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Author Topic: ADMIN: Cauldron Annual Donation Drive -- The Belated 2016 Edition  (Read 2054 times)

RandallS

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  • Join Date: Jun 2011
  • Location: NE Ohio
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  • Religion: Hellenic Pagan
It's time for The Cauldron's Annual donation drive. Actually, it is several months past time. We usually hold our donation drive in late August and September. This year, Randall and Lyricfox were moving from Texas to Ohio at that time so the annual donation drive (which is updated manually by Randall) had to be delayed. While we are still in the middle of having the house modified for Lyric's disabilities, were are far enough along that Randall should be able to update the drive's progress at least once every couple of days -- although he will try for the at least once a day updates our drives usually have.  

Background on our expenses: When we moved to a VPS in 2008 our hosting costs jumped from about $200 a year to just about $800 a year (plus a few dollars more for domain fees and the like). Several years ago, when Linode started to offer its backup service ($15/month) we raised enough money to add that. Two years ago, we needed to upgrade to a better server so our costs jumped from about $850 a year to about $1100 a year. Fortunately, Linode did a major sever upgrade about 18 months ago and we were able to drop back to our original (less expensive) server size last year, lowering our costs back to where they had been.  Thanks to a number of members of The Cauldron: A Pagan Forum who made either annual or monthly donations, we have managed to pay the server bill every month when it is due on the 1st of the month. It's time to refill the till for our next year of hosting -- the alternative is TC disappearing from the Internet as with the Co-Hosts medical issues, they cannot afford to fund TC out of their own pocket.

This means we need a total of $850 to reach our 2016 goal. Thanks to some people who made automatic annual donations back in August and September and the handful of monthly donations we are still receiving, we already have $305 dollars in the donation pot at the (late) start of our annual drive. This means we only need to raise $545 to cover our server costs until September of 2017. That's the minimum we need from this drive. Extra money raised over and above the minimum needed, as always, is used to add new features or otherwise support TC.

We'd really like to thank everyone who gave money for the server bills over the last year (and those who automatically donated in August and September). Those who donated have made it possible for The Cauldron: A Pagan Forum to remain on the Internet from September 2015 to now. However, the account is bare and it's now time to raise money for the next server year. We need your donations to keep The Cauldron: A Pagan Forum's message board up. Payments are made via Paypal but you do not need a Paypal account to donate (unless you wish to set up a recurring donation subscription). There are two easy ways (and one harder way) you can donate.

OPTION 1: Make An "Anonymous" Donation in Any Amount

If you are not a member of the message board  -- or are a member but do not want a donor button to appear on your posts or wish to donate a non-standard amount, you can make an "anonymous" donation (which will not cause any "donor" notation on your posts) in any amount via the Paypal link below. You do NOT need a Paypal account to donate. After Paypal fees, we get at least 85% to 90% of the money you donate. This is the best way to donate for many people as it only happens once and you don't have to remember that you have a monthly (or annual) subscription coming out of your Paypal account.



OPTION 2: Message Board Member? Donate Through Your Settings:
          Get Bronze/Silver/Gold Donor Levels and Benefits


If you are logged into the message board, you can make a donation (via Donation Subscriptions in your Profile) at the Bronze Donor (US$5.00/month or $60/year), Silver Donor (US$10.00/month or $120/year), Gold Donor (US$15.00/month or $180/year) or Silver Patron ($25.00/month or $300/year) level and get a special button that will appear on your posts as well have access to our Donor only areas, more PM storage, more space for attachments, stop seeing most of the ads on our board, etc. These special benefits will last for one month (or one year if you elect the annual donation option) and can be renewed by extending your subscription. You can elect to make a one time donation or to set up a Paypal subscription that will automatically renew your donation each month or year until you cancel the subscription at Paypal. You can find the "Paid Subscriptions" link in your "Settings" menu on your profile.

Note: If you currently have a recurring monthly Donation subscription, you do not need to do anything to donate for 2016. Your current Donation subscription will continue until you cancel it (or your payment source disappears if you are paying with a credit card and forget to keep its expiration date, etc. current) at PayPal. However, if you believe you have a current donor subscription, please check your Paypal account to be sure it is still there -- Paypal mistakenly terminates them more often than anyone would like.

If you are a member of our message board (and are logged in), this link will take you directly to the Paid Subscription area of your Settings:



OPTION 3: Want to Avoid Using PayPal? Donate Via a Postal Money Order

If you cannot (or simply do not want to) use Paypal, you can mail us a Postal Money Order (obtained from a US Postal Office) or an International Postal Money Order payable in US Dollars (obtained from your nation's post office). If you wish to make this type of donation, please PM me and I will tell who to make the money order to and give you an address to mail it to. Note that only Postal Money Orders can be accepted, no checks (or strange money orders from the supermarket).

If you are able to donate, please make a donation for 2016 as soon as possible -- right now would be great. The Cauldron's web site, message board, MUX, and other features depend on your donations to continue.

IMPORTANT NOTE

The Donation Notice at the top of the forum is manually updated, usually only once every 24-48 hours. This means your donation will not automatically appear immediately in the total donated listed in the notice.
Randall
RetroRoleplaying [Blog]: Microlite74/75/78/81, BX Advanced, and Other Old School Tabletop RPGs
Microlite20: Lots of Rules Lite Tabletop RPGs -- Many Free

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* In Memoriam

Chavi (2006)
Elspeth (2010)
Marilyn (2013)

* Cauldron Staff

Host:
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Message Board Staff
Board Coordinator:
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Assistant Board Coordinator:
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Senior Staff:
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Staff:
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