Monero utilizes a community crowdfunding system whereby projects are proposed for development and community-funded. Funding is held in escrow and remunerated to developers once programming milestones are achieved. Anyone may generate new proposals or fund existing ones.
The developers working on Monero are mostly indepentent volunteers, but some of them may be funded through CCS proposals. If you wish to support their efforts by donating some XMRs, consider contacting them personally or using tipping services.
You can find an overview of the people who directly contribute, or have contributed, to the Monero repositories (along with other useful statistics) on
