ADMIN: Cauldron Donation Drive -- The 2012 Edition

[RandallS]

It's for The Cauldron's Annual donation drive. (We are on time this year, instead of starting three weeks late as we somehow managed to do last year) When we moved to a VPS a few years ago our hosting costs jumped from about $200 a year to just over $800 a year (plus a few dollars more for domain fees and the like). 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.

Extra Goal: Linode is now offering a backup feature which automatically makes daily, weekly, and monthly backups for $15 a month. If we could raise at least $1000 (instead of $800 and change) we could add this feature. Extra month 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. Those who donated have made it possible for The Cauldron: A Pagan Forum to remain on the Internet from September 2011 to now. However, the account is pretty 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. There are two ways 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 subscription coming out of your Paypal account.

Donate via Paypal Now  

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), Silver Donor (US$10.00) or Gold Donor (US$15.00) 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, 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. 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).

Note: If you currently have a recurring monthly Donation subscription, you do not need to do anything to donate for 2011. 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 has mistakenly terminated them much more frequently that usual this year.

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:

   

Donate via a Donor Subscription

If you are able to donate, please make a donation for 2012 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. This is even more true this year as the continuing terrible economy reduces our small advertising income to almost nothing.

[RandallS]

It took less than a month to reach our minimum needed to stay alive goal of $800 and as of today we only need $120 to reach our extra "get backups" goal of $1000. Can we do it by next Monday?