2024 Annual Report + update on financial sitch

Fury Young
4/23/25

Our 2024 Annual Report was published today!

Last December, I put out an urgent letter…

It was a vulnerable moment where I disclosed to you that we were in danger of closing our doors within the next six months. If you've been keeping abreast with us since then, then you know this is no longer in danger of happening (at least not in such a short time frame). Is the situation still urgent though? Yes. Let me explain.

After putting out that letter, our supporters REALLY came through. We received over 80 donations from 73 donors before the year came to end. A handful of you became monthly donors. Folks bought art at our Picto exhibit. Indie artist Olivia Riggio put on a benefit concert for us. BL got to know you all better, and we've been showing our gratitude more. Your support saved us from closing our doors, so you can bet our gratitude is in overflow.

Since then, we've scaled back our operations. It was painful to cut most of our part-time staff, but we've been running a tighter ship lately. There are three of us now - me as co-director running operations and creative direction, BL as co-director running development and communications, and our grant writer Lauren applying to as many grants as possible! (Shout out to Resist for being our first awarded grant of the year!)

It's been a time of focus and slow growth, with no skipping steps. That's why this year I'm prouder than ever to release our Annual Report - because we're still here, we're still moving forward, and in looking back to last year - it's remarkable how much we accomplished despite the circumstances. You'll see from the report that 2024 was full of highlights, like being our most productive year in terms of release output and live events. All of this was made possible by your generous support.

Our Annual Report was written by BL Shirelle & designed by Fury Young

Though it's not mentioned in the Annual Report, on a personal note, I think 2024 was my best year so far in terms of business management because I learned the most lessons. Being at risk of closing your doors is a crucible moment, and I rose to the challenge. 2024 was the year I embraced the fact that yes, I am an entrepreneur it turns out, and yes, I can get a lot better at running a business. It's an art. I had to embrace it. [*]

I hope you enjoy our 2024 Annual Report and get to take in all the work we're doing for prison-impacted folks - shifting narratives, offering economic opportunities, sending in instruments, hosting performance venues, and building community. I hope that in the process we're building a fan base that helps us all feel freer. At FREER Records, that's what we strive for.

So where do we stand now financially? We've got enough money to last us another 12 months. We'll figure out how to keep scraping by, we seem to have a knack for that. But we'll stay scaled back at a time when strong artist-activist communities and lifted up voices are needed more than ever.

We've been able to make due with little for so long - imagine what we could do with your continued support. Please consider donating today or becoming a monthly donor. Every dollar makes a difference in the lives of those we serve, and helps ensure that we can keep our doors open - not just scraping by but thriving. Please send this Annual Report to your people, your people's people, and if your people know funders, those people!

Thank you.
Fury Young
Co-Executive Director & Founder

[*] On the subject of better and more cognizant business practices, I’m proud to say that Q1 of 2025 was our second quarter in a row operating in the green - a first for us. In order to achieve this, we had to cut back our monthly expenses by over 50% from last year. In April we launched FREER Music, which digitally distributes content for prison-impacted artists, and have already released three singles from four artists! Shout to Erik Vara, our student intern who has been helping with this. This creates passive income for us while giving many more artists a platform. With strategic business moves like this, I see a brighter future ahead.