Donation Points FAQ
What are Donation Points?
Donation Points (shortened to "DP") are the reward points on Nexus Mods that mod authors can accumulate, that can then be redeemed for rewards through our storefront, donated to charity, or shared with other users.
How much is each Donation Point worth?
Each Donation Point is worth $0.001, so 1000 DP is worth $1. Donation Point value is based on the United States Dollar.
Where do Donation Points come from?
The source of all Donation Points is Nexus Mods itself.
Each month Nexus Mods will donate, from its own money reserves, into a central pool that is then used to generate new DP that is added into the system and shared amongst mod authors who have opted in to the Donation Points system. The pool is supplemented by our Mod Author Donation Fund on Patreon.
How do mod authors earn Donation Points?
At the end of every month, the money Nexus Mods has decided to donate into the Donation Points pool will be converted into its DP equivalent. For example, a total donation money pool of $100,000 is the equivalent of 100,000,000 DP.
A script will then calculate the amount of Donation Points earned across all mods the author has published and receives a split from. The metrics used to calculate how Donation Points are assigned is not public information.
How are the Donation Points Reports generated?
When the reports are generated, a snapshot is taken of all mods that were available and opted into the Donation Points system on the last day of the month (i.e. 30 Sept 2024 23:59:59). This snapshot is then used to calculate the Donation Points share for each user.
Mods that are opted-out, hidden, in moderation, or deleted at the point the snapshot is taken will not be included in the DP report for that month.
What can I use my Donation Points on?
You can use your Donation Points in our store area.
We will always offer the ability to redeem your Donation Points for money via PayPal and the ability to donate your DP to a number of different charities that we have selected. We will also try to keep the store stocked with various gaming related items, including games, software and hardware for your system.
How many Donation Points will I earn if I opt in?
How many DP you receive each month will depend on factors that change from month to month, including how much money Nexus Mods donates into the pool that month, how many mod authors have opted in to the system and the allocation you have earned.
When are Donation Points given to mod authors?
Donation Points are automatically split between all opted-in mod authors at the beginning of each month. All end of month reporting needs to be gathered from multiple sources. This means donation reports will generally go out after the 6th day of the month.
We operate a NET90 system, which means we wait 3 months before we give Donation Points out for the month that just ended. For example, Donation Points generated in January will not be handed out until the beginning of May.
We do this to give us enough time to ensure any files that have accumulated Donation Points are legitimate and do not break our TOS. A grace period, if you will, to prevent fraud.
How can I opt in to the Donation Points system?
Receiving Donation Points from your files is not automatically turned on. You need to opt into the Donation Points system in general, and then opt in individual mods of yours as well (see below.)
If you're a mod author and would like to turn on receiving DP for your files, please go to our opt-in page and scroll to the bottom.
By default, anyone can share the DP they receive on their files with other users unless they've specifically opted out of the system.
Once you have opted into the system, you need to opt in each mod you want to earn Donation Points with individually.
To do so, in the site navigation at the top go to Mods > My Mods > Mod rewards
From this page, you can now search for the mod(s) you would like to opt-in and do so by clicking the link in the "Actions" column on the right labelled "Opt-In".
On the Opt-In Confirmation screen, you can choose to split the revenue from the mod with other users by typing in their username, and/or with one of five different charities. You can adjust the percentage you want to distribute to each user/charity via the sliders below. Once you're done, click "Save" in the bottom left to confirm your settings.
Can I opt out of the Donation Points system?
Yes, you can opt out at any time from your settings page.
Opting out will mean you cannot receive DP under any circumstances and will remove you from any DP you might have earnt from your files had you been opted in.
It will also remove you from any DP you might have been receiving from other mod authors who are sharing a cut of their DP with you. Your share of that DP will go back to the original mod author.
You will not lose any DP that you have already earned before you opted out.
Where can I see how many Donation Points I have?
You can see how many DP you have from your wallet page.
Can I split the Donation Points one or more of my files earns between other users?
Yes, you can split the DP that your files will earn each month between up to 24 other users per mod on a percentage basis. For example, you can set your file donations so that you receive 50% of the DP, and two of the people who helped you build your mod each receive 25%.
You can do this for each individual mod you are the author of.
Can I give my Donation Points to another user?
You can specify to give a share of DP earned by a mod you have opted in (up to 100%) to other users, as well as send DP from your wallet to other users directly.
Can other users see how many Donation Points I have earned?
No, DP are not publicly shown anywhere on the site and are private to each user.
Why does the contribution Nexus Mods makes to the total donation pool change from month to month?
We cannot commit to an official figure each month as our financial situation and financial needs change from month to month. We need to be flexible on what we can contribute as our monetary situation can change from month to month. You can see our recent contributions every month.
Donation Points Update 2024
We have made changes to the Donation Point System to change the way DP is allocated. For further details, please see:
Why do you not tell us what metrics are used to allocate Donation points?
We want mod authors to focus on creating quality content that the community values, rather than tailoring their content uploads to maximise DP. We also want to eliminate fraud whilst being devoid of subjective human opinions as much as possible. That basically means that there should be no one person or group of people in charge of who receives Donation Points.
Previously, we used Unique Downloads to determine DP rewards. Unfortunately, this rewarded certain ways of publishing mods which were not user-friendly and not good for the modding ecosystem.
We now feel that any system where the metrics are public will be abusable in some way and so we will not be sharing how we determine DP allocation.
Instead of public metrics, we have made clear guidelines on what we do not wish to incentivise.
Why do you not show Donation Points earned per mod?
Since moving away from a Unique Download-based system when calculating DP, mod authors are rewarded for their total contribution based on interactions with their users. This means it is not possible to assign DP to specific mod downloads.
What are the new DP metrics disincentivising?
The new metrics are being used to prevent fraud and abuse of the system, here are the behaviours we are disincentivising.
- Prevent the use of botnets to “farm” Donation Points
- Mod Splitting: Splitting a mod across multiple mod pages in an attempt to generate additional DP
- Update Spam: Chain releases of minor updates for mods as separate mod pages in an attempt to generate additional DP
- Mod list “stuffing”: Including multiple small mods with either full or partial DP splits in a Collection. E.g. patches made for the Collection posted across multiple mod pages. This applies to third-party mod list installers
- Inclusion of mods within Collections in exchange for a share of earned Donation Points from the mod author, i.e. "quid pro quo". This applies to third-party mod list installers
Why don't I see a Donation Points report in my wallet section for some months?
Since the 2024 update to the Donation Points system, we no longer show a report to the user where the total Donation Points earned by all their opted-in mods for that month totals zero. We will investigate if it is possible to show an entry for this case in future.