Just to add to this, a couple years ago I was able to run a campaign to raise $5000 for Vim via Hacker Newsletter (http://hackernewsletter.com) all thanks to 38k great subscribers and sponsors. So while not officially via HN, it was unofficially. :)

We currently hold the top spot, although I would be happy to see someone surpass that: http://www.vim.org/sponsor/hall_of_honour.php