Im sure if you message ADDZ with the paypal transaction id and email he will get this all figured out.
That is correct on here too. The membership will not start until payment has cleared ( for obvious reasons). If the payment was echeque then the Gold membership will run for one month after the date of clearance. ADDZ deals with payments, I would suggest contacting him to investigate. Also you did not donate, you purchased a Gold membership.
No worries man, it will just take a little longer than usual for the Gold to take affect thats all, but its well worth the wait Welcome to XPG.
Glad you figured out what was up, you seem like a good guy hope to see you become an active member of the community & when you get your Gold Membership youll enjoy all the great content inside the forums