UnmannedSpaceflight.com and The Planetary Society, "A match made in the heavens" Options

[elakdawalla]

I, along with the rest of the admin team here at UnmannedSpaceflight.com have a big announcment to make today: The Planetary Society and UnmannedSpaceflight.com are joining forces. Here's the Society's press release about it. I'm so excited! You guys with your fantastic work processing space images are exactly the kind of people we seek to connect with, inspire, educate, and in turn, see you educating everyone around you about what's going on in the exploration of our solar system.

Some of you may be a little concerned about this new partnership -- you may be thinking that the Planetary Society will try to change the way the forum is run. Let me assure you that that will not happen. My bosses at the Society recognize that the reason this place is so great is that it is a community that has grown around itself, developed its own rules, and is functioning very well on its own terms. The administrative policies will not change. All that is changing is that the Society is agreeing to be responsible for the financial maintenance of the website; and that when you make donations to support this site, your donations are tax-deductible (at least in the U.S).

If you have any questions or concerns about this new collaboration, please do not hesitate to ask me or any other member of the admin/mod team.

[elakdawalla]

Well, sort of. Remember that the Society is an organization whose funds come from dues and donations. USMF has, in the past, been funded by its members (it isn't really very expensive -- the main expense is the huge amount of time donated by the all-volunteer admin team). That won't change -- it's just that instead of sending a Paypal donation to some random British guy (hi Doug!), it's now being done through a nonprofit with all the i's dotted and T's crossed.