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Are we still talking about supporting open source maintainers? I hope so, because I wrote about a more holistic solution than giving everyone a patreon or whatever.
The toot length version goes like this
Open source is a public, common resource. Anyone can contribute, and everyone benefits That makes it a "commons", or perhaps many commons Commons need long term organized care to sustain them. That's called governance The governance of the open source commons has been neglected for a long time, and that burden falls on maintainers What if we didn't do that?
We should definitely also pay maintainers. Maintainers should be compensated for their work. But we need both. All the visions to *just* pay maintainers don't sound like compensation for work they're already doing. It sounds like paying to control that work, and demand additional reporting and compliance work on top that is of no benefit to the maintainer.
Yes, and: *how* do we pay maintainers? Physically, legally, tax-wise, process wise?
The control and getting corporations to see the value of giving money away is hard enough. But it's hard to pay a non-typical-vendor from $BigCos "Where's your P.O. system's API?"
Plus: cutting checks to individuals means more tax forms and hassles, especially for anyone without a personal LLC.
How can we thoughtfully work on these financial details, and work on the bigger pictures? 
@shanecurcuru @jenniferplusplus last time I answered this question by setting up an org to fundraise and manage details, and I even got a foundation set up in the cayman islands so we could manage global payments without tax audits.
I didn't understand at the time that, as the only adult in the room, my desire to get things done quickly and correctly was mine alone.
I was removed so my unscrupulous teammates could commit crimes without being hindered.
So, make sure you have a solid team.