If ads are not acceptable ever, please tell me how you think people should be supported.
Crowdfunding is not enough.
The culture is to reject any type of business, even when it’s a small mom-and-pop shop, or an indie dev.
Co-ops could work, but (usually) require some level of affinity between the members (e.g: people from the same geographical region or artists working on some specific style/school) or they require some rich benefactor to bootstrap the venture.
Unless you are expecting people to just provide you free content forever, what do you suggest?