People show ego depletion when they sequentially complete tasks that require self-control resources. Studies have shown that people become self-interested in subsequent collaborative tasks that require the use of self-control resources after ego depletion. More and more studies are attempting to seek for solutions to mitigate the negative effects of ego depletion. For instance, it is found that presenting the incentive of money to a person who has been depleted decreases the negative effects of ego depletion. However, the incentive of money has multiple facets. In the current study, two kinds of functions that money holds are distinguished: instrumental and symbolic functions. The instrumental function of money implies that money as a tool can be used to exchange goods in everyday life; whereas the symbolic function of money implies that money can stand in for the fulfillment of a social desire that people might have. People prefer these functions differently. The aim of this study is to examine the interactive effect of money priming and its function on altruism of depleted individuals. It is expected that, similar to money stimulus, symbolic function is more likely to compensate for the negative effect of self depletion than does instrumental function. It is therefore hypothesized that when people prefer the instrumental function for money, ego depletion does not affect altruistic behavior of depleted individuals; however, when people prefer the stronger symbolic function over the weaker symbolic function, manipulation on money stimulus will increase the level of altruism of depleted individuals. A between-subjects design was used. In the experiment, participants were first asked to complete a crossing-e task to be in the state of being depleted. Participants were then asked to complete a finger flexibility test in which they counted the number of 10 banknotes of 100 Yuan (money priming condition) or 10 blank papers (neutral condition). Thereafter, participants made decisions twice in a dictator game. Finally, participants completed a single-category implicit association test which was used to measure their implicit preference for monetary functions. Results show that compared to manipulation on the neutral stimulus, manipulation on the money stimulus increases the level of altruism of the depleted individuals. Moreover, this effect is obvious when participants do not prefer the symbolic function of money. Results also show that instrumental functional preference of money has no effect on altruism following ego depletion. However, preference for symbolic function of money interacts with manipulation on the money stimulus to influence altruism following ego depletion. More specifically, when manipulating the money stimulus, preference for symbolic function of money negatively predicts the level of altruism of depleted individuals, whereas when the neutral stimulus is manipulated, preference for symbolic function of money positively predicts the level of their altruism. In summary, ego depletion reduces an individual’s level of altruism in the dictator game, however thinking of money can recoup the lost energy temporarily and thus compensate the negative effect of money on altruism when people are depleted. When a neutral concept is activated, preference for the symbolic function of money prevents the decrease of altruism of depleted individuals. Taken together, the present study implies that the compensatory effect of activating the concept of money and that of preference for its symbolic function may be independent with each other.