Yup, you're right that Patreon-style donations are typically $1K-$10K a month, whereas an ICO can produce millions of ether or bitcoin. So it's a tricky compromise: whether to pause core Matrix work to pursue an ICO (on the assumption that the ICO bubble doesn't pop in the next few months)... or whether to try to get corporate funding/sponsorship and Patreon-style donations in order to keep laser-focus on the Matrix core.

As per the earlier post: we haven't closed the door on an ICO; it will likely depend on how much sponsorship we get in the next few weeks.