I don't get the whole "donation" thing to help someone make a game that doesn't yet exist. It would be very easy to give money to someone that ends up just plain not having the skill necessary to create the game and get it functional. 10x truer if they are trying to make their own 3-D graphics engine. I'm thinking back to games like Shadowbane which was basically a bunch of software guys pooling their resources together to make a really awesome MMORPG....aaaaand finding out they don't really have the expertise needed and the game basically feels like it never got out of Alpha.
It would be like if chadz had asked for $60,000 to finish Stronghold development. Turns out there were technical roadblocks and it couldn't be done. It wouldn't have been a con, it was a genuine effort that didn't work out. Free $60,000!
At any rate, I'd feel better about it if it was more like buying stock. I should get something back if it works.
Or like Minecraft. I paid for the early alpha version and certainly got my money's worth in entertainment even if he never really did turn it into a game. Point was I was buying a product, not just giving him money for the hell of it.