Click the button below to donate via Paypal:
To mail checks, cash (US currency only!), cashiers checks, money orders, etc, send your mail to
Starmen.Net c/o Fangamer
Reid Young
5055 E Speedway Blvd
Tucson, AZ 85712
All checks and money orders should be made out to Reid Young.
Starmen.Net always has and always will be a non-profit site. When Tomato and reidman started this site, their goal was to create a center for EarthBound fans on the internet. Never did they think that it would become something this huge, nor this expensive. Everyone who works on this site is a volunteer and gets no monetary payment or compensation for their work, nor has anyone ever been paid in the past. All of the money goes to paying for the server bills, software, registration fees, and miscellaneous other costs related to running the website such as printing costs, prizes, shipping costs, etc.
Back to TopFor reference, here is a snapshot of Starmen.Net's incoming vs. outgoing cash from July 2005 to January 2006:
Average Paypal donations: $82/monthBack to Top
Average mailed donations: $16.67/month
Average Cafepress income: $22.50/month
Average income from hosted sites: $25/month
Total income: $146.17/month
VoxRox Hosting Fees: $159/month
Domain Name Fees: $7/year (3 domains (fobby.net, starmen.net, mother-jp.net))
Cafepress Premium Store Fees: $5/month
Total fees: ~$166/month
When the funds are running low, we do lots of cool things for fundraisers, including auctions and fundraisers. You can find some of our many donor rewards from past donation drives in the Merchandise section. We've also got the Starmen.Net Store, which, thanks to Jonk, has been successful beyond anyone's best expectations. Our profit margin from the Starmen.Net store is fairly meager, though, and it is for this reason that donations have been and always will be our biggest and best source of money for the website.
Back to TopBecause of the pain associated with having a separate bank account and tax numbers for the website, I manage Starmen.Net's funds from a Paypal account and with a simple spreadsheet to track donations and expenses. This is the reason that checks/money orders are made out to me, Reid Young, instead of Starmen.Net. I cannot legally accept checks or money orders made out to Starmen.Net.
Back to TopNo one is obligated to donate to Starmen.Net. Lots of volunteer work goes into the website, though, so if you're not much for art, writing, or coding, another great way of helping is to donate.
Back to TopThe largest majority of donations to Starmen.Net are from $10 to $20. People have in the past, however, donated as little as 2 cents (thanks Aquas) and as much as $4,000+ (for more information on that particular donor, check out the Giovanni section ;) There is no upper or lower limit to donations, though.
Back to TopClick the button below to donate via Paypal:
To mail checks, cash (US currency only!), cashiers checks, money orders, etc, send your mail to
Starmen.Net c/o Fangamer
Reid Young
5055 E Speedway Blvd
Tucson, AZ 85712
All checks and money orders need to be made out to Reid Young. Here is an explanation if you're wondering why checks go to Reid instead of being made out to Starmen.Net.
Back to TopWe can't accept anything except good old USD (US Dollars). Most banks will gladly convert your cash to USD for a small fee.
Back to TopNow for the good stuff; making a donation isn't an entirely thankless process, trust me. We at Starmen.Net can't do a whole lot with just a website, but we'll do our best to thank you in any way possible. Here is what you can get for your donation:
| Badge | Rank | Avatar | |
|---|---|---|---|
| $5-$10 |  |
||
| $10-$30 |  |
Yes | |
| $30-$50 |  |
Yes | |
| $50-$100 |  |
Yes | Yes |
| $100+ |  |
Yes | Yes |
Crazy as it sounds, yes, there can be drawbacks to donating (with the obvious exception that you lose a chunk of money ;) Please note that I said there COULD be drawbacks; it depends entirely on your attitude.
Sometimes people will try to use their status as Starmen.Net donors to sort of give themselves a high status on the forum or in the community. This is a bad thing, because it will only make people dislike you. If you flaunt your badge and constantly make allusions to how much money you spend on the site, people are really going to get sick of you. Please keep this in mind, because being a donor doesn't guarantee that people are going to love you. Acceptance isn't something you can buy, but its not that hard to earn here. Just a friendly word of warning to be yourself and to avoid trying to artificially inflate your status in the community. Be helpful, be concise, use grammar and spelling, and most importantly of all, be friendly. THESE things will gain you acceptance and friendship.
Also, please note that being a donor doesn't give you any special privileges beyond the cool stuff that you get. We won't hire you as a staffer. We won't make you a moderator on the forum. We won't necessarily use your ideas (although we will listen more carefully because people who donate often care much more about the site than normal visitors). Please keep this in mind, and don't try to use donations to bend rules; you're under the same rules as everyone else.
Back to TopWe love Giovanni because he donated over $4,000 in the early years of the website. The first time Reid got one of his massive donations, which was around $250, his mom freaked out and thought he was running some kind of money laundering scheme. It took him 15 minutes to explain to her that Giovanni wasn't a loan shark or something. Of course, that was back in 1999 or something - in these modern days, we all know that Giovanni is actually a powerful political figure in the South American continent.
Gio has been coming to the site for a long time and really enjoys his time on the forum and the chatroom, which is why (we think) he supported us like he did. Rumor is that he is a 90 year old man similar in appearance to Rich Uncle Pennybags from the Monopoly games, but in truth we're not really sure. We just know he's generous.
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