I don’t know why this didn’t occur to me sooner. Even if you just use a junk account to like and subscribe it’s the cheaper version of donating.
PBS Terra, for one, has actual climate change news and science. In addition to all the other cool things, and, ofc, PBS kids.
Here’s the list: NOVA PBS official, PBS, PBS Terra, American Experience PBS, Frontline PBS Official, PBS Documentaries, PBS NewsHour, PBS kids, PBS Eons, PBS Origins, PBS SpaceTime.
It’s the exposure, which leads to more ad revenue (in theory, without adblockers). YouTube creators live or die based on the algorithm and two of the main things the algorithm looks at is frequency of posting and engagement. Since Google needs metrics to give advertisers some idea of revenue potential, someone liking your video isn’t nearly as valuable to the algorithm as someone liking, commenting and subscribing (if not already subscribed obvi). As an example, ElectroBOOM just started making shorts of all his old content because he’s in the middle of a big house move and doesnt have time to make regular content which he noticed led the algo to stop recommending his content as much. But as far as just making a junk account and liking every video Google has systems in place to ignore “stale” accounts that don’t actually watch the videos. Ultimately what they want is viewers since eyeballs equals ads equals revenue and everything else is just a way of predicting future views.