How We're Funded
We accept no advertising, no sponsored content, no brand partnerships, and no funding from organizations with interests in our coverage areas. The Freethinking Times is supported entirely by readers, people who read what we publish and decide it's worth keeping alive.
That's the whole model. No tiers, no paywalls, no members-only content. Everything published here is free to read. Reader support is not a transaction, it's a decision that independent, adversarial, intellectually serious journalism is worth existing in the world.
Where Your Support Goes
Support given to the publication covers operating costs: hosting and infrastructure, public-records and FOIA fees, archival and software subscriptions, and the occasional reporting expense. The publication does not currently pay contributors a fee or salary; reader contributions to the operating fund are not redistributed to writers. A small, consistent readership willing to contribute is what makes it possible to turn down anything that would compromise editorial independence.
Support given directly to individual authors goes entirely to those authors. Authors manage their own reader support through their own accounts, the publication does not take a cut. Tips through an author's link are the only compensation a contributor receives for a piece, there is no fee, salary, or honorarium from the publication on top of that. If a piece of writing mattered to you and you want the person who wrote it to be able to write more, supporting them directly is the most efficient way to do that.