Geraldine O'Neill, Ireland

I teach a donation based yoga class every few months. The intent is simple, afford as many people as possible the opportunity to try yoga, and make money for good causes. I bill the classes as free, but with an invitation to students to donate some monies at the end of each class, to the charity of the day. This donation is optional. The first time I taught this type of donation based class, I expected that the monies raised would be lesser than a regular class, however, the donations received greatly  exceeded my expectations and normal returns from a class. This led me to wonder, if a donation based model would work for business, replacing one of the classic 4ps of the marketing mix - price. Given today's empowered consumer, what if the public were to decide on the value of a product or service, rather than the brand or company dictating the price? I searched for examples of where it was working in business. Radiohead in releasing their album last year, posted it on the internet as a free download and invited fans to pay what they wanted to pay. The theory was something like this: like it a lot = pay a lot, like it not = pay nothing. No hard sticker pricing here. They simply invited fans to let their conscience guide them. And it worked. Sales were higher than previous albums.

Of course this method of pricing requires great faith in the world, that there will be some form of gratitude.

The philosophy behind donation-based yoga is ultimately accessibility and I guess for Radiohead it was the same. Making yoga available to all people, regardless of fitness level and most importantly, finances makes for a refreshingly un-elitist and welcoming atmosphere.

Ironically what might appear as a haphazard business model, is gaining in popularity in the U.S. for obvious economic reasons.

A donation based model refocuses the spirit on community rather than commodity. It's an antidote to exclusivity and commercialization that comes with rising prices.

Geraldine O'Neill is also the author of the blog Yogi925