I've tried to bring this point up in the past as well. All they would need to do is add an MP4 rendering job to replace those with video. Although the transcoding would be quite expensive, I'm sure IQ could set up a donation system.
And there is a donation system in place https://www.patreon.com/shadertoy
But yeah, to clarify: What they primarily need is someone who gives a shit about the site being functional, secondarily money to cover operating costs. Before the first need is covered, just blindly giving some loose group money seems like it would have a high potential of going to waste.