Due to the nature of Lemmy, nothing is ever truly deleted as it gets federated across multiple different instances.
It may eventually sync across most.
Deleting tends to only delete it on that instance, hence why when you reply to a deleted one, chances are you see it from your current instance’s cache. Or vice versa.
You do realize with more donations they can AFFORD to hire more people, and to get the help they need? Money is the solution. Let’s not downplay the value of it.