Linux Mint may have be an established name, but they don't receive enough donations for a full-time engineer:

The March 2026 Mint blog shows that [Linux Mint] received over $26,000 in donations. In comparison, the Zorin OS 18.1 announcement claims an impressive 3.3 million downloads since version 18 appeared. source

Donationware is often suggested as a user friendly way to support software, but reality shows it's not viable. I recommend others to sponsor your daily driver OS, which in effect is "paying back" for the community support you have received (but I have to stress, you're not entitled to).