I think the dog fooding their own software through all the amazing movies the Blender Institute made plays a huge role. Relying on individual donations from us

I think the dog fooding their own software through all the amazing movies the Blender Institute made plays a huge role. Relying on individual donations from users helps a lot with blender being aligned to the interest of its actual users. There is not one or a few corporate sponsors controlling everything. Plus the GPL license which protects the freedom of its users.