There are two main things that cost money for Fathom: hosting and vBulletin (there is an annual fee to have access to updates and so on). Opal is currently a full-time student and as such doesn't have a "real, paying job", and she's also gone from being a stay-home mom to being a single mom. That means that any help at all in covering the costs is much appreciated.

We're not calling these "paid memberships" because we consider this to be a donation to "the cause" and not a subscription service fee. However, we do want our sponsors to get something special as a thank you for their generosity. We've worked out a set of perks (we may add more in the future) that we hope will make it more fun to be a sponsor. The perks vary depending on the level of sponsorship.

Nope. Anything you can already do as a Fathom member you will still be able to do as a Fathom member, without spending a cent. The perks for sponsors are above and beyond regular membership features.

We've broken down three annual tiers of sponsorship, and one monthly sponsorship thusly:

Shiny Sponsorship
Perks:	"Shiny Sponsor" graphic under your name Larger profile picture (400 x 400) Larger avatar (50 x 50)
Cost:	$1/month, billed annually. You may choose automatically recurring or manual billing of $12.
Sparkly Sponsorship
Perks:	"Sparkly Sponsor" graphic under your name Larger profile picture (400 x 400) Larger avatar (50 x 50) Custom title (you can change it whenever you like - you are no longer tied to being a "Fancy Pants" or a "Fanatic", etc.) Private message storage increased to 100 Gallery storage increased to 20MB
Cost:	$2/month, billed annually. You may choose automatically recurring or manual billing of $24.
Bling Sponsorship
Perks:	"Bling Sponsor" graphic under your name Larger profile picture (400 x 400) Larger avatar (50 x 50) Custom title Private message storage increased to 200 Gallery storage increased to 50MB New feature: add events to the calendar New feature: a banner ad in the ad rotation [coming soon, will be at the top of the page, to the right of the FFF logo]
Cost:	$5/month, billed annually. You may choose automatically recurring or manual billing of $60.
Monthly Sponsorship
Perks:	"Monthly Sponsor" graphic under your name Larger profile picture (400 x 400) Larger avatar (50 x 50) Private message storage increased to 150 Gallery storage increased to 30MB New feature: a banner ad in the ad rotation
Cost:	$3/month, billed monthly. You may choose automatically recurring or manual billing of $3.

It's easy! Just click on the "Paid Subscriptions" link in the left menu of the User CP. You will have the option to choose which level of sponsorship you want, as well as whether you want manual billing (you will have to remember to renew when the cycle is up) or automatic rebilling (you will have to remember to turn it off if you don't want to be signed up again each time the cycle is up). To choose automatic rebilling, pick the cost with the asterisk next to it. For example:

1 Year *		← this is the automatic rebilling one
	US $24.00
1 Year
	US $24.00

Currently the only built-in option is PayPal. If you don't have a PayPal account, and don't want one, you can contact OpalCat privately about other payment options.

You can always make a donation of any amount to help out. You can donate using PayPal:
If you make a donation rather than getting one of the sponsorship subscriptions, you do not automatically move into one of the sponsorship tiers, and so you will not have the perks associated with sponsorship. We do like to be fair, however, so if you make a donation, please contact OpalCat privately and she can manually adjust your account so that you get the benefits you deserve! You may also contact Opal to make a donation via another method if you do not want to use PayPal.

MrEction is our loyal and brilliant sysadmin. He's also OpalCat's ex-husband and that means he's a bachelor again. We're pretty sure he wouldn't mind the occasional shipment of home-baked cookies to show how much we appreciate all that he does for us around here. If you contact him he'll probably be happy to tell you where to send them. :)

The main way you can help the Fathom community, however, is just by participating. The forums are nothing without the members who use them! Thank you all for your support.