Price is one of the 4-5 "Ps" in a marketing strategy along with product (offering:service/product), place (distribution/access), promotion (communications) and position (where you want your org/offering to be in relationship to alternate offerings/orgs.
Price reflects the cost of production, delivery, distribution and communications in addition to the value/positioning strategy. Price can attract certain levels of users and reduce demand as well. Essentially, what an individual or institution pays for an offering is the exchange given to have the offering.
So, it is with great interest that I read the Wall Street Journal article about Fractured Atlas' new FREE offering of Artful.ly, a customer tracking software for small nonprofits. The software, called Artful.ly, "creates a profile of each fan listing past attendance, donations and other details. These can help arts groups communicate better with their patrons, boosting the chances that they will entice them back."
The exchange on the part of the receiving nonprofit: "We expect an organization to know us," said Selena Juneau-Vogel, the Artful.ly program director for Fractured Atlas. "We want to be recognized and thanked and included in an organization's thoughts."
Obviously, philanthropy is paying the costs in the short-run, but the strategy of giving away the product does have long-term revenue generating goals and as a step toward these goals, is all about getting "place of mind" by small arts groups.