I hate asking for money. We asked for money in 2022 and it was rough: a lot of work, a lot of feeling sorry for pressuring people in those ridiculously hard times. But we managed, and it let us raise pay rates and put out a special issue we’re proud of.
These times are harder. I can only imagine they’ll get harder still. It seems almost impossible to pick a place to start with environmental justice from which you can’t grab on and shake and watch the whole thing spread out below it in a beautiful, hideous umbrella pattern, but the catastrophic stratification of wealth in the hands of the worst sure is one of those. The corporate industrialist billionaires hoard more and more to themselves and there’s less for everyone else.
We’ve been boosting a lot of calls for help. From Atthis Arts, from folks fundraising for Gaza aid. We helped raise some money for Gaza aid. We helped raise some money so Martins Deep could go to grad school. There are so many more people in need, and so many ecofascists taking away what they need rather than helping. It’s disheartening, but we carry on. Buoyed up, maybe, occasionally, by a beautiful piece of writing.
Anyway: since our 2022 fundraiser, our Patreon supporters have very gradually been tapering off, as is wont to happen, we gather, when everybody’s in crisis and we haven’t been asking loudly for help. After the fundraiser we got up above $200 per month—which may not sound like much, but it was enough. This month, we took in just over $160. Which may not sound like much less! But it’s getting close to the point where we’re going to be struggling to be able to keep up with our new, increased payrate—which is the opposite of what we want!
So please: if you’re able, if you’re not among those needing help with rent or escape from a dangerous situation or basic survival, if you’re not overwhelmed by the volume of calls for help out there, would you consider donating a little to Reckoning?
You could do that by supporting us on Patreon or by preordering Reckoning 8 or buying a past issue.
Or, instead, you could donate to any of a myriad of other worthy arts and aid organizations and individuals the world over who are in need, including any of the following:
- Medical Aid for Palestine
- RAICES provides legal defense and support to asylum seekers.
- Cultural Survival advocates for Indigenous rights.
- Donate directly to support Kassab IDP refugee camp in Sudan.
- Strange Horizons is the original nonprofit model speculative literary magazine who inspired Reckoning. They’ve been out ahead of a lot of us in terms of lifting up and paying marginalized voices for years, and their 2025 fundraiser is on.
- Bluestockings Bookstore provides support to New York’s queer, trans, and unhoused communities, but has recently been the target of threats and harrassment—this article has ways you can help.
We’ll be incredibly grateful either way. Thank you.
