Indie open-source is a shit show. The core-js author (with 200M monthly npm downloads) received $1K monthly from Tidelift until they cut him off.

I can't stand such parasites that promise to make open-source sustainable but, in fact, tax it.

https://github.com/zloirock/core-js/blob/master/docs/2023-02-14-so-whats-next.md#what-do-you-think-how-much-money-core-js-earn-for-a-month