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.

No problem on the help i think everyone in this country "for the exception of Bill Gates" realizes things are tough all over. What would really be nice would be maybe to set up a page of thank you's to the people that donate and just post their name not dollar amount because you said from like maybe 5.00 to 25.00 and i feel that Paul deserves the glory anyway for his idea not the people that donate but it would be nice to have a page to give thanks to the people that donate and would also let others know just who are the folks that are supporting this site and not just taking advantage of it maybe this Paul would be more work because of posting names and would not be worth your time or maybe you just don't have the time or maybe you just don't like my idea but it was just a thought and whatever you do with this site i will support because of what you have shown in the past speaks for itself and a personal thanks from MrBillPro for this site and i feel it will continue and only get better because of all the folks that are members i think there all sincerely good people and can justify a few bucks for the info gained here.
Take Care Mr. Bill

Funny you mentioned magazine subscriptions...I just renewed all my magazine subscriptions last week and it was over $100.00!
I look at this site as being a "club" that I am a part of. It is a cool club with a bunch of great people and Paul does a great job of making it very user friendly. I remember paying for Hot Rod Magazines "Power Club" to be a founding member and paying like $30.00 for absolutely nothing worth while but a cool looking membership card. I think the technical and parts resources we all bring to this site make it worth contributing financially. I also enjoy the family like atmosphere here not that is not found on other sites. Every member has contributed their individual knowledge and time to this site to make it the best now let's keep it alive.
Consider this site being MonteCarloSSClub.com and that membership is only $2.00 per month and you yearly fees are due! I will happily mail my $24.00 check by next week and feel good about my investment. I hope others will follow my lead.
Russ

MrBill.. thanks for the kind words. Yes, we already have a page acknowleging all of the benefactors of the site who have contributed to date. It's located in the Site Information page here on the site. You can reach it here:
http://www.montecarloss.com/about.html#benefactors

Russ.. thanks for the kind words too. Yes, we are very much a family here. That's how I see it.

The check is in the mail....

I plan to donate soon as well, this seems to be a nice site, I just wish I would have gotten involved sooner!

I will mail a check tomorrow for $25. I would have helped in July, but I somehow missed the call. I was off from work and must not have been frequenting the site very ofte.
Thanks for all of your efforts. I have learned many things from this site.

ummmmmm Allright...I haven't been around...Thanks too college life and finals coming up

just how much per month does it cost to run this site for a year

Just sent my yearly dues via Pay Pal.. Also ordered a few decals.. Thanks again Paul for this great web site!

As far as the question above on how much it costs to run this site... I just hope it costs a lot less to operate than what we contribute so that Paul can have some play money for new Monte merchandise. I would personally be happy to see Paul do what ever he wants with any funds above and beyond what the site needs. Creating and maintaining this site has to be a lot of work. I know that just Moderating can consume a lot of time.

Hey Russ and/or Paul-

What's the addy to send by paypal?? I never saw anything about this, did I miss it??

Might consider putting this info out in a new post, just so everyone knows about it.

Let me know how I can donate with PayPal!!

Geez, I hate to use that word, "donate". If anything, We're all paying below wholesale for some of the best info out there, and getting to "hang out" with our pals for free!!

Scott

Paul,
I finally sent out the check to you. HTH! Great site!

I might be the broke college kid, but I'll gladly donate.

are you still taking donations?

We're always open to donations. The address and instructions above are still good. Thanks for asking.

i must stay that all the info ive recived from this site was invaluable and it would be my pleasure to make a small contribution even thou the montys undergoing a bank breaking transplant...ill be more than happy to send out a check.

You can count me in for a donation. I hope that everyone who uses the site will also help.

the only way i can do it at this time is through paypal...can you email me the paypal email at mcls1986@msn.com

Paul, if you don't mind me asking, how much a month does it cost you to maintain this website? I would be more than happy to donate money to the cause. I have had great luck in buying and selling parts on here and it is worth it! I also appreciate you putting my hard work on display on the website, I really appreciate it, you have a friend for life!

Thanks again,

-Josh

Got a reminder on my calender that it is about that time for me to send in some support money for the site. Just thought I would send these old post TTT.

Thanks for the recent replys, donations and promises for donation. Just so nobody is mislead, this thread was originally opened back in 2002 when we were in the red. After that initial posting, the membership stepped up and donated to the site to keep things on the right side of $0. As of right now, the site fund is at a satisfactory level. We can always use more buffer room though. I just wanted to make sure everyone knew we weren't in dire straits as we were when this thread was originally opened.

And yes, the mailing address is still correct in the initial post.

Thanks again everyone. Having this a user-supported site/community makes it that much more special.

PaulC

Mailed my check this morning.Oh yeah,ordered me one of those http://www.montecarloss.com stickers too! HA!HA! Jeff,I got me a red one!!

I knew it was almost that time of year. Check will be in the mail tomorrow Paul! Thanks for providing us a site to hang out, help and learn all at the same time! Like you said, it doesn't hurt to have a buffer!

ive said that i will do this and do that..i just mailed a part to a board member...the member paid me with a postal money order...when i cashed it i also got a money order for 25$...Paul thanks for everything that you do..i know you will put it to good use..Rickey..

Hunted all over the lounge for this post...

Just as soon as I get back to work, or otherwise make some dollars...I won't forget. ~SS~
Mark