For the past several years, AFN has been supported and funded directly by the growers of the community through donations.
Current Operational Costs:
This forum: $150/month
The old forum (now in archive): $200/month
We are looking at $350/monthly to keep both sites afloat. We are currently in discussion about finding cheaper ways to host the old archived forum (or potentially just bringing it down for good,) but these are the real, active costs for running the sites currently.
Ideally, we would like to see the site funded to cover at least $500/month minimum expenses, which would allow us to unlock all of the features of Discourse (which provides a TON of improvements to what we do here, both for the members and for the vendors.)
With that said, we are looking at offering advertising banners on the site again (within reasonable limits.) We are also going to focus more on some Business-to-Business networking opportunities for existing vendors of the forum, where there is potential overlap or need for services to these companies and individuals.
If you would like to help donate to the site, our donation link is found here:
We are looking at being able to setup recurring donations as well (as some of you requested,) and we will work on a member contribution page to give credit and proper tribute to those that have helped keep this place alive and afloat.
We truly appreciate all the support and consideration you’ve all shown over the years; and on a personal note there is truly no place I’d rather spend my time than with this crowd.
Thanks again everyone!