If he no longer wants to take part in it (it sounds like he already isn't) then I see nothing wrong with the others splitting off and doing their own thing.
The impression I get is that the people behind this project (raising the money) are the ones doing the hard work anyway -- they are the ones who should be rewarded, IMO.
Edit: I was gonna throw $25 their way just for the hell of it. I don't visit the site so, in all honesty, it doesn't matter to me if they reach their goal or not. I was feeling nice, though, and then, as I'm skimming over the page, I see that anyone who gives < $100 is apparently a "tightwad".
I'm keeping my $25 and I'm going to spend it on myself instead. If they want to keep their web site going they can follow joonix's suggestion: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=6045796.
