I'd wager the average open-source maintainer has a good software job and is doing OK financially, and many are even doing the open-source as part of that job. I

I'd wager the average open-source maintainer has a good software job and is doing OK financially, and many are even doing the open-source as part of that job. If they're unemployed and trying to pay the bills from their independent open-source work, they should probably run their project like a business rather than hoping for donations.