Kao Club was a system active for roughly two years (ending in the summer of 2025) that allowed users who had already purchased renshuu to further support renshuu. While we were so grateful for the support that we received through the members of Kao Club, we were forced to retire the program due to our inability to manage the reward systems (Kao Club packages, Kao Club commissions, feature requests) that were offered through the program. Saki and I remain extremely busy with renshuu, and we could not (in good conscience) receive financial support through Kao Club without being able to give back what we promised. Furthermore, we are not interested in a donation system in which the user does not receive anything back.
After a lot of discussion with many of the Kao Club members in our Discord server, I have decided to rebuild and revive Kao Club under a new structure!
Name: Kao Supporters
Start time: applications will be allowed on renshuu.org and in the renshuu app in late November of December, 2025. Your supporter points (discussed below) will begin to accrue immediately, and usage of those points will start in January of 2026, expanding to other areas of renshuu through the 1st half of 2026.
Pricing: Monthly support will begin at $5 (USD) a month and go up from there. A wider range of support levels will be available in renshuu.org (the website).
What do you get?
1. Optional labeling next to your username in renshuu (wherever user content is present, as well as your profile). This will be be off by default in case you do not wish to highlight your participation.
2. Supporter points!
I am still considering the exact "exchange" rate, but a $5 monthly subscription will provide your account with roughly 10 days of supporter points each month.
3. Personal new year's card from Saki and I each year! (If you choose to enter your mailing address)
What are these points for?
As many of you know, while Saki and I run renshuu, our greatest asset is our awesome community and what it gives to our learners through the form of user content: whether that is usage notes (for sentences, vocab, grammar), helpers who seem to appear everywhere to answer questions for other learners, mnemonics, vocab lists, and more (planned)!
With supporter points, you'll be able to gift these to other users on renshuu, either attached directly to a piece of user content or directly to the user (anonymously). 1 supporter point = 1 day of renshuu pro, activated whenever the user chooses.
I hope for this to be a way for renshuu's community to have another way to support one another, especially towards many of our members who are unable (or choose not to) pay for renshuu pro, but contribute in other, wonderful ways.
Some of the finer points are still being decided, but I am happy to announce that this will be happening! If you have any questions or suggestions, please feel free to respond below.
Notes:
1. Any user that receives points can choose to give those points to someone else instead of use them for renshuu pro. This is perfect for people who already have renshuu pro, and wish to pay it forward.
2. I plan on giving a number of supporter points to former Kao Club members to make up for the sudden ending of the previous program.
