Even though I’m right in the middle of it, most of the time I can’t really comprehend how The Indypendent — a free newspaper, a service to the people, a public commons — has been able to survive all these years. We started out in 2000 with a $500 grant. Now in 2025, we run on an annual budget of less than $100,000.

We have two staff members, a distribution team, some per diem workers who join us for each issue’s publication process, and a valiant group of volunteer writers, photographers, copy editors and box watchers.

While we’ve continued to pump out our classic truth-to-power coverage over the past few years, things haven’t been easy since COVID-19. Some of our largest donors have passed on, and we need our younger readers to pick up the slack.

We can’t afford an office anymore, so we reserve library workspace when possible. Making very little money is not so easy. But we continue in our commitment to this newspaper because The Indypendent is a labor of love, and love is one of the core principles of fighting for a better world. Through the news we publish, we do just that. Driven by a love for our neighbors in this city, in this world, we dare to promote visions of love: versions of the systems dictating our lives that are focused on and run by the people.

Yes, of course I also love writing and putting together a newspaper. It’s fun and rewarding. But more than anything, I love knowing the paper, full of articles you won’t read anywhere else, is making it to you. When we are out in the streets refilling newspaper boxes, we get to run into our readers. I’m proud to say you all are the working class of New York City, that the working class reads empowering information about the struggles we face.

You all mostly send in small donations under $100. If we charged each of our readers just $10 per year, we wouldn’t have to make this annual fund-drive push. But we believe that media should be free, and we want to reach as many readers as possible regardless of income. So we ask that some of our readers give more, knowing others can’t afford to give anything.

Now, more than ever before, is the right time to support The Indy.

Trump 2.0 is already worse than I expected. With Elon Musk and other broligarchs exposing themselves as neofascists, the news we receive on platforms like X, Instagram and Facebook is likely to become even more controlled than it already is. And the corporate media, beholden to owners with interests similar to those of Trump, is already falling in line. TV networks ABC and CBS are negotiating multi-million dollar settlements to nuisance lawsuits from Trump in the hope of placating him. The editorial boards of The Washington Post and Los Angeles Times have been silenced by their paper’s billionaire owners. In Milwaukee, television meteorologist Sam Kuffel was summarily fired by the local CBS affiliate one day after she criticized Elon Musk’s fascist salute on her personal Instagram page.

Funded by our readers, we can’t be censored! And we promise never to self censor out of fear. We will keep reporting the stories that you won’t read in any other local papers — even if they try to shut us down or drag us to jail — as long as we have the funding to do so. We’re halfway to our winter fund drive goal of raising $50,000. I quite seriously implore you to give if you haven’t already. Love thy neighbor. Love thy paper.

The Indypendent is a New York City-based newspaper, website and weekly radio show. All of our work is made possible by readers like you. Please consider making a recurring or one-time donation or subscribe to our monthly print edition and get every copy sent straight to your mailbox.