A digital plaque showing the names of donors.

The Smithsonian’s Freer Gallery of Art and Arthur M. Sackler Gallery may feature art that is centuries old, but the galleries’ first foray into a decidedly new kind of fundraising shows they are ready for the future.

The Sackler Gallery raised just over $174,000 during a crowdfunding campaign to support the upcoming exhibit Yoga: The Art of Transformation, far surpassing the original $125,000 goal. The 34-day campaign was funded by 600 donors, as well as $70,000 in matching support from Whole Foods.

Allison Peck, a spokeswoman for the Freer and Sackler galleries, says all involved are “grateful to all the people who stepped up and said they wanted this to happen.”

“Obviously it’s great to have the donations, but it’s really nice to also have a lot of expressions of support,” Peck says. In addition to the 600 donors, 150 yoga messengers — people who spread the word about the exhibit in person and online — joined the campaign.

The names of the donors are featured in a digital plaque, which was displayed in the Sackler Gallery’s lobby during the campaign.

Yoga: The Art of Transformation is the art world’s first exhibition about yoga’s visual history, according to the Sackler. The money raised during the campaign will “support the behind-the-scenes aspects of the exhibition,” according to a press release, including shipping the artwork, public lectures, concerts and yoga classes in the galleries.

Peck says the campaign helped Freer-Sackler gauge what people want from the galleries’ exhibitions.

“We’ve gotten a lot of interaction of people saying, ‘I feel like putting this on is really important to the future of yoga, that putting this on will help my practice. Being able to come and see this artwork will be a spiritual experience for me,'” Peck says. “Above all, just having that interaction with more than 600 people has been really incredible.”

Indeed, it’s because of the specific nature of the exhibition that Peck says she’s not sure when the Freer-Sackler may attempt this again.

“Crowdfunding is very specific to each exhibition,” Peck says. “I definitely think we would try it if they right exhibition came along.”

Yoga: The Art of Transformation opens Oct. 19 and runs through January 2014. A public celebration will be held on Oct. 26 and will feature classical Indian museum performances, yoga classes and a traditional lamp-lighting ceremony.