> And considering half the population here blocks ads, I doubt they'd pay either.

I block ads. I also happily support artists via Patreon (for significantly more than I pay to Netflix and Amazon), give money to many different FOSS projects, and arrange for my employer to give substantial quantities of money to FOSS projects.

Makes sense that you'd only want to pay for things that provide you with value directly. I think that applies when donating a small amount to support a project you make use of, when you get something in return (like a t-shirt or sticker), or as you say to fund specific features or changes you want. That also goes for sponsors: they should get value in return, and they do, like exposure and reputation in the dev community, a platform for their recruitment message, etc. To me, this dynamic seems quite different from ads, which are non-consensual and not tied to a direct value exchange.

Yeah. That makes sense.

I wouldn't either, but I wish my employer would. I think you could buy a lot of employee/developer good will by donating to the open source projects that you use in your commercial projects.