That and most Ace Members are core members of the community who have been with us for over a year or two.
And a lot of the ace members helped us with spriting, testing the game, help run the league, completed the league, technical help, server tiers, or supported the server/league/game/overall community in more ways than just one. Some were even moderaters or admins at some point in time.
A lot of the Ace Members and mods have a friendship that runs a little deeper than what appears on the surface. We have members who have ace member that have been members of our community for 3-5 years... believe it or not reborn has been a thing for almost a decade. I for one have been part of this community for around 4 years mmyself, and my best friend Maelstrom Co-Founded the community. Also, most Ace member discussion is normally more along the lines of a personal level. Our most popular topic is the "That Feel When" topic where we all just complain, brag, or contemplate personal matters with our real lives and give feedback to each other.
If you want ace member, and not hafta (or don't know how to) donate money or contribute to the community, you can buy it in the site shop. You can earn rupees by posting on the forums, contributing to the pokemon research center (I think we still hand out rupees for that... not sure), winning tournaments and contests, or attending community events, our most popular are reborn prom and our annual christmas party.
I also have an event cooking up that I am planning on running... and with ame's ok, it just might give out rupees... as to what it is and when it is... that's a secret for now why not