I believe the donations should also come from the community. There are plugins that I use all the time and wouldn’t mind donating a little bit for those. A donation for something that effects me personally - would feel kinda guilty if didn’t give at least a token amount.
A donation is akin to a vote, products that are funded the most could help determine where resources should be concentrated. Although the funds would go to TiddlyWiki, would give exposure to the developers for possible paid private consultation from the talk.tiddlywiki marketplace.
The community marketplace should be built for us and make it fun. Come up with contests (like TiddlyWiki logo) or something where contestants donate a bit to enter - winner getting a TiddlyWiki T-shirt or something. (selling Merch? Hmmm…).
Idea is to establish contributing funds to become a natural part of the community ethic, much the same way submitting questions, ideas, solutions, and discussions already are.
Is basically a crowd funding model. Funding would increase as the community grows. Concentrate on growing the community with all the benefits it provides. One being to reach adequate funding to support TiddlyWiki’s future.