No Agenda podcast popularized the model and they make money. It's definitely not as economically efficient as normal transactions, but it works for them and it probably works for others.

One way i think about this is buyer surplus vs seller surplus. In normal exchange, both parties walk away happy - that's their surplus. In practice, value 4 value involves the creator capturing somewhat less surplus than in a normal exchange. But the consumers, in aggregate, get WAY more surplus because many of them get the thing for free, many others under- donate, and the few huge donors are probably getting huge benefit from the thing.

It's a tradeoff - one that may not work for most creators. But it will work for some.