What reward do you give to someone who donates?

If someone donates to your forum, how do you reward them for their kindness?

On my forum I have two methods for members to financially support us; donations or subscriptions. The former is basically for those members not bothered about receiving any benefits, for guests, or for subscribers who wish to donate more money. Subscribers on the other hand receive a select bunch of privileges including a chat-box, additional storage space, being able to upload bigger images and more.

 

I let them live.

 

They get a sandbox. I am thinking about a chatbox in the future.

 

I give them the awesomest of high fives!

 

Right now they get a gold star next to their username.

 

Do you guys ever consider giving more or have plans in the future to make donation more appealing?

 

I do several things for members who donate.
1) I give them a larger avatar.
2) I give them a special user rank.
3) I give them access to a private forum.
4) I allow them to enter money contests.
5) I lend credence to their suggestions about the site.
6) I may choose to allow them to manage a single forum for something of their interest if I feel they are capable of so doing.

Here's what I NEVER do: Promote them to staff just because they made a donation.

 

IPB board w/subscriptions. I have 5 tiers of the same package.
1 month = $3
2 month = $5
4 month = $10
6 month = $15
1 year = $25

*1000 Private Messages/Conversations
*Five invites allowed via Private Conversations
*Access to Private Forum
*Access to the online Blog and Gallery
*Signature maximum is 600px X 150px
*Access to the entire forum while it's offline
*Ability to play newly added games in the Arcade, first
*1000 Maximum Stored Notifications
*Customize your Profile background
*Edit own posts with a 24 hour time limit
*Access to the online users list

 

If you're willing to answer; are these donation systems successful for you both? Do you receive many?

 

Not as many as I'd like but who does? Most forums lose money. Mine doesn't so I can't complain.

 

I've had a handful of donations and I know I'll be getting a few more. At this rate I *should* have between £100 or £200 in donations by next April, which is great as it covers hosting costs. Unfortunately I don't earn a lot so splashing money on a forum for advertising etc isn't really feasible, so I'm pretty much reliant on donations at the moment.

 

My stats are
1 member-2 months
7 members-6 months
48 members-1 year

Total membership, including subscribers, 1,479.

You have to remember that my website/forum is a support group for Coast Guard spouses/families.
It really is about the only one around that is specific to us. It's been in operation for over 10 years now and many members have been there that long.
For many years I paid for it on my own, but one year money was really tight and I asked for support. My members are very generous. I pay the bill every month, but I am definitely supported throughout the year. Many say they would help "just because", but I always keep them in mind if it's something extra that I can give them.

 

I like to give the members a rank worth £4 for £4 you get double competition prizes £5 to £10 but only if they win, secret forum, topic stickied (there choice), rank crown and name colour, premium tech support, premium competitions and extra pm space etc.

 

When one of our members donates to our forum, they get the following: Why should you support vpl

 

I give them a special username color, badge, access to hidden boards, custom title feature and I try to include some resources (articles, graphics, etc.) in there as well.

 

Subscriber AND donors get something if they donate or subscribe to my forum, subscribers get special VIP access to our restricted areas with a nice new username color & userbar (regular members don't have a userbar) Donors obtain a new username color as well as a userbar.

 

We have a supporters forum for our supporters, but nobody posts there. Is your donators section pretty active?

 

Anymore I think we are not including enough. I look at the VIP membership for some of the apps I have on my phone and wonder if I should go more into that route.

 

I give them a user rank or title or even a badge. There's not much else to give them. If they are high quality posters and donate then I will consider them for the position of moderator.

 

Both of these posts have a lot of good suggestions in them, I'm definitely going to have to incorporate some of this. Thanks.