# Help APC and Feel Better too



## gnatster

Jerry Lewis I am not but here goes anyway.

I'm sure you know that APC has to pay for hosting and bandwidth every month. To the tune of $175 a month!! We are not complaining about the cost, far from it, we are all proud of the growth we have seen thanks to your help and participation. We do have sponsors that help, but frankly thats not quite enough to cover the total. Fear not, we have NO intention of making APC subscription based now or in the future. We all believe in the free exchange of information to further the hobby we all enjoy. However we could use some help in defraying these costs.

So here is the schpiel. How about donating a few bucks to APC. How many of you stop at a coffee house every day and drop a few dollars, yen, guilders, euros, lira, pounds, pesos or what have you on a coffee? For a weeks worth of coffee, tea, Red Bull, Bawls, Jolt, Coke, Pepsi or even fancy bottled water you can really help APC. For those of you that sell plants, here is an idea. Donate the proceeds of one Aquabid auction a month. Heck, even mention it in your Aquabid description too. Then you spread the good word of APC and show that you care about quality plant forums.

We make it easy, simply click here or on the Support APC link in the header on every page. We thank you. Your plants will thank you. Your fellow aquarist's thank you.


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## gnatster

A hearty THANKS!!! goes out to all of you that have helped so far.

We haven't met our goal yet, but we are well on the way. 

I can't tell you how much we appreciate your support.


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## MatPat

gnatster said:


> For those of you that sell plants, here is an idea. Donate the proceeds of one Aquabid auction a month.


I was planning to donate after my auctions close tonight. Well, once payment is received of course...the PayPal fund is a bit low at the moment 



gnatster said:


> Heck, even mention it in your Aquabid description too. Then you spread the good word of APC and show that you care about quality plant forums.


This is a great idea! I will begin to donate a portion of the profits of my Aquabid auctions to APC...It's gonna take me even longer to get that 180g tank now


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## Laith

I tried to donate but the link asks me to enter my credit card info and when I do, it tells me that that info is already registered in PayPal. There's no option to continue...

I'll see if I can figure it out. I must say that in my few uses of PayPal I have not been impressed...


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## Erirku

Is there a way APC can get their own Paypal account, so it'll be easier to donate funds there? Thanks Eric.


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## gnatster

Laith said:


> I tried to donate but the link asks me to enter my credit card info and when I do, it tells me that that info is already registered in PayPal. There's no option to continue...
> 
> I'll see if I can figure it out. I must say that in my few uses of PayPal I have not been impressed...


Laith, it sounds as if you already have a PayPal account setup. On the page that comes up after you click on the little Visa/MC logo there is a box down near the bottom for PayPal User ID and PW. May want to try that first.

As to using PayPal outside of the US, I am not familiar with it, possibly there is a difference because of your locale. I have been using the service for a little over 5 years now and have never had a problem.


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## gnatster

Erirku said:


> Is there a way APC can get their own Paypal account, so it'll be easier to donate funds there? Thanks Eric.


APC does have it's own account, registered under "AquaRatings, Inc." That name may be causing some of the confusion.


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## MatPat

After thinking about my previous post, would it be better to donate some of my Aquabid profits on a monthly basis or is weekly preferred? I was wondering in terms of the PayPal fee that APC will be charged for each transaction and was curious if the fee would matter or not?


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## gnatster

MatPat said:


> After thinking about my previous post, would it be better to donate some of my Aquabid profits on a monthly basis or is weekly preferred? I was wondering in terms of the PayPal fee that APC will be charged for each transaction and was curious if the fee would matter or not?


Unfortunately APC has to pay the fees too. Bills are paid monthly also. I would say to do what ever is most convenient for you. The fee difference is not that great, at this point we are talking about the $0.30 per transaction fee. One transaction a month as opposed to four would save $0.90 or $10.80 a year. For one person it not a huge amount. but if say 4 or 5 or maybe 17 people were following the same plan, then it would make a huge difference. My point, finally, is that aggregating and having one transaction a month would be better in the long run.

Thanks for the support, we all appreciate it.


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## Laith

Ok, I figured it out (need more sleep or something!).

Now another question. On the PayPal payment page for AquaRatings Inc. it says "Payment for: Monthly cost".

Forgive me for double checking, but does this indicate that by donating X dollars our credit card will be billed X dollars on a monthly basis?

Since we've been talking about the monthly costs to APC and monthly vs weekly payments you can understand my confusion?


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## gnatster

> Forgive me for double checking, but does this indicate that by donating X dollars our credit card will be billed X dollars on a monthly basis?
> 
> Since we've been talking about the monthly costs to APC and monthly vs weekly payments you can understand my confusion?


Yes I can understand the confusion.

Excuse the bold, not yelling just want to be sure it is understood.

*This is NOT a recurring monthly charge to your PayPal account.* We used the name Monthly Costs to indicate what is being covered, not what is being charged.

Also, any overage for the month will roll over and be used for the next months fees.

Again, we thank you for you support!!


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## gnatster

*Thank You!!*

WOW, the response has been great, we thank you all so much. August goals have been realized and we are 35% the way there for September, and it's only mid August. The APC membership certainly does care. We can't thank you enough.

Ahh, but (there is always a but) in fund-raising one can barely have time to savor the success before it's time to move on to the next goal.

Lets see if we can get hosting covering until years end. Thats four months to cover from this point, September, October, November and December. The total looks a to be a bit daunting at $700.

*Some of you ask, and rightly so, why donate when there are sponsors? *

Thats a very good question. Sponsors do help to defray some of the cost, but there is only the monthly hosting hosting bill. There are other expenses too. The software was used for the forum is not inexpensive, but is best of breed and we felt is well worth the investment. It's also getting time to upgrade and there are expenses that go along with migration. So you see, it never ends, but you know that, we all get bills every month that somehow keep increasing. With your support complimenting the sponsors we can keep APC growing and on the cutting edge.

*I gave for August, do I have to give again?*

Yes, No, Maybe. Thats solely up to you. We firmly believe the knowledge the community of APC provides should be offered free of charge. APC will not charge members, However bills need to be paid. We understand we all have differing economic abilities and some are in a better position then others when it comes to having and distributing discretionary income. So no you don't have to give again, but you should, if you can.

*You just hit us up, why again so soon?*

Fund-raising never ends. These bills, they just keep coming, and I hate doing fund-raising. Thats why this time we are looking to cover a longer period. I don't want to keep asking. I promise you this. As soon as this goal is met you will not hear a peep out of me until January 06 about fund-raising. 
*
Have any novel ideas as to how I can help?*

Why yes I do, thanks for asking. One way to not only help APC cover costs but to also spread the word of APC is to donate a portion of your AquaBid auctions to APC. I do this and add the text "10% of all proceeds to be donated to Aquarium Plant Central" in all my auctions. Do you need to donate 10%? Thats up to you. I am doing a straight 10%, some may want to do the same but after costs of PayPal and shipping are removed from the total. We also recommend that if you are going to use this route that you aggregate a months worth at one time and not donate as each auction ends. We have to pay the PayPal fees too, no need to run them up for multiple small amounts. If you have questions about this method, then please by all means contact me. 
*
I already have AGA dues, Local Plant club dues, monthly stipend to keep the LFS afloat and who know what else, and you want my money too!!*

Yes and no. Again, place a value on APC and give that, but only if you want to and can afford too. We do not want to take food from your fishies mouths in order to keep APC going, We know there are lots of competing forces trying to part you from your hard earned cash, yes we are one of them too. But only if you desire too. We are not in dire need, only wanting to create a cushion and have the site self sustaining. We respect your sensibilities and do not want to resort to plastering APC with advertisements. To this end we only accept sponsorship from related companies. 
*
Why ask us, why not go and find more sponsors*?

We are actively seeking sponsors. As new ones come aboard our membership related goals will reduce in need. That will be reflected in our next goal. You are always free to look and see what the goal is and where we stand by clicking on the Support APC link in the top menu bar. More sponsors translate into fewer and less often fund raising appeals. If you have an idea for or want to be a sponsor please feel free to contact me.

Thanks again for your support,

APC Staff


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## neonfish3

Besides clicking on *all* the different ads, is there still a way to donate cash to APC. I don't see the link in the banner any more.


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## plantbrain

Just a note to local plant and fish clubs, since many of you have a forum on APC and can find members from their locations, clubs can be built much easier this way so the cost of a donation is worth it to forums.

FYI: Sfbaaps has doubled in size due to this method of membership recruiment.
Most plant cluns cannot sell their weeds to local regular membership so regular fish clubs and Aquabid etc work well to fund such forums.

Regards, 
Tom Barr

www.BarrReport.com


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## AaronT

Did the donate link get moved in the new software transition?


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## duckdog

*Donate "Please Read"*

How about donating an aquarium related item to be sold under APC's own donation classified section? That way we all get to buy something we want and you get the funds to help us in turn again get something else we want nop loose situation? What do you say?, I am sure I can dig up one or two things to mail out to you or put it under its own section here and just plain donated 100% of the proceeds to APC. This site has helped me out immensely and I am more then willing to return the favor. Two people in particular, if they realize it or not is Milan from APC for helping me out one on one in the forums these last few days with ferts and chemistry without that help I was about to post a complete 55 and 40 up for sale and Dafishman from pricenetwork for putting up with a hundred pm's a day and for almost donating a complete plant package to start my tank. Now I am proud to have learned from some people that would like to share there knowledge to help me into this hobby. Back to my original note, I for one think a section that we can directly post and item for sale that all proceeds go to APC would be great, let me know what everyone thinks.

Thank again
Nelson Fletcher

And my "mentor's"
DaFishman - Pricenetwork
Milan - APC


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## MiamiAG

Folks,

The Donation link will be back soon. Thanks for considering this.


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## MiamiAG

Folks,

There are a few ways to help APC:

1. Support our Sponsors and tell them you appreciate them supporting APC. They make APC possible.

2. Click the product banners you see on the portal, forum and thread pages. At no cost to you, APC receives a tiny commission for your click.

3. Go to your UserCP and click on Paid Subscriptions in the lower left column. Here you have the option of becoming a Premium Member and receive additional benefits here at APC.

Thanks for supporting APC!


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## neonfish3

Hey there,
How do I donate money to APC if I already have a subscription?
I think I have subscribed a couple times already anyway!
What if I didn't want to subscribe, but still wanted to give money. Can I just send a paypal payment to the aquaratings Inc. in any amount? Will you know who it's from by my e-mail? Just wondering how to send the money I made from the auction I had. Also if I was so inclined to send like $5-$10, how to do it.
Thanks


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## MiamiAG

Thanks Steve!

A simple payment to [email protected] via PayPal is fine. Just make sure to add your name or username to the subject or description lines.


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## freydo

just bought my 1 year subscription... hope those canadian pesos help


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## snowhillbilly

Hey G, 
Doesnt paypal have a non profit program for non profit groups like this. Also does APC have a tax deferred non profit number? If you would like some leg work on the paypal thing I would be happy to help (love my speaker phone for such occasions). Just let me know G I would love to help in any way.


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## Laith

snowhillbilly said:


> Hey G,
> Doesnt paypal have a non profit program for non profit groups like this. Also does APC have a tax deferred non profit number? If you would like some leg work on the paypal thing I would be happy to help (love my speaker phone for such occasions). Just let me know G I would love to help in any way.


Forgive me if I'm being a bit dense, but who is "G"?? I don't know of anyone here who goes by that name...


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## gnatster

/me raises hand. Remnants of chat conversations. 

G.


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## hooha

Out of curiosity, can this be considered a "donation to charity" and can I write off my donation on my taxes?


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## MiamiAG

Folks,

APC has not done the IRS application to obtain 501 status- in other words, we are not a public charity that you would be able to obtain a tax deduction for. We have not filed mostly because of the costs involved in doing so. It is something that is on our to do once we accumulate the funds necessary.


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## Jimbo205

APC is the best value on the web. 
Considering how much $$$$ we hobbyists can be suckered out of for our tanks, this is the best bargain under the sun!

Can you deduct your money spent on your fish, substrate, plants, chemicals, etc? Come on!
This is a hobby! It reduces stress, is educational, lowers your blood pressure, is cheaper than reducing stress from medication, shrinks, bar tab talking with a bartender. 

Don't waste your time and energy on an IRS application. 

Best damn $$ spent on the internet. 

So says Jimbo!


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