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The Bolter and Chainsword needs you! Since 1999, the Bolter and Chainsword has been providing Warhammer 40,000 hobbyists with a platform for understanding and enjoying the hobby and for engaging with hobbyists around the world. The site is funded by donations. There are no paywalls to participate here: members don't pay any membership fees and members don't have to pay to unlock any features or access increased/improved capabilities. We don't have any advertising. What we have is generous members who are willing to donate funds to keep the site running. Several years ago, we received a very sizeable donation from a member, and that donation was sufficient to support the site for quite some time. About half a year ago, that donation ran out and I have been paying for the site out of my own pocket. Canoness Tyler tells me that's no longer an option, however, so we're returning to our donation model. What do your donations pay for? Monthly hosting fees Semiannual licensing fees Themes (skins) and associated imagery Emergency maintenance We also like to keep some money in reserve to cover emergency maintenance since that might require professional help, replacement servers, etc. It's difficult to predict what that might cost, so we aim for a cushion (operational reserve) of at least $500 (and $1,000 is a much better target). In addition, we try to collect a little money every year to save up for periodic server upgrades/migrations and software upgrades, the latter of which includes licensing fees. This amounts to about $300 per year, which should accumulate over a 3-5 year period to cover these costs. Everyone who works here (administrators, moderators, etc.) does so on a completely voluntary basis - no one is paid for the work that they perform here day in and day out. Your donations don't go into anyone's pocket, not even mine. I manage the funds (and pay taxes on them - part of my monetary contribution to the site), but all funds collected belong to the site/community. If we're ever able to collect more money than is necessary to cover our fixed fees, the operational reserve, and the migration/upgrade fund, that money might be used for contest prizes or to commission special themes/imagery for the site. Alternatively, it will roll over for the next year. That money never goes into anyone's pocket. Our goal is to collect $2,500 USD by the end of June, 2026. This will cover all of our fixed fees for the year. We are planning to upgrade/migrate our servers and update the software to Invision 5.0 soon, so our target this year is a little higher than we expect it to be in subsequent years. What do you get in return? Aside from the satisfaction of knowing that you're contributing to keep the best site on the Internet for the Warhammer 40,000 hobby up and running, you'll receive a supporter badge for 2026: Anonymous donations are allowed, too, as are donations from non-members. In those cases, the supporter badge will not be awarded. Okay, you also get: Articles - a way to present useful hobby content for other hobbyists to view, and to view similar content published by other hobbyists Blogs - a way to share and organize your hobby-related content in a way that you can control and access far more easily than the Forums, and to engage with other members about the hobby-related content that they share Downloads - a way to share your hobby-related files with other hobbyists and to download files shared by other hobbyists Events - a way to remain aware of, and to make others aware of, hobby-related events via our calendar Forums - a way to engage in discussion with hobbyists from around the world Gallery - a way to host your hobby-related images for sharing with other hobbyists (and a way to see other hobbyists' images) Clubs - a way to customize all of the above into your own little niche, engaging with other hobbyists on areas of special interest And all of the above is freely available to everyone. How can you donate? The easiest way to donate is via PayPal. You can make a one-time donation or you can set up a recurring donation. If you make a recurring donation, please let me know so I can forecast our monthly totals. Whether you choose to make your donation one-time or recurring, make sure to mark your donation as a gift. If you're a member and you're logged in, look for the Donate sidebar widget on the main Forums page. If you're not a member and desire to donate via PayPal, you can send your [gift] donation to . If you prefer Venmo, you can submit your donation to: bolter-and-chainsword If you prefer to use some method other than PayPal, contact me at the email address above and we'll work something out. If you desire for your donation to be anonymous, please send me a PM after you make the donation so that I know to not award the supporter badge. Be sure to include the email address or name used for the donation. We'll keep track of the donations that we receive and will provide regular updates. These will occur via the color-coded announcement that will appear at the top of the forum as well as via a reply in this discussion. In addition, members using the dark theme will see a fundraising banner in the rotation and that will provide both the total amount of funds raised on the right side and a green bar that will stretch across the bottom to show the percentage we've reached. If we're not able to reach our funding goal via donations, we'll either have to look into advertising or the site will have to shut down (and if the latter happens, we'll refund all donors, minus PayPal/financial management fees).

PAINT FOR THE B&C This is a little side event to assist with the B&C's Fundraising Efforts. Not everyone has cash just laying around to throw at the internet, but we all have too many models laying about, some of which, we know, we will NEVR get around to starting. SO, maybe we can donate them to keep the B&C's cogitators running for a few more cycles. Timing: May 1st to 31st - Select and prepare models June 1st - Post Listing and image of model/s June 15th to 30th - Donate Profit from Sale How Will It Work? Throughout May, choose a model or models you would like to donate to the B&C, these can be in state, although complete would be best. Then on June 1st post the model/s for sale on eBay (or equivilant), AND post the link here (the No Selling Rule is suspended in THIS THREAD ONLY for May and June). Once your model/s have sold, donate the Profit (Sale price less fees and postage) to the Fundraiser. This is completely Honour-based, self-reporting, no one will be cross referencing listings and sales and donations. Additionally there's a little image to go in your sig if you choose to participate, Looking forward to see what you all put forward