Keep the thumbnails loading.
Paimbnails is free and stays free. What it costs is real, though: every thumbnail a player sees is a file served from a CDN, and the bill grows with the number of people using it. Donors get VIP on their Geometry Dash account.
Support on Ko-fi
One-off or monthly, whatever you feel like. It goes straight into keeping the service up.
Put your Geometry Dash username in the Ko-fi message
VIP is added by hand: an admin takes the username from your donation message and puts it on the list. Ko-fi only passes along the name on the payment account, which usually has nothing to do with your GD profile — so without your username written in the message, there is nobody to give VIP to.
VIP on your account
What lands on your account once an admin adds you to the list.
Animated profile
Set an animated GIF as your profile picture and your profile background. Everyone else is limited to a still image — GIF uploads are restricted to VIPs, moderators and admins.
Skip the queue
Your profile picture and background go live the moment you upload them. For everyone else both sit in the verification queue until a moderator gets to them.
VIP badge
Your name carries a VIP badge in comments and on your profile, next to where moderators and admins show theirs.
Granted by hand
An admin adds your username to the VIP list after the donation lands, so it is not instant. If a day goes by and nothing changed, ask in the Discord.
Everyone who chipped in
Ranked by total. Only donations left public on Ko-fi appear here — if you ticked the private box, your support still counts, it just stays off the list.
What you are paying for
No mystery budget — it is three things.
Bandwidth
Thumbnails are images, and they are downloaded every time somebody browses levels. This is the bill that scales with the player count, and it is the biggest one.
Storage
Every thumbnail ever approved stays available, including the GIFs and the video ones, which are far heavier than a still.
Time
Writing the mod, running the server and reviewing what gets submitted. The moderators do that part for free.
Ways to help that cost nothing
Money is not the only useful thing, and it is not the most useful one.