Where Does The Money You Contribute Go?

Ty Hamatake · Nov 25, 2016

I'm still pretty new here, but am very interested in "upgrading" my account. I've had such a great experince in the little time that I've been here and would love to contribute back to this awesome community. Just curious as to what the contributions go towards before I pull the trigger.

helen ann · Nov 27, 2016

Ty Hamatake said:
I'm still pretty new here, but am very interested in "upgrading" my account. I've had such a great experince in the little time that I've been here and would love to contribute back to this awesome community. Just curious as to what the contributions go towards before I pull the trigger.

Oh Just SIGN UP!!!!

The last 'Partner Member' drive went to get/upgrade the servers I believe ... Dang SS posts kept bringing the site down!!! LOL LOL LOL!!!

I will get someone who can tell you ...

#mods

melypr1985 · Nov 27, 2016

I can tell you that the money for memberships help maintain the website with upgrades and maintenance. It also helps contribute to giveaways and contests. All the staff, mods, reefsquad and anybody else who contributes time and effort to this site do so on a volunteer basis. I'm sure it goes toward other things, but I can't think of anything else at the moment.

ksc · Nov 27, 2016

It's a great business model. All your employees are volunteers, and your customers donors......

pelphrey · Nov 30, 2016

Aside from the money with an upgraded membership you have the ability to edit posts, which I love!

revhtree · Nov 30, 2016

ksc said:
It's a great business model. All your employees are volunteers, and your customers donors......

Seems you don't know the full details of our "model."

Willz · Nov 30, 2016

melypr1985 said:
I can tell you that the money for memberships help maintain the website with upgrades and maintenance. It also helps contribute to giveaways and contests. All the staff, mods, reefsquad and anybody else who contributes time and effort to this site do so on a volunteer basis. I'm sure it goes toward other things, but I can't think of anything else at the moment.

This really is a great business model. Unpaid experts, vendor's paying advertising fees, and customer's paying for upgrades to service! The TOS lists this as owned by an incorporation, so I'm not sure contribution is the right word. I actually tried to find the Secretary of State certificate for the owner to see if this was run as a non- or not for profit and came up blank (searched Delaware and Virginia). So, I'm not sure you would be able to deduct from your taxes any donations you make here. You are basically paying to upgrade your account to have more perks, as far as I can tell this isn't a charity.

Actually, really curious what the status of donations to the site are considered tax wise.

Willz · Nov 30, 2016

Actually, a little more digging and the parent company is a for profit company. Whatever you are donating here is to a corporation and therefore not really a donation and cannot be considered tax deductible charitable contributions.

Ty Hamatake · Nov 30, 2016

I guess I could've just wait a couple days

I'm guessing the upgrade costs don't go to this seeing as it's an add for donations, but supporting a site that does this kind of stuff? I'm in.

revhtree · Nov 30, 2016

Willz said:
Actually, a little more digging and the parent company is a for profit company. Whatever you are donating here is to a corporation and therefore not really a donation and cannot be considered tax deductible charitable contributions.

When we accept donations for events like the Toy Drive you are actually donating to the local church where I pastor that is a non-profit. Donations are given to the church and then the church makes the purchases.

revhtree · Nov 30, 2016

Willz said:
This really is a great business model. Unpaid experts, vendor's paying advertising fees, and customer's paying for upgrades to service! The TOS lists this as owned by an incorporation, so I'm not sure contribution is the right word. I actually tried to find the Secretary of State certificate for the owner to see if this was run as a non- or not for profit and came up blank (searched Delaware and Virginia). So, I'm not sure you would be able to deduct from your taxes any donations you make here. You are basically paying to upgrade your account to have more perks, as far as I can tell this isn't a charity.

Actually, really curious what the status of donations to the site are considered tax wise.

I struggle with leaving this topic open. On one hand it's really the business of R2R and staff. On the other hand we have nothing to hide.

I'll say this and I am not going to say much more.

1. We pay for experts, articles, advertising, server fees, software, addons, images, server admin work etc..
2. As mentioned before, donations accepted for charity type situations are tax deductible since they are ran through a non-profit.
3. I pastored for years and received a pay check from the church. Now I work for the church 100% for free because R2R affords me to do so.
4. Over 20% of the income that comes into R2R goes back to charitable organizations.

I didn't have to share that but I wanted to.

Willz · Nov 30, 2016

revhtree said:
When we accept donations for events like the Toy Drive you are actually donating to the local church where I pastor that is a non-profit. Donations are given to the church and then the church makes the purchases.

Sorry for the confusion, my comments were in regards to the upgraded services people can purchase for their R2R accounts. Since the OP had stated he wanted to "contribute" I felt it was important to note that "contribute" in this sense isn't a charitable donation, but paying for a service upgrade.

I am certainly glad this site solicits charitable donations from its members for worthy causes.

revhtree · Nov 30, 2016

Willz said:
Sorry for the confusion, my comments were in regards to the upgraded services people can purchase for their R2R accounts. Since the OP had stated he wanted to "contribute" I felt it was important to note that "contribute" in this sense isn't a charitable donation, but paying for a service upgrade.

I am certainly glad this site solicits charitable donations from its members for worthy causes.

Thank you.

Ty Hamatake · Nov 30, 2016

revhtree said:
I struggle with leaving this topic open. On one hand it's really the business of R2R and staff. On the other hand we have nothing to hide.

I'll say this and I am not going to say much more.

1. We pay for experts, articles, advertising, server fees, software, addons, images, server admin work etc..
2. As mentioned before, donations accepted for charity type situations are tax deductible since they are ran through a non-profit.
3. I pastored for years and received a pay check from the church. Now I work for the church 100% for free because R2R affords me to do so.
4. Over 20% of the income that comes into R2R goes back to charitable organizations.

I didn't have to share that but I wanted to.

I apologize if I posted this in an inappropriate area. I was genuinely curious about it, not skeptical or suspicious. Thank you for the clarification on the topic.

Willz said:
Sorry for the confusion, my comments were in regards to the upgraded services people can purchase for their R2R accounts. Since the OP had stated he wanted to "contribute" I felt it was important to note that "contribute" in this sense isn't a charitable donation, but paying for a service upgrade.

I am certainly glad this site solicits charitable donations from its members for worthy causes.

Thank you for trying to educate me on what you found. I really do appreciate you looking out for another guy you don't even know.

revhtree · Nov 30, 2016

Ty Hamatake said:
I apologize if I posted this in an inappropriate area. I was genuinely curious about it, not skeptical or suspicious. Thank you for the clarification on the topic.

Thank you for trying to educate me on what you found. I really do appreciate you looking out for another guy you don't even know.

Honestly your question was completely appropriate and acceptable. Glad to have you here.

Salty1962 · Nov 30, 2016

I believe that all contributions go to keeping this forum a premiere site for anyone looking for honest, professional, courteous and educated information to be the best you can be in this hobby. I know the money we give goes to a great cause and I do so without hesitation. The more knowledge people have, the better it is for our hobby. JMO