In this video, I’m talking about something Blender people usually avoid: money. Not because Blender is “dying” or about to shut down—it’s not—but because if we actually want Blender to keep growing, fixing bugs, and pushing into real professional pipelines, it needs consistent funding. At Blender Con, Ton emphasized this in a way he honestly hasn’t before, and it lines up with what Blender is trying to do right now: big, ambitious stuff like Vulkan integration for better performance and major Grease Pencil advancements that can reshape 2D animation workflows. Here’s the part that should wake all of us up: Blender gets around 20 million downloads a year, with 2–4 million active users, and only 10,200 people donated in 2023. That’s less than 0.05%. Meanwhile Blender’s annual budget sits around $3.2 million, while companies like Autodesk pull in billions. I break down why that gap matters, what Blender could do if even 2% of users donated, and what you can do if you can’t donate right now—because even sharing the message and encouraging others to give can move the needle. Blender isn’t just software to me; it’s a community, and I don’t want us to ever imagine a world without it.