15,000 monthly supporters now have Meduza’s back. Thank you!! Our crowdfunding campaign continues after hitting a crucial milestone

A little more than two weeks ago, Meduza launched an emergency crowdfunding campaign, explaining that our dwindling resources would prevent us from continuing our work without a surge in support from our readers. We asked people living outside Russia to consider making donations to save Meduza. To survive, we needed a radical increase in the number of our monthly supporters. And thanks to you, we did it!  

Now, every month, Meduza is sustained not by 9,000 recurring donations, as it was at the start of September, but by a remarkable 15,000. In just the past few weeks, more than 12,000 people from around the world have honored us with one-time and monthly contributions. 

We believe it’s crucial to know how to ask for help — and to know how to accept that help. This isn’t our first time reaching out to you. And we’ve seen again just how much you care. It’s an incredible feeling to know that Meduza matters to so many. We’re deeply grateful to you and proud that we have such thoughtful and responsive readers.

Thank you, dear friends! ❤️

Here are a few of the messages we received along with donations:  

I’ve been backing Meduza for many years and following you since the breakup of Lenta. I can’t imagine my life without you, and I don’t know how I’d get objective information if you disappeared. Please, if you see this, support Meduza!

• • •

Over these past few terrible years, Meduza has really been a rock, a beacon of hope, and a lifeline for so many people’s mental health. I can’t imagine what would happen if Meduza were gone — there’s just nothing else out there like it. It’s my go-to for news, and I know many others who feel the same way. Keep going, Meduza! We need you.

• • •

I’ve been supporting you for a while, and I want to up my subscription now (I’ll pay it forward, “for me and that other guy,” as they say, while I still can). I read Meduza a lot. I fall asleep to Gorin’s podcasts (not because they’re boring, I promise!) and pick up where I dozed off the next day.

• • •

I was already a supporter, and yesterday I set up a recurring donation. I plan to keep it going and urge others to step up, too. I’ve read so much awesome stuff from you these past few years that I honestly feel I owe it to you to help.

Once again, a huge thank you!!! Meduza continues its work — because of you, and in spite of everything.

Your donations keep us going. You don’t just believe that independent journalism is important — you’re actually willing to take action to ensure it endures. We will devote ourselves to earning your support and vow to work with integrity for the good of the public.

As great as it feels to get your messages and donations, and as much as we want to say the tough times are over, we can’t let up just yet. Our crowdfunding campaign continues because Meduza’s work relies on broad and sustained support.

Reaching 15,000 recurring donations isn’t an irreversible feat that allows us to sit back and relax. Every month, Meduza loses subscribers. That happens to everyone, from small charities to huge media companies: people’s circumstances change, credit cards expire, and life intervenes. To compensate for this attrition, Meduza must constantly attract new subscribers.

But we can’t survive simply by moving from one emergency fundraiser to the next. Our job is to bring you news, in-depth reporting, and new projects. For more than a decade, Meduza has been at your fingertips, and we want it to stay that way.

So if you’re willing and able, please spread the word about us to your friends and colleagues — ask them to support Meduza and tell them why it matters to you.

To push back against the Kremlin’s censorship and pressure, we need your attention, concern, and support more than ever. The Putin regime has almost limitless resources. We have you.

We believe in our work. You’ve let us know how important it is to you. Meduza’s journalism will endure.