177 articles
Chowdhury
Chowdhury (Bengali: চৌধুরী), also spelled Choudhury or Chaudhary, is a South Asian title-turned-surname meaning headman or holder of four, borne by Hindus and Muslims, most common in Bangladesh where it ranks 11th.
Coffin
Coffin: a container for a dead body, from Greek kophinos "basket"; tapered six-sided form, distinct from the rectangular North American casket, used from ancient Egypt to modern burial and cremation worldwide.
Cofradías de indios
Cofradías de indios were lay Catholic brotherhoods for indigenous people in colonial Spanish America, founded from the sixteenth to the eighteenth century and combining worship, mutual aid, and festivals.
Comic Relief
Comic Relief (registered as Charity Projects) is a British charity founded in 1985 that raises funds through comedy, chiefly its Red Nose Day telethon, and distributes grants to fight poverty in the UK and worldwide.
Cub Scouts (Scouting America)
Cub Scouts is Scouting America's program for boys and girls in grades K-5, organized into dens meeting 2-3 times monthly; launched 1930, open to girls since 2018, revised June 1, 2024.
Cybernetic Culture Research Unit
Cybernetic Culture Research Unit (CCRU): experimental collective founded 1995 at Warwick University's philosophy department by Nick Land and Sadie Plant; coined hyperstition, fictions that make themselves real; dissolved circa 2003; fed accelerationism and theory-fiction.
Dacha
Dacha (дача): seasonal second home with garden plot used by urban Russians and post-Soviet city dwellers; from tsarist land grants through Soviet 600 m² garden plots to post-Soviet suburban homes.
Daisy McLaurin Stevens
Daisy McLaurin Stevens (1875-1950), Mississippi socialite, daughter of Governor-Senator Anselm J. McLaurin, was president general of the United Daughters of the Confederacy 1913-1915 and presented the Arlington Confederate Monument to President Wilson in 1914.
Daughters of the American Revolution
Daughters of the American Revolution (DAR, NSDAR): women's lineage society founded October 11, 1890 in Washington, D.C. for female descendants of Revolutionary War patriots; distinct from the Sons of the American Revolution and the Dar-ul-Islam movement; known for Constitution Hall, the 1939 Marian Anderson exclusion, and genealogical research resources.
DeMolay International
DeMolay International, originally the Order of DeMolay, is a Masonic-sponsored fraternal youth organization for young men ages 12-21, founded in 1919 in Kansas City, Missouri by Frank S. Land and named for Jacques DeMolay, last Grand Master of the Knights Templar.
Dialog (organization)
Dialog (organization), also Dialog Society, is an invitation-only secret society founded in 2006 by Peter Thiel and Auren Hoffman, holding off-the-record elite retreats; its membership grading system and 222-person 2026 retreat roster leaked in June 2026.
E Clampus Vitus
E Clampus Vitus (ECV), the Ancient and Honorable Order of E Clampus Vitus, is a fraternal order founded as a Gold Rush parody and revived in 1931 as a western history society with 51 chapters and over 2,000 plaques.
Emmanouil Xanthos
Emmanouil Xanthos (Εμμανουήλ Ξάνθος) was a Greek merchant from Patmos, one of the three founders of the Filiki Eteria secret society that prepared the 1821 Greek Revolution.
Extreme Tech Challenge
Extreme Tech Challenge (XTC) is a California nonprofit that runs the world's largest startup competition for entrepreneurs addressing global challenges, founded by Young Sohn and Bill Tai.
Flag
A flag is cloth displayed from a staff or cord as a standard, ensign, or signal. The article covers its etymology, ancient standards, the Roman vexillum, national flags, vexillology, and design principles.
Footman
Footman: a liveried male domestic servant of grand British and European households, serving at table, at the door, and behind the family carriage; known for elaborate livery, wages of about £17–21 around 1829, and survival in the Royal Household.
Forms of address in the United Kingdom
Forms of address in the United Kingdom: titles and honorifics from Mr, Mrs, Ms and Mx to peerage (Duke to Baron, 'Your Grace'), judiciary ('My Lord') and royals, as enforced in passports and codified by Debrett's and Bloomsbury guides.
Foundation (nonprofit)
Foundation (nonprofit): a nonprofit corporation or charitable trust making grants for charitable purposes; in US tax law usually a private foundation under 501(c)(3), subject to a 5% payout, 1.39% investment excise tax, and public Form 990-PF filings, distinct from donor-advised funds.
Fraternal Order of Eagles
Fraternal Order of Eagles (F.O.E.), fraternal order founded 1898 in Seattle as the Order of Good Things; bald-eagle emblem, motto Liberty, Truth, Justice and Equality; social-legislation campaigns and charities such as its Diabetes Research Center distinguish it from the NFL team and other Eagles groups.
Fraternity
Fraternity: a fraternal organization bound by ritual and mutual aid, covering American college Greek-letter fraternities (Phi Beta Kappa 1776, Kappa Alpha 1825), sororities, and fraternal benefit societies.
Freemasonry
Freemasonry, a fraternal society using stonemason-derived ritual and symbolism, was organized as a Grand Lodge in London in 1717; the United Grand Lodge of England now counts about 170,000 members, with separate women's Grand Lodges.
Front organization
Front organization: an entity posing as independent while serving a hidden sponsor's agenda; also called front group. Uses the third-party technique and astroturfing; legal in the US but ethically questioned; examples include tobacco and dark money nonprofits.
Garrick Club
The Garrick Club, a London private members' club founded in 1831 and named after actor David Garrick, holds major theatrical art and library collections; it admitted its first women members, including Judi Dench, in 2024 after 193 years as men-only.
Gentlemen's club
Gentlemen's club: a members-only private social club created by and for upper-class British men, originating in 17th-18th century London (White's, 1693), peaking with 400+ Victorian clubs, electing members by blackballing.
Ginnie Sebastian Storage
Virginia "Ginnie" Sebastian Storage is the 47th President General of the National Society Daughters of the American Revolution, installed June 30, 2025 for the 2025-2028 "Illuminate Our Legacy" administration; a Fredericksburg, Virginia native and former Virginia State Regent who led DAR through America's 250th anniversary.
Girl Guides
Girl Guides, also known as Girl Scouting, is a worldwide youth movement for girls founded in Britain in 1910 by Robert Baden-Powell and his sister Agnes.
Girl Scouts of the USA
Girl Scouts of the USA (GSUSA), founded by Juliette Gordon Low on March 12, 1912 in Savannah, Georgia, is a girls' youth organization separate from Scouting America, known for badges, the Gold Award, and the Girl Scout cookie program.
Group home
A group home is a residential facility where a small number of unrelated people live together with staff supervision, providing 24-hour care as an alternative to large institutions.
Habitat for Humanity
Habitat for Humanity International is a Christian nonprofit founded in 1976 by Millard and Linda Fuller in Americus, Georgia, that builds no-profit, no-interest homes via volunteer labor and sweat equity, serving over 65 million people in 70+ countries.
Hairdresser
Hairdresser: a personal-appearance worker who cuts, styles, colors, and chemically treats hair, related to barbers and cosmetologists; licensed in all US states, about 595,000 US jobs, $17.21 median hourly wage, with documented musculoskeletal and chemical health risks.