Throwing Money in the BUcket

What is the ultimate goal of giving money to artists? Is it more than just making sure the artist doesn't go hungry?  Is this the only way that art can be made, by throwing coins in a guitar case or pledging money into a Kickstarter campaign? Is this how art is made? This book is a mostly bullshit rumination about the things the writer backed on Kickstarter. He also looks at the times he would pass a bucket around for performing poets. This is a personal examination of what things we get for supporting art.
Is there a direct line from throwing money in a hat to crowdfunding art events? What do we get from it? Is this the way we will be funding art and the artists in the future?