# Introducing Bluelight's Donations Portal!



## Sebastians_ghost

Attention Bluelighters!

I want to thank all of you for your patience while we’ve been gearing up for Bluelight's first ever donations campaign.  I know I speak for The_Love_Bandit and the Admin team when I say we wanted to create a solution that offered the most to our members.

Long ago, we could have created a simple "click and donate" function, but it was our desire to allow all Bluelight donations to be 501(c)(3) tax deductible.  Perhaps not many members will claim their donations on their taxes, but we believe it says something about the caliber of Bluelight as a community.

It is with great enthusiasm and pride that I announce we have reached such an arrangement with our friends at MAPS.org, who have graciously agreed to facilitate Bluelight’s donations under their 501(c)(3) umbrella.  On behalf of all of us on Bluelight staff, I am happy to announce the launch of the Bluelight Donations Portal.

In terms of need, it might be tempting to believe that because we prefer not to flash "DONATE NOW" banners in our member's faces asking for money, that Bluelight is "all set," fiscally.  Unfortunately, this is not the case.  Consider the fact that you currently see no paid advertising on Bluelight.  We occasionally run banners, but we do not charge our partners (such as MAPS) for this space.  We have, however, realized a modest revenue from our research efforts.  This has been enough over the years to pay for the bare minimum: Bluelight's server fees.

Everything else that goes on at Bluelight, from our Administrators’ and Moderators’ time, traveling to various HR symposia, software and hardware upgrades, etc. -- all of this comes from us personally.  That said, we’re reached a point where the "vow of poverty" Bluelight has inadvertently taken is now holding us back.  We wish to expand our hardware and software capabilities to ensure uninterrupted service, around the clock and across the globe.  Furthermore, we look forward to a time when we can do much more than operate our web community, and extend our influence to the greater harm reduction, pubic health and research communities.  

By clicking the orange "Donate!" tab located at the top of the front page, you will find a link to Bluelight's dedicated donation portal with MAPS.  Your generous contributions will directly and exclusively support the ongoing maintenance and future growth of the Bluelight community.  For those who wish to identify themselves by their usernames, please feel free to do so in the "notes" section before submitting your donation.

Thanks to the efforts of our members and staff, Bluelight has emerged as the largest drug discussion website on the planet!  This is no small accomplishment, and one for which we should all be very, very proud.  With the launch of our Donations Portal we look forward to making Bluelight an even more powerful force for good in the online harm reduction community.

From all of us, to all of you: thank you for your generosity and your continued support of Bluelight.

Sincerely,


Sebastians_Ghost, The_Love_Bandit and the entire Admin team


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## Sebastians_ghost

Also, I want to be very clear that Bluelight will *never* make any donor information public.  Bluelight takes member privacy very seriously, and will never disclose names or screen names associated with donations (of course, you are free to do so yourself if you so choose).

Thank you again for your support and generosity.

SG


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