trust, Dubuque, Iowa. Due to the way processing fees would interact with the legal trust, online donations to the legal trust are not possible. However, we can provide wire transfer information upon request for larger contributions.

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