Support the work
For fourteen years, SyrianBoy has been filed by Syrians on the ground — bylined, dated, and translated. We do not aggregate wire copy. We do not run sponsored content. The 240,000 people who read each dispatch this week are the reason a correspondent in Idlib can buy a SIM card, a hard drive, or a night in a safe house.
Two ways to keep it alive: subscribe to the weekly dispatch, or join the recurring donor circle. Both are needed. Neither replaces the other.
Two paths, one publication
A subscription asks for your time and attention, every Thursday. A donation asks for the infrastructure that makes every dispatch possible. Most of our readers do both.
The Thursday letter. One original dispatch, one oral-history excerpt, and the week's reading from the archive — curated by our editors and translated same-day into English, Arabic, German, and Turkish.
Recurring contributions from readers like you pay the reporters, translators, and digital-safety tooling that mainstream wire services cannot fund under sanctions and digital-security constraints.
Processed in EUR, GBP, and USD. Tax-deductible where applicable — see the FAQ.
Transparency, line by line
We publish this every quarter. The four lines below accounted for 94% of donor-funded expenditure in the last reporting period. The remaining 6% covers audit, banking, and donor-platform fees.
01
52% of donor funds
Flat fees per dispatch, photo essay, and oral history — paid to the 140+ contributors across Aleppo, Idlib, Damascus, Raqqa, Hassakeh, and the coastal mountains. Not exposure. Not "thanks." Money.
02
21% of donor funds
Honoraria for the 38 sworn volunteer translators who render every dispatch into Arabic, English, German, and Turkish each week, with same-day turnaround on breaking stories.
03
14% of donor funds
Cameras, audio recorders, encrypted drives, satellite hotspots, and replacement batteries. The kit that lets a reporter file from a displacement camp or a siege perimeter without a usable mobile network.
04
7% of donor funds
VPN subscriptions, Signal numbers, burner devices, two-factor keys, and the editorial safety-officer's review of every byline before publication. The line item that keeps sources alive.
Audited annually. Full statements published in the About section under Governance.
Practical questions
Donations processed through our partner fiscal sponsor are tax-deductible in Germany (Gemeinnützigkeit) and, for US-based donors giving through Every.org, in the United States under 501(c)(3) status. You will receive a year-end statement by 31 January suitable for filing. We are working toward UK Gift Aid eligibility and will update this page when registered.
Donations are received in Berlin into a regulated European bank account, audited annually. Contributor fees are paid via the method each reporter nominates and our safety officer has cleared — typically bank transfer, regulated mobile-money corridor, or pre-paid card. We never route funds through informal hawala channels, and we never pay in cash inside Syria.
One email, every Thursday morning. It contains one original dispatch not yet on the website, one excerpt from an oral history recording, the editor's note on what we did not publish this week and why, and a single archival link we recommend. About 1,400 words, fully readable in a coffee. Past letters are archived at /dispatch/.
Probably yes — but it depends on your country's specific sanctions regime and your bank's compliance review. Read the disclaimer below before donating. If you are uncertain, write to us at [email protected] and our fiscal sponsor will respond within two working days with a written determination for your jurisdiction.
A working publication, not a campaign
218,000
Newsletter readers across the Arabic and English editions
140+
Active contributors across Syria and the diaspora
2
Index on Censorship Freedom of Expression Award nominations
1,200
Universities with free archive access under Creative Commons
A note on jurisdictional compliance
SyrianBoy Media Collective is a Berlin-registered nonprofit publisher. Donations are received in EUR, GBP, and USD through regulated European banking partners and a US-based fiscal sponsor. Because our reporting focuses on Syria, donors in certain jurisdictions may be subject to additional review under their local sanctions regime. We screen every donation against current EU, UK, US OFAC, and UN consolidated lists before funds are released to operational accounts. If your bank declines a transaction, please contact your compliance officer and write to us; in our experience most declines are resolvable within two working days. Donor funds are never routed to or through Syria, and no contributor payment is made from a donor-designated account.
For written determinations on your jurisdiction, write to [email protected] or call +44 20 4576 0188, Tuesday to Friday, 09:00–17:00 CET. SyrianBoy Media Collective is incorporated as a gemeinnütziger Verein in Berlin under VR 35281 B and is the data controller for all donor information collected on this page.
Last reviewed by counsel: 14 October 2025. This note is updated quarterly and does not constitute legal advice to individual donors.
