vmst·io is funded by the membership of the instance. While access to your account does not require payments, if you desire to help cover the cost of running vmst·io, we have multiple options available:
- Ko-fi - One-time or monthly contributions (preferred)
- Open Collective - One-time or annual contributions
- Patreon - Monthly contributions only
Ko-fi is the preferred option as they have the lowest overhead (as low as 7%) for us to accept payments, while Patreon can be as high as 18%.
Contribution Tiers
| Tier | Cost | Benefits |
|---|---|---|
| Red | $2 | Invite codes |
| Blue | $4 | Invite codes, monthly shout-out |
| Purple | $8 | Invite codes, monthly shout-out, maybe more 😉 |
Contribution Benefits
All members who sign up for monthly or yearly donations gain access to send invites to their friends and family. Those who sign up for Blue or Purple tiers will be included in a monthly shoutout post by @vmstan.
Members who provide financial support are still subject to the same rules of the road that all members must follow.
Invitations
Folks who commit to regular contributions gain the ability to invite new members. This will allow you to bring in your friends, family, and colleagues without waiting on moderator interaction for account approval. If you interact with people in other instances that would be a good fit here, send them an invite and work with them to get migrated. If you have connections on the Birdsite who need a lifeline, send them in invite.
Paying members can see the invite ability by logging into the the website and under “Preferences > Invite people” to generate your codes. You have flexibility to set limits on their use, and please use these. If you’re a massive influencer who sets unlimited use and tomorrow we have 2,000,000 new accounts without any oversight, then the servers will probably fall over and burst into flames.
Costs & Funding
Income
| Source | Monthly | Yearly | One Time |
|---|---|---|---|
| Patreon | $171 | - | - |
| Open Collective | $9 | $60 | $128 |
| Ko-Fi | $173 | - | $328 |
| Other | $24 | - | $72 |
Numbers reflects raw donation numbers in USD, not reflective of Patreon or Stripe fees and/or exchange rates.
Last Updated: Jan 25, 2023.
Expenses
| Vendor | Monthly | Yearly |
|---|---|---|
| Digital Ocean | $342 | $0 |
| Sendgrid | $20 | $0 |
| DNSimple | $6 | $153 |
| Backblaze | $1 | $0 |
Last Updated: Jan 25, 2023.