With wars and polarization on the rise, independent media continues to meet a critical need. For more than eight years, Unicorn Riot has reported underrepresented stories and shed light on alternative perspectives and systems, while providing an accessible platform for diverse stories, communities, and media makers through free, nonprofit news. But we wouldn’t have made it this far without your help — our community of supporters is how we maintain our operations.

Thanks to those who’ve donated to mark eight years of bringing you relevant stories from the ground up! We’re eager to continue our work through 2024 and beyond, and you can help us by making a tax-deductible donation through a variety of platforms, which you can find linked below. Whether you make a one-time donation or sign up to become a recurring donor, your support is vital and appreciated.

You can also support our work by picking up some gear at our merch store. Unicorn Riot is audience-supported and with your merchandise purchase, a portion of the cost is directly donated to our organization to help us operate. You can spread Unicorn Riot cheer with a fresh hoodie, longsleeve tee, mug, or whatever your heart desires — all while also helping to sustain our ad-free independent nonprofit media organization.

Looking Back at 2023

In 2023, Unicorn Riot saw another impactful year of media-making with a notable rise in viewers across our various platforms and website. This growth affirms our commitment to expanding our mission of spotlighting and contextualizing issues across the globe.

Thanks to your support this year, we’ve been able to grow our network of international contributors, spanning from Palestine to Zimbabwe to Cambodia, Brazil, and Europe while collaborating with new contractors to fill essential roles. As our organization expands, we are working towards meeting our evolving needs and expanding our presence in local, national and international spaces.

Some highlights from this year include:

• Unicorn Riot’s investigative series and film on The Case of Marvin Haynes helped lead to his murder conviction being overturned and his subsequent exoneration and release from prison on December 11, 2023. Our exclusive series digs into the story of a 16-year-old Haynes being incarcerated and sentenced to life in prison for a murder he didn’t commit.
• We joined a partnership with MEANS TV, the world’s first worker-owned streaming service. This collaboration grants new viewers a free month of service with the code “UR”. (All UR content on MEANS is free to watch, other content is behind their paywall.) Check out our page on MEANS here.
• Continued coverage of the movement to defend the Atlanta forest and “Stop Cop City” from police killing an activist in their tent in January, to activists burning a construction site for a planned expansive police urban warfare training campus, to the government charging 61 people with RICO charges, Unicorn Riot remains dedicated to providing updates from the frontline struggle in Atlanta.
• As the contentious process for a new 3rd Precinct in Minneapolis continues through the year, we documented some of the many Minneapolis residents who are against a new precinct, including community organizers, a City Council member and a former Minneapolis police officer. Our 19-minute film Precinct in Ruins: Minneapolis Fights for the Legacy of the 2020 Uprising along with our written report gives space to those voices and provides a timeline of events.

Our top five most viewed articles of the year were:

1. ‘Like the Doors of Hell Were Open’: East Palestine Train Disaster Casts Toxic Cloud Over Future of OH/PA Region
2. FBI Bookstore Spying in Chicago Eyes Abortion Rights, Cop City, Anti-Development Activists
3. Pro-Palestine Protest Attacked in Minneapolis
4. Helicopter Footage From Mass Arrest Reveals State Trooper Surveillance Capabilities, Tactics, and Communications
5. Protester Shot and Killed by Officers During Raid on Atlanta Forest

As we plan for 2024 and beyond, your monetary support is crucial. We’re currently still locked into an extensive court battle over press freedoms with Energy Transfer, the multinational energy corporation behind the Dakota Access Pipeline. After years of fighting against their efforts to compel us to turn over documents from our reporting on the 2016 protests against the pipeline, we’ve been forced to spend $50,000 in legal fees. We need your help!

There are several ways to support our work:

• Donate to our DAPL Legal Fund
• Send cash or check to Unicorn Riot P.O. Box 7472 Minneapolis, MN 55407
• Send a one-time donation or set up a recurring donation through our Donate page (Donorbox, Stripe, PayPal)
• Become a Patreon member
• Buy Unicorn Riot merch from our Threadless store and our Black Snake Killaz store
• Donate through employee giving programs like cyber grants and Benevity

Thank you for being a part of our amazing community and we really appreciate your donations. We hope you continue to support our work!

Unicorn Riot media has no paywalls or advertisements, and our media is published under a Creative Commons license, allowing our content to be seen and distributed all places connected by the world-wide web. Bookmark our website, follow us across social media platforms and subscribe to our newsletters here.

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