Anyone who has been with the site for awhile knows I do not like actively soliciting donations for the website. We are however, at a point where the website fund (bank account) has run dry. We're in the red in fact. I just paid out the latest web hosting fees (3 months worth) and resubscribed to the message board software updates. This tapped out the remainder of the funds that were in the bank.

The donation drive back in July netted very little in return unfortunately. I didn't make a big stink of it then, hoping that donations would continue to trickle in. Well, they haven't. It's time once again to remind everyone that this is a user supported website, with:

• NO ANNOYING BANNER ADS
• NO ANNOYING POP-UP ADS
• NO USER FEES
• NO CLASSIFIED AD FEES
• A 100% VOLUNTEER STAFF
• A HEALTHY, WELL MODERATED COMMUNITY
• WITH VERY LITTLE ADOLECENT CONTENT (FLAME WARS, TROLLS, OFF TOPIC POSTS)
• WITH EXCELLENT SERVER SPEED
• ALWAYS WITH THE LATEST MESSAGE BOARD REVISION, PROVIDING THE LATEST FEATURES

I will not compromise the items above. IF you guys don't want to support the site.. no problem.. we can pull down the tent poles and all move on in life. My life would certainly become less complicated, and I might actually have some free time to work on my own SS (there's a novel idea).
In the past several members have stepped up and bailed the site out with some VERY generous donations. I've always been uneasy about accepting large donations from single members. To me, the burden should be spread out, rather than rely on extreme generocity. For that reason, I will not accept any donations larger than $25 from any one member.

It's time that everyone pull their fair share and contribute to keep things going. I hope it goes without saying, that this should be an ongoing thing. Think about donating once a year.. perhaps when you renew your magazine subscriptions.. or the registration on your SS. Doesn't take much. $5 donations spread out amongst many active members goes a long way in keeping the website fund up.

In addition, there are a lot of people making money off of selling parts and cars here on the site. That's great and I'm glad to see a healthy trade going on. People are helping others find the difficult parts they need to complete their projects. But they're also making profit. Just remember there's an infrastructure (this message board and the volunteers behind it) that is allowing you to make that profit. It's in your own best interest to see that that infrastructure (without seller fees) continues into the future.

Donations can be sent directly to me at this address:

Paul Carreiro
15607 Cordary Ave
El Camino Village CA 90260-3530

We accept personal checks and money orders. Make them out to my name, NOT the website name. We do not have a business bank account set up to handle checks made out to MonteCarloSS.com.. so please do not do that. Also, if you are in Canada.. please donate with an international money order, not a personal check. I can not cash Canadian bank checks (even if in US Dollars) under $50.

PayPal is possible, but because we do not have a business account there, the dollar amount they allow to be transfered per month is limited. If we go over that amount, they want to convert the account to a business account.. which costs $$$. So I prefer checks/money orders to the address above.

So bottom line.. it's time to make a commitment folks. Not just in the near term with a single donation. I'd much rather have spread out smaller donations from a lot of people than a mad rush to donate now. That leaves us in the same situation down the road when the funds dry up and the donations are out of site, out of mind.

If you want this site to stick around.. show it with your support. That's the bottom line. I won't taint the site with pop-up or banner ads. And User Fees are out of the question. I'd shut the site down before doing any of that. So it's up to you. Is the site worth a few bucks here and there? Did you save some money with the information you've found on the site? Have you made money by selling a part or a car through the site? Don't assume the other guy is going to take care of it. You may have a rude awakening one day and find the doors closed.