On January 16, 2018, we announced new eligibility requirements for the YouTube Partner Program. Once a channel reaches 4,000 watch hours in the previous 12 months and 1,000 subscribers it will be reviewed to join the program. Get more details on the YouTube Creator Blog.
The YouTube Partner Program (YPP) lets creators monetize their content on YouTube. Creators can earn money from advertisements served on their videos and from YouTube Red subscribers watching their content. You can apply to join the YouTube Partner Program from your account in Creator Studio.

Access to creator features
Note that your channel currently needs to be in the YouTube Partner Program in order to access certain features, such as end screens and cards that link to associated websites, crowdfunding, or merchandise sites.

When YPP eligibility requirements are updated on February 20, 2018, channels that currently have access to these features will continue to have access even if they're no longer in YPP. We'll be building out new eligibility criteria for this external linking feature. Get more information in our YPP FAQs.

Full Article https://support.google.com/youtube/answer/72851

This really is bad, and will make it very hard to be a partner...

yea
small YouTubers will only do content just for passion now except for sponsor deals or donation