I didn't really understand how this one idea proposed by Matt sparked so much controversy. Matt proposed a rule of thumb, which is a principle that is not necessarily intended to be accurate for everyone. Many people focused on the how they could give or not give their 5%. It seems to me that the point of his post wasn't that everyone go out and give 5% of their dollars, manpower, and/or time back to the project.

The point is to contribute what you can. If you can only contribute 0.01%, then contribute your 0.01%. If you can contribute 10%, great.

Contributing source code to core is awesome, but that's only a small part of what makes WordPress what it is. There are countless avenues for contribution. Even my cousin, who can't even manage to learn basic HTML, has brought in new users for WordPress. His only involvement with the project is running a 200-visitor/month blog. He loves it so much though that he's contributed back by bringing new people in.