I figure helping someone out is good karma… I just like helping people out when it is needed. 
If anyone is too embarrased to let it be known that they need assistance, I am sure that the sponsering individuals would be confidential. Just send an email to a person offering to pay for a subscription, no one will tell. I, for one am excellent at keeping secrets 
I’ve never felt more good vibes on a message board than this one. No one here has ever made me feel unwelcome or stupid, and I just want to say that those who are sponsering other Dopers are the cream of the crop. I’ve “met” some great people via the SDMB and learned a few things. A lot of Dopers have given me support and warm fuzzies, and I’d miss it if I left. Now… that said, I cannot guarantee the quality of my posts but I’ll try and earn my request.
That sounded kinda bad, eh?
Do your best. All you should be is who you are, and that’s what you’re best at. And since it’s gotten you this far, why not take it further?
Oh dear.
SS, you know better than “I’ll try and earn my request”. I mean, if Q.E.D. or Tamerlane or one of the true resident experts was experiencing a significant cashflow shortfall, I’d pony up for them because they’re much cheaper than all 18 or whatever volumes of the Brittanica. Most Dopers, though, are valued for their insight rather than their knowledge, or their ability to dispense good one-liners rather than their insight, or whatever.*
If we didn’t already know what you brought to the table we wouldn’t be asking you to stay, silly.
In other words, what punha said.
*I mean, look at me… nobody every accused my ass of contributing anything informative, but I’m fun to have around, dammit
I, too, will be happy to spend another $5 for a Broke Doper (which includes me, technically, but not so bad as others may be) to sign up. I know I would have appreciated it once upon a time so I’m very willing to help someone else now.
I can only help one or two people, however. My last name ain’t Gates, either, people!
Feel free to email me (email is in profile) and the first two I get are my slaves for the next year. What? That’s not in the deal?? Party poopers! 
Count me in to help out. Be glad to chip in for, I dunno, a few Dopers. And really, people, if you can’t afford it, and you want to stay, ASK. I can’t imagine anything that would disappoint me more than having my offer go unfulfilled, knowing that there’s at least a few people out there who want to stick around and can’t hack it. Email’s in the profile.
That means a lot to me, you guys (and girls). Oddly, it was a spider story that brought me here while I was doing some search. I can’t remember what I was googling but it brought up the someone’s “spider in the bathroom” story and I laughed my ass off. I became a member that night, paying tribute in a small way to the teller of the tale with my user name. I am that nice, you see?
But you can all still email me if you get a wild hair… ahem. I like emails, really. I’m rather pleasant in reply.
I’ll sponsor a couple of folks for their first year. Email me and we’ll do the deal.
Haj
In the event that the anonymous pool doesn’t get set up…
I would be willing to sponsor up to 10 Dopers for the first year. First priority will be for folks overseas for whom the current exchange rate into USD is not so favorable. My email addy is in my profile.
No, I’m not rolling in dough. But to me, it’s worth trading 10 venti caramel macchiatos over the course of the year to help keep the international contingent in action.
Ten? Man, you’re gonna make the rest of us look bad
Well, hell. I feel bad posting after an offer for 10!
Here’s the way I see it:
Ed said the “regular” rate is $15, which is still a bargain. I can get in for $5, so the other $10 is up for grabs. Put me down for 2 others.
RNATB, thanks for doing this!
BTW, all of this is above and beyond my offer to PayPal for anyone who doesn’t have PP or a credit card. Email me with SDMB as the first word in the subject…
Well, I have an ulterior motive… The idea of giving up venti caramel macchiatos for Dopers will also give me some extra motivation for avoiding those oh-so-high-calorie delights.
Seriously, I don’t mean to make anyone feel bad. I’ve been lucky enough to been given a hand, no strings attached, when I needed it; now’s just my chance to pay it forward.
Is there some way to formalize this? Like, I dunno, a “Keep Dopers On Dope Foundation” (well, maybe it needs a better name) to organize the contributions, cash the checks and pay for the people without credit cards, help out the foreign dopers, etc.?
Ideally, they’d put in a “Pay For This Person’s Subscription” option. Or set up some kinda cash contribution thingie like on the 1040…“Do you want to contribute to the Doper Subscription Pool?”
As a university student, I’d just like to say…nope, can’t do it.
A conscience is a pesky thing, isn’t it? If I were on a student loan, things would be different.
I may or may not pay, since it’s only $5 (well, OK, roughly $7 with the exchange) chances are good I’ll stick around for a year at least. But I can’t in good conscience ask for money.
Please feel free to ignore this post.
I’d do it, but I have no idea how. I was treasurer for a nonprofit organization, but the accounting system was already set up for me, and most transactions were face-to-face.
Thus, I’m just going to do the intermediary thing until someone else who knows what they’re doing figures out a better way.
And stop thanking me, people. It isn’t like you weren’t going to sponsor someone if I didn’t start a thread for it. The record now officially shows that Dopers are good people.
Okay, I was going to just pick one of the absolutely amazing, incredibly generous folk who’ve posted above, but then I’d need to decide who, and that opens up a whole new ‘gah’ for me, on top of just finding out that they’re going to start charging for my beloved dope. So, public humility (not humiliation, exactly, but humility definitely), here I come.
I’m seventeen. I don’t have a credit card. I don’t have a job. The closest I come to that is school (which is work, but regrettably, my only payment is a high school diploma in June), and being a black belt at tae kwon do - I help out there, they don’t charge me quite as much to train. My parents think that everyone online is an Evil Creepy Stalker - or, I’m involved in some sort of illicit steamy relationship. I can’t really ask them for even five bucks here.
I really, really, really don’t want to ask for help. I’m very bad at asking for help. OTOH, I really, really, really enjoy this board. I’m very attached to it, despite probably being one of the least-valuable active posters. But this place has really grown on me.
So, I’m just going to be brave (or possibly cowardly or something in between), and throw this out there. I could, probably sometime within the next couple months, toss a fiver in an envelope and send it off as reimbursment. I can’t promise anything immediate, I can promise some sort of reimbursment.
Also, one last note, and just a general one, not one relevant to me in particular: I sincerely, sincerely hope that no one feels at all obligated to help anyone out. It is, after all, a capitalistic society, etc. You’re all wonderful people for offering to help out others like this.
If someone can outline the method for paying for someone else’s subscription, I’ll chip in a year’s subscription for a Doper in need.
NinjaChick, you may consider yourself sponsored.
If you and your sponsor both want to know who the other is, I’ll let you know; otherwise, the whole thing is anonymous.
Like this:
Rereading that it occurs to me that the sponsor is going to know who they’re sponsoring, unless they’re willing to give me their credit or PayPal info. Frankly, that’s a responsibility I’d rather not have, so this won’t be anonymous both ways, I guess.
Oh, they’ve (we’ve?) pulled off some pretty impressive stuff, like the massive effort Polycarp got when he was in trouble or when DrMatrix and Cajun Man needed a hand.
RNATB, I see that you’re relatively new addition, but you seem to be a fine one.
I’d like to thank whoever is sponsoring NinjaChick, even if they don’t know it, because the board needs more ninjas. Huzzah to you.
I may be able to contribute a few once the pay scheme starts rolling, but I may have to move soon.