I've always felt like a big part of Blender was having an interface that's awesome for power-users, but that's unusable without training. Then have a foundation that offers said training (some free, some paid), and from that money pay development, outreach and showcases (Blender Open Movies).

It's a somewhat unique (and likely unintentional) model that worked because the competition was very expensive, but it has also prevents Blender from being more than a niche product.