The GoFundMe page for the hundreds of staffers impacted by Wednesday’s layoffs at The Washington Post has already crossed $190,000 in donations.
“We are devastated and raising funds to help them. In the days ahead, we will need help in different ways — financial aid, job search and other forms of assistance,” fundraiser organizer and WaPo Guild member Rachel Siegel wrote. “100% of the funds raised here will be transferred to laid-off members by Venmo and Zelle to cover any needs in the coming weeks. Please share this far and wide.”
She continued, “What has made The Post special for so long is the people in this newsroom. How resourceful we are. How much we care for each other. And that will continue.”
The economics of real estate and housing reporter and the rest of the guild have set a fundraising goal of $350,000 and will keep donations open for a few days.
“This has been an incredibly hard day at The Post, and for the most part, words fail. But we are bowled over by the support that has been shown here. So much of this — the loss of our colleagues, the decisions of this company — feels beyond our control, and far beyond what we thought we were bracing for. The need is also unprecedented, and the scale hard to comprehend,” Siegel added in an update.
“We are keeping this fundraiser open at least for the next few days. Please continue to donate if you are able. This money will help literally hundreds of our colleagues facing sudden job loss, moving costs, visa expenses, childcare, healthcare, meals and more. The money will be administered by Rachel Siegel and others within the Guild’s mental health committee, and ultimately overseen by Guild leadership,” she further noted. “You have given us a measure of comfort and hope. Please know it is felt.”
In an effort to get the word out, several laid off staffers and remaining employees have been sharing similar messages. “I’ve officially reached the crying stage of layoffs,” National Culture writer Jada Yuan wrote in an X post on Wednesday.
“If anyone wants to buy a beer for the 280+ people now gone from Washington Post please Venmo @AnnahBackstrom, below!” she added. “We also have a GoFundMe. Some of my colleagues have newborns. Others are in war zones.”
Deputy White House editor Annah Aschbrenner thanked those who have chipped in. “Thank you to everyone who has offered support for the Washington Post journalists impacted by today’s layoffs,” she wrote in an X post. “If you would like to buy some beers or food to support our colleagues today, you can Venmo me. We are so grateful for your kind words, truly.”
Yuan later took to X again in a tearful message to share that much of the Washington Post’s departments have been shut down.
“I have colleagues who are in Ukraine who are going to have to come back. Colleagues who are in Jerusalem. We had a foreign editor quit because so much of his staff was decimated, and for our section — basically our arts coverage that doesn’t involve Trump has been eliminated. So really no arts reporters, no critics. There’s just a few left. My whole section, which is features, was decimated.”
Meanwhile, former Post employee Kara Swisher called out Jeff Bezos, who owns the paper, while donating $10,000 to the cause. “My take today on Jeff Bezos since I met him at his struggling start up in the 1990s in Seattle: Twice the muscles, half the man,” she wrote on Threads.
Wednesday’s layoffs are said to have impacted 1/3 of the staff. The GoFundMe has raised $191,613 as of publication.
