Actually, the meme is correct and something I didn’t realize. Money is deferred proof of work (i.e. a store of wealth) and a unit of exchange. Money allows me to have a unit exchange with you without knowing what your needs are so we don’t have to barter. Since I won’t need to know what you eventually will want for barter, I can store value for the future. Note, any commonly accepted nonperishable commodity (fiat, gold, silver, Monero, rice, beans, cigarettes, beaver pelts, etc) fits this definition too.
Fortunately, you’re reading the numbers wrong. Yes, some projects have 1-3 projects. Those projects tend to be side projects (e.g. Revuo, web site maintenance, etc) and are likely founded mostly from wallet providers and Monero service providers since it helps spread information that helps the ecosystem. I know Cakewallet has funded a few of these. The really important projects have 5-70 contributors. If donations stop, then some people would keep working on it because Monero is important, but they wouldn’t be able to spend very much time on it so progress would be incredibly slow.