What do YOU offer for "donating"?
 

I couldn't find a general discussion on this. If it's been discussed, please show me the way.

I'm curious as to what people have chosen to offer members for donating or paypal payment. For example, it would be nice to have a set of features that you can only have access to if you donate $20.

I'm not too creative and would love to be able to leverage your experience/suggestions. I also don't yet know what all is possible. For example, I thought about giving 5x the PM space for those that donate, although I don't know how that's implemented. I'm guessing I would put them in a "paid" group or something where I can tweak their settings/permissions? Access to certain forums is another idea.

But what are some creative ways to encourage COMMUNITY and also donations, without turning people off??

We will offer half. In other words, hold a raffle and the winning "ticket" wins half the pot less the paypal fees. It's a great way to give back to your community while helping cover server costs.

Wow - that's a cool idea. Thanks!

Anyone else?

i think special forum areas are pretty popular as well

Different colour usernames
Custom User Titles
Bigger avatar size
A Profile Picture

List is endless :)

I offer 1 years free web hosting to any donation of ?20 or over :)

We offer free membership of the forum. :)

we have 13 parenting forums so far, and our usual gift for donation is a parenting-related product the member will received delivered for free at home...

usually gifts from our sponsors, because our boards are sponsored by parenting/baby related companies like Pampers, Scotties, etc... (so our sponsors are gifting the donators...)