Image by Thomas Murphy.

Well, our Annual Fund Fall Fund Drive, as you have probably noticed, is not going as well as we hoped. After running it for over a month, we are only 90% of the way toward reaching our modest goal.

The prognosis is bad, but not all bad. In fact, the good news is that the number of donations we have received thus far is higher than last year.

Nonetheless, average donation amounts are down considerably, which is why we haven’t reached our goal.

We understand why. Inflation is hurting everyone, and a recession may well be on the horizon. Housing costs are sky-high, and jobs don’t pay what they should. It’s not easy out there. We feel your pain, too.

After a bit of contemplation, we have decided to end the fund drive this weekend, whether or not we reach our goal. To survive through the end of 2026, we will need to raise more money in the spring, but we feel this is a better option than pestering you any further than we already have.

We know that many of you turn to CounterPunch every day, and that you look to your favorite trusted writers to hear their take on the topics you care about most. We are not salespeople. We are not grant farmers. We are a scrappy bunch of hardworking people who believe this little media project is worth every minute we put into it.

The world needs the voice of CounterPunch, now more than ever, and it’s not hyperbole to say we need your help now, more than ever.

At every turn, we have been pressured to compromise our values. Why not just run ads? Why not sell reader data? Why not put up a paywall for the entire site?

Maybe these tactics are par for the course these days, but we’d like to remind you that par for the course is not what CounterPunch is all about, and it’s not what our readers want either, otherwise you’d all be getting your news from MSNBC.

If you have donated, we thank you so much. This letter is for the 99% of our regular readers who haven’t donated but have the means to do so.

We are asking you to please contribute what you can in this final stretch of the fund drive. We don’t want anybody to give more than they can afford. In fact, if all of our readers gave $25 today, we’d be able to put our begging bowl aside to gather dust for years to come. If a one-shot of $25 is too much, consider a modest monthly donation, which is less than a cup of coffee. Or pick up a little merch or a few books.

So please, consider putting your shoulder to the wheel and helping us raise the funds it takes to keep our little project afloat.

Onward,

Jeffrey, Becky, Joshua, Deva, Nat, Andrew, and Nichole

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