Broke-Ass Stuart is in Serious Trouble

We had a meeting on Friday to look over the Broke-Ass Stuart financials to see how bad they are. And WOW. They aren’t just bad, they are TERRIBLE.

That’s why we’re writing to ask you to please join the Broke-Ass Stuart Patreon at $6 or above.

An Inside Look at Why Things Are So Bad:

At BAS we make money in 3 ways: Advertising, Passports (beer, wine, and coffee) and Patreon. Since the pandemic hit, something like 50% of our income has dried up.

That’s because most of our advertisers are local events or cultural institutions who want to sell tickets. Since there are no more events, and all the cultural institutions are closed, there are no more advertisers.

As for the Passports, those are coupon books for bars and restaurants and well…you can imagine how that must be right now.

That’s not to say we aren’t trying to do Passports. Our SF Coffee Passport is for sale right now but it’s selling far slower than in previous years. And we’re trying to organize an SF Beer Passport but it’s slow going at the moment since so many places are still closed.

So the Broke-Ass Stuart Patreon is pretty much our only source of consistent income.

We have cut our expenses as far as we can and we wouldn’t have made it this far without our current Patrons, but we need more help to weather this pandemic. We’re super excited to bring back our partnerships with local businesses and events, when that’s possible, but in the meantime we need extra support to make it to the other side. We know so many people are hurting right now and we deeply appreciate everyone who is able to give so we can continue to create the awesome content we’ve been bringing you for the past 15 years.

Why This Matters:

Broke-Ass Stuart is an important resource for the community and, as one of the only independent media outlets left in the Bay Area, a much needed voice.

Here are just a few of the important things we’ve covered over the past few months:

• We’ve kept you apprised of all the most important COVID updates in the Bay Area and beyond.
• We’ve informed over 75,000 people about which protests and rallies were happening by continually updating our list of Bay Area demonstrations.
• We broke the story about the sexual assault allegations at Yoga to the People.
• We spread the word about the National Bailout Campaign that gets black mothers out of jail for Mother’s Day.
• We informed you about when cops used tear gas on high school kids while they were peacefully protesting.
• We got the word out about an incredible list of Black owned restaurants in the Bay Area

With your help, we’ll be able to continue providing the vital community focused resources needed now more than ever.

We hope you’ll become a member of the Broke-Ass Stuart Patreon at $6 or above, and help our team continue to deliver community focused journalism to everyone. Plus depending on what tier you join, becoming a Patron gets you anything from random silly postcards from Stuart to free merchandise from our store.

Thank you SO much. None of this is possible without you.

Sending you love & solidarity,

Stuart, Alex, and Team BAS