The GPF Tip Jar

The latest online fad appears to be online donations and "tips." Everywhere you look, online cartoonists (and other Web site owners) are flashing up PayPal and Amazon.Com buttons, begging you for donations. I've been against this trend for a while now, mostly due to my own personal reasons. I don't like hand-outs, whether it means I'm giving them or asking for them. Especially the latter. So I won't ask you to donate money to me. However, many of you have asked me to make this available. So who am I to turn you down?

Using this page, you can choose to donate money to me in appreciation of GPF. This service is made available by popular demand... it's not a plea for you to give me money because <sarcasm> I'm so broke and I can't afford to buy toothpaste. </sarcasm> However, for those of you who think GPF is worth a little more than what you pay for it (i.e., free), and you feel compelled to dip into your wallet, here's your chance. We now accept donations through PayPal as well as snail-mail donations. There's no limit set on how much you want to give (or how often). Just don't go without eating for a whole month, because you gave me your entire paycheck, okay? ;)

Please note that THERE IS NO OBLIGATION STATED NOR IMPLIED by this service. GPF will always be free to read online, for as long as I am capable of making it. This service is available strictly for those who wish to make use of it, and you get nothing in return besides a warm, fuzzy feeling. I prefer to look at it as grateful, loyal fans giving a gift of appreciation to someone they feel as a deserving artist. If you don't want to give (or just can't for whatever reason), then don't feel bad. It's strictly voluntary.

You can use this little JavaScript form to see exactly how much I'll be getting of your donation, minus each service provider's fees. To use it, type in a dollar amount in the first box, and the other two boxes show my share of the transaction. (The input box will have to "lose focus," so you'll have to tab out of the box, or click outside it using your mouse, before the calculation takes place.) It works the other way around, too; if you want to give me a specific amount, put that in the provider of your choice, and it will calculate how much you need to specify on their form. (All values are in US dollars.)

Many of you have written me in the past to tell me, "You know, I really love GPF, but I won't donate to your site because I will not use an online transaction service like PayPal or Amazon." Your reasons often vary, but usually it has to do with not trusting these services with your bank accounts and credit card numbers, or because of fraudulent uses of these services by others, or because they are difficult or impossible to use in your own country. And on those grounds, I certainly don't mind and I certainly wouldn't ask you to disagree with your own principles. I haven't had any problems with these services in the past, but I know others can't say the same with their experiences.

As such, quite a few of you have asked for a "snail mail" or postal address where you can send checks or money orders. I've been reluctant to give out my home address in the past, but now I'm happy to say that GPF has its very own post office box just waiting for your donations. As stated above, donations are entirely voluntary and no obligation is stated or implied as a return service, other than hopefully many more years of comics for you to enjoy.

If you would like to donate via "snail mail," please send your donations to:

Please only send checks, money orders, or similar forms of safely transmitting money through the mail (Western Union, etc.); do not send cash, as it is not secure. Make checks payable to Jeffrey T. Darlington (not GPF Comics) and in United States currency if at all possible. International donators are strongly encouraged to use the electronic online donation methods above if at all possible, since you'll probably lose less to fees and exchange rates than you would sending something via postal mail.