I think those donation were made years ago and the last time it was update is back in april 2017, were bitcoin price was much lower compared to what it is now.
To sum it up hilariousetc answered the question.
Without any traffic at all this forum or any other would be dead and every forum or website needs money to run
They were indeed but the forum still holds a large amount of them so doesn't really have money problems. Yes, hilariousetc is correct that it needs money and traffic, but not necessarily at the levels it has now.