As you all hopefully have heard by now, VATSIM has been open to receiving donations to support the network since the middle of January via https://donate.vatsim.net. We would now like to give the community some insights into what is going on behind the scenes in terms of financials.
The network is currently operating at a cost of roughly $12K US/year. This is a significantly degraded service, as we’ve been cutting and slicing and chopping services to save money over the last year or so. We would love to restore some of the capabilities we had to cut. For this, our initial projections are somewhere in the range of $18K US/year.
VATSIM currently shows just shy of 140,000 active users, meaning they have registered and/or connected to the network at least once in the last 18 months. If we zoom in to just the last 3 months, we have about 30,000 active users registering and/or connecting to the network.
Currently, about 0.75% of those 30,000 active users have donated to VATSIM, for which we are very grateful! Almost 20% of those that have donated have also signed up for recurring donations, which is even more appreciated and will help to keep VATSIM running in perpetuity.
Despite all the amazing people that have donated to VATSIM, we haven’t quite reached the number of donations we need to make it to the end of 2023 and beyond. That’s why VATSIM needs your help as well!
VATSIM is always looking for your support to help grow and improve the network. You can become a donator today and join your fellow pilots and controllers in helping bring VATSIM to the next level and improve network services!
You can already become a donator starting at $5 dollars (USD). And if you set up a recurring donation, you can help support VATSIM long-term and make sure the network is here to stay! VATSIM has been around for over 20 years, and we would love for it to be around for at least another 20 (and many more!).
So, if are still in doubt about supporting the network, don’t wait any longer! Every small donation is appreciated. Set up your (recurring) donation today via https://donate.vatsim.net and together we can all help to keep VATSIM airborne!
Thank you!