In my case at least, the last time I donated.

- There were no VIP status under my name like there was years back
This was removed when the forum had to be moved for security purposes (the old forum was customized for IC).  It hasn't been added because people with the VIP tag in the forums used to complain that they were getting spammed with requests from non-VIP players to draft into their family or be drafted.
- I didn't get the extra draft / invite a friend spots
You got a draft spot and a friend code
- I couldn't use my own free draft spot as drafting is now limited
Drafting has always been limited

Maybe its been fixed, my knowledge of this is going back a few years.

However from what I remember if you are VIP then you should get:

1 Free Personal Draft Spot (You the VIP can draft into any family with a free spot)
4 Free Draft / Invite a Friend slots so you can draft up to 4 friends into the same family
This is incorrect, you always got a single friend code with each VIP.  If someone had 4 friend codes it was because they purchased 4 separate VIPs

That is basically 5 drafts stops

+ 1 draft spot a family is allowed anyway for a total of 6?   

+ The people who random lucky and you could basically have the exact same team every round.
A tiny minority of players liked that you could have the exact same team every round.  We do our best to cater to the majority

But like stated maybe I'm wrong as last time I donated was a few years back, but no it didn't work then.

i donated $20 {us dollars} on oct 26th 2015 and still haven't received a code i think they don't watch it...but the funds were transferred to Stephan...

all i wanted was to name my planets....

i mentioned to a mod in November   and still nothing ... with thanksgiving and all i guess it was just bad timing