does epg ninja need help to keep their guide up?

You don't "need" to donate, but there are costs to running the guide. When the team first created the guide, the difficult thing was trying to find sources and creating configuration files and writing scripts. Now, most of it is automated, but sometimes the pull doesn't work completely, or the server is hung up. You'll need to contact psycon to find out where you can help.
 
the current issues are a microsoft issue (where much of the data comes from).. one of their servers is being flaky.. last couple pulls i did today seem to be back to normal though, we'll see..

as dara said, the scripts pretty much run themselves these days, except when things break as they have recently, always looking for help, either by donation through the link on epg.ninja, or by someone who wants to help directly with maintenance of the grabs.