And $3500 per month is not what a lot (most?) people here would consider a successful financial model even given some consulting etc. on top of that. It depends on where you live of course but bringing in $50K per year (with no benefits) or so in donations is not something a lot of professionals--especially those qualified to work for major software companies--would consider a sustainable income stream.
Re:On paying for software
by justinclift on Monday June 11, 2018 @04:13AM
(#17282650)
He looks to be located in Bangkok:
https://github.com/sindresorhus/ama/issues/414#issuecomment-...
The creator of Vue.js (in sibling comment) has a Patreon account with a monthly income of $US15k+ (at time of writing this).
That seems to be more in line with "standard" professional rates. :)
https://www.patreon.com/sindresorhus
but he's kind of a unicorn (pun intended). I am sure this would not work for everyone.