IDK if there’s a perfect (or even good) solution out there. There are and were many ways of funding publications, each with their own problems. Nothing consistently yields good work.

A pattern-like donations system has biases of its own. Where big national dailies tend to have centrist-conservative leanings, donor supported journalism would tend to favour political wings and fringes as they play to their supporter silo. In both cases, there’s a big incentive to do opinion, talking heads, and less incentive to do first hand investigations.