There is a possibility that a person who lives and spends his entire life on contributions from others may acquire a certain outlook towards their benefactor(s) that defy logic. Might have to ask a phycologist but I think I've noticed this tendency in others organizations and in other people where all the income they get is due to someone else.
Doesn't matter if it's a parent to his child, or a government to a disadvantaged citizen, or donations to your favorite charity.
As an example, if you give money to a homeless person, do you expect to be thanked. Probably, yes you do. But if you give money to that same homeless person for 20 years in a row, I guarantee you this, at the end of the twenty years, you won't be thanked. He figures you owe him. It's human nature.
Why would John Brown and his organization be any different?