Membership carries exclusive access to certain forums. You are purchasing the right to fully use the forum. A right that would be taken of course, through no breech of the rules by you, were it shut down. In essence, a voided contract with no return, so to speak.Also re donations, it's been awhile since I donated, but my donations to the site were simply that, a "donation."
If Spanky shuts down I would be upset but I wouldn't expect a refund.
I guess you could argue you "purchased" a "membership" but really all it is is a bold name and a colored star, since you can already be a member for free. Whoopee.
I would, however, like to have a different color name so I can be fancy like all of the cool people Maybe purple for BayouShooter royalty.