This is a bit tricky. The gifts are really just that - gifts. They aren't an item you are purchasing (that's what the pin sale is for!). We just send them along as a thank you for your pledge to commit to supporting Maximum Fun and the shows you love every month. MaxFunDrive gifts are made to order, and we try to send them to production as quickly as we can after the Drive ends, but it usually takes about four months for gifts to be sent out.
We totally understand that situations can change and sometimes you can't maintain the level you began contributing at, but if you have to cancel before we send our MaxFunDrive gifts to production, you will not be eligible for a physical thank-you gift. If you have to lower your pledge before we send the MaxFunDrive gifts to production, you'll receive the gifts that accompany the level you switched to.
If you sign up or upgrade during the year outside of the MaxFunDrive, you'll generally receive your gift about three months after you join. This is both because it's about the amount of time it takes for MaxFun as a network to recoup the money that the gift costs, and because we ship gifts by hand from our office so it takes our staff a bit of time to get through them all.
The gifts and the pledge drive itself have many costs associated with them, and if folks cancel right after joining, Maximum Fun will actually wind up losing money on your membership if we still send along a gift. We rely on the generosity of folks who pledge to continue their monthly contribution as long as possible, so we can pay our hosts a predictable monthly amount throughout the year. Thank you for understanding! And if you have any questions, please email membership@maximumfun.org