What it really means is that they like using it when it’s free and that the cost of switching away from Babel to an alternative is less than the cost of supporting Babel.
The cost of supporting Babel (and other open source products in general) is more an administrative and political cost than a financial one in a lot of places.
It’s actually probably easier to get $20k approved annually than $5k. The bigger number implies skin in the game at all steps in the process and has an air of legitimacy.