Funds for folks affected by SBNation shutdowns

On Friday, January 20, Vox Media made the decision to shut down more than 100 team sites and podcasts across its NBA, NHL, MLS and combat networks, affecting hundreds of contractors who were writing, podcasting or otherwise covering their favorite teams with a quality, frequency and passion that can’t be found outside of those types of fan-driven, team communities.

Not only was this decision devastating to many of those who had spent years at — or in some cases, even founded — these communities and podcasts, but it also financially impacted countless numbers of them who relied on that income as a source of revenue during a time when everyone is feeling the pain of inflation and fears of an impending recession. While Vox continued the contracts of all those let go through February, the financial future for everyone beyond the end of this month is nebulous, and we want to come together to help your favorite writers, podcasters, social media people and everyone in between who need it most.

This is separate from the Vox Media Union’s GoFundMe for full-time union members, but a portion of that one will also be donated to impacted contractors here.

This GoFundMe is a collaborative effort between the members of these affected team sites that will directly benefit all of those impacted by these Vox actions. All funds raised will be distributed in equal amounts to every affected contractor who opts in to receive funds. The organizers of this fund have already reached out to the site managers and podcast feed managers of those impacted with information on how to sign up to receive their share of the funds.

While the donations collected here are not a long-term financial solution for everyone impacted by these decisions, we hope they will help everyone who poured their blood, sweat and tears to make all of our favorite communities so special. So if you have ever commented, read, listened to a podcast or otherwise interacted with those impacted and can spare any cash, it will help everyone involved as they figure out their next steps.

This fund is being overseen by Mark Kastner with help from other site managers. The fund will operate transparently, with full accounting of all donations that are received and distributed.