There's benefits for every kind of donation, they're micro transactions and so, you're putting yourself at an advantage by buying yourself something from the donor store, rather than say grinding a few hours for it.
When it comes to benefits which come with the donator rank, it makes sense that there are not many benefits for lower tier donators. You're not showing much at all apart from the fact you want to get somewhere a bit quicker and you don't mind paying for it.
Of course the best donator perks are going to be locked behind paywalls, these perks and ranks are there to distinguish the players who are very loyal, of course people can buy them outright, but that sort of negates the point.
TL;DR: You "donated" and saved yourself some time, a fair trade. Being able to yell is another invaluable perk you are allowed, so areas like ::di shouldn't have to be updated, you donated at your own free will, it should never be an expectation that you donating now, will afford you better things in the future.
But if David wants more donors, he should probably make some changes to that dead swamp.