Bushwick (photo by Kevin Gerien)

Before I say anything about our crowdfunding campaign, which ended yesterday, I want to say huge THANK YOU to all of you! It’s an absolute honor and pleasure to be a part of this community. 233 of you, dear readers, backed our crowdfunding campaign totalling at $10,409. And although we didn’t reach the goal of $25,000 and we’re not getting funded, I can’t call this campaign unsuccesful.

Thank you all for your trust in us, thank you for your contributions, rewards, for your support through words and good energy. This campaign brought us a lot of clarity.  I feel like we’re now closer with our community who loves us and wants to see us succeed, and that feels really good. On the other hand, it showed us that those who didn’t like us to begin with, are further now than ever. That’s also helpful.

This past month has been very hectic and we focused a lot of our energy on the campaign. Folks behind Beacon Reader, a crowdfunding platform for journalism projects, which we used, have been really great to us. Besides everyday support, they offered a look inside of our campaign. According to Beacon, Bushwick Daily’s Village was one of the campaigns with the highest number of backers they’ve seen throughout their operation (and they have done projects with big media organizations including HuffPost or Time). It however seems that almost all our backers were small backers, which indicates a very grassroots support. We didn’t get any larger backers who are unfortunately necessary to succeed in crowdfunding. Never the less, we’re proud of our DIY community, and you guys mean the world to us!

Many of you have asked us what is next for Bushwick Daily and if we’re going to try to get funded again. The answer is let’s wait and see. Our priority in the upcoming days is to get back on track with our editorial content, and to bring you as many awesome articles as you can read. We have cancelled this year’s Bushwick Daily Holiday Party because we simply need to replenish our energy and recenter ourselves. Sorry folks! I personally can’t wait to see my family and friends in Europe over the holidaze (I haven’t been for two years!!) and we’ll take a fresh look at our options in 2015.

In any case, I deeply believe that everything is the way it’s supposed to be and we are exactly where we’re supposed to. Sometimes Universe works in strange ways but always for our greater good, and that’s all we really need to know.

Thank you all again!