Free Forever
That said, we do need to eat! If you want to contribute to the project, consider purchasing a BYOND Membership for yourself or a friend. Membership gives some perks-- primarily the ability to create the hub entries mentioned above-- but it is mostly intended as a show of support. We hope you believe in this software and community as much as we do.
To make a game it's free forever and how about to put it out in the hub?!
Developers always overlook the fact that the tools are free and focus on "If I don't have a hub, I don't have a game!", which is patently false. If you develop a game in C++ or Java, then you have to advertise your game yourself. There is no dedicated "hub" to put your games on their site.
Again, a hub is not required to "have a game", nor is it a rule that your game must be confined to a BYOND hub. There are a number of alternatives to advertising your game, such as having it on its own website.
As for customizable member sites returning, I don't believe it's a priority in the least. Having a fancy style sheet for your member space has nothing to do with game development, and as the past showed us, detracted from it.