I just got "gold member" status but I haven't made a donation

[Morbert]

Is this normal? Is it a gift?

 

[berkeman]

Apparently you haven't counted your children today...

 

[Greg Bernhardt]

It’s more than just donations

 

[symbolipoint]

Is this normal? Is it a gift?

Morbert, you might like to read about what has been described for the different membership levels, in these:
https://www.physicsforums.com/threads/physics-forums-global-guidelines.414380/
https://www.physicsforums.com/threads/easy-ways-you-can-support-physics-forums.813856/

Find in the first link, a part in the first posting about Miscelleneous/Gold Members...
The second link has a section, "Upgrade to Gold Membership".

Read and think and you could know why and how you are in the Gold Membership category.

post-add: I'm reviewing through those links right now, and I only find Gold Membership officially only lists monetary contributions. Some of us have given no monetary contributions of any sort but still have been given Gold Member status. The ways to get that was described a few years ago, but the exact details, I do not remember. All I best recall is that we need to do something nice or helpful in support of Physicsforums, and show or report this, and we're given Gold Membership. This did not require spending money. Might've been just a temporary thing.

 

[Office_Shredder]

https://www.physicsforums.com/threads/project-pf-proliferation-free-gold-membership.338366/

Describes how you can get a free gold upgrade.