I never got lifetime subscriptions even when it would've made financial sense. What defines a lifetime? Definitely not my lifetime... Offering them is a way to raise quick capital in my mind, it's not an economical benefit to them, it's a company in need of cash. And that possibly implies something about the expected lifetime of the lifetime subscription.
I'll give another lens for why lifetime subscriptions often make sense. Places to consider them:
* Non-profits
* Clubs
* Academic organizations
* Educational / semi-educational companies
* ...
The key thing to remember is that the whole of the universe isn't transactional.
And the right thing to do for "an [organization] in need of cash," if you'd like to see them continue, might be to... give them cash. It might also be the right thing if you'd like an organization to be able to bootstrap and not be under the pressure of investors. There are fine reasons to keep some organizations private and customer-funded (especially if the founder has a strong moral backbone).
