I wonder if it has something to do with interest rates. While the rates were low, the situation was "people constrained" and funding was plentiful. Now that the rates are high, capital becomes more of an issue.
One thought in a similar vein is that somebody with the codes should do it the other way around.
They should hold EA/LessWrong to ransom and say that if the communities don't donate $X by the time Y to GiveWell charities, they will destroy the websites.
FYI that this comment appeared in the The Economist's last edition.