At the end of the year, it's good for all of us to take a step back and acknowledge just how much work we've done. If you're a fan of BSR, maybe you're curious about some of our stats this year. Here's a peek.
We published...
387 articles by 68 writers
70 percent of our writers are women or nonbinary. (In 2023, a Pew survey showed that 51% of journalists surveyed were men and 46% were women.) We're proud to be a vibrant and welcoming space for writers of all genders, and to fight historical trends in our industry that often exclude cis women and trans and nonbinary folks.
We posted...
27 podcast episodes, with the podcast now in our 10th season. (Every episode is an evergreen listen!)
We hosted or sponsored...
3 webinars, 1 virtual panel, and 5 in-person events. (If you want access to the recordings of the virtual events, they are available for a $25 donation. Reply to this email and we'll get you set up.)
And we did all this with a budget of $112,000. Yes, that decimal place is in the right spot.
By the end of December, we're on track to hit 300,000 readers in 2025.
Our site traffic is surging. Our writers' list is growing. BSR is becoming more visible. But only a tiny fraction of our readers step up to donate.
Some quick math...
If 1% of our 2025 readers gave a one-time gift of $10 to BSR, that would boost our budget by almost one quarter.
If 0.5% of our readers gave $10 per month, that would boost our budget by 160% (and help us forecast).
If 5% of our readers made a one-time gift of $20, we’d double our budget.
If 0.3% of our readers became Friends of BSR at just $5 a month, we’d double our budget.
Did you know that everyone who runs BSR is a part-time, remote-work freelancer? Yes, even the editors are holding down multiple gigs while they manage BSR’s weekly publication schedule. More funding would let our staff work full-time on BSR, and pay our writers better, which in turn would mean expanding our coverage. More funding would also let us pursue MORE FUNDING from grants and foundation, making BSR more sustainable in future. Did you know that BSR does not have any marketing or development staff? Adequate funding could change that. Give $10 a month starting today.
Even though a tiny fraction of our readers become donors, they are the reason we're still publishing, surviving year to year. We want to do more than survive. But that is in your hands.
We often hear from readers or institutional leaders who are disappointed that we couldn't cover something they wanted us to cover. If you recognize this feeling, the answer is better funding that would let us expand our coverage.
Our top financial priority is paying our writers and editors, to the tune of 85 percent of our entire current budget. I often tell people, “BSR doesn’t even own a pencil.” When you give to an organization as small as ours, it has a big impact.
Thank you to everyone who has stepped up so far this season to power our writers' work.
