Fundraising for.. college?
This is cool.
Earlier today, John Paff sent me a note with a link to a site titled "Dollar by Dollar: Raising funds for one year of college, one dollar at a time." John knows I always get excited about creative millennials doing interesting things, so this instantly caught my attention. You're doing what? Taking donations to cover tuition? This is something worth reading.
As I clicked through the site, I learned bits and pieces of the story of a girl named Katie Dwyer and her tough situation: she can't afford to finish her final year of school. About to enter her senior year of pursuing a degree at Huntington University, she's found out that she no longer has the financial capacity to afford it. According to her site, she acknowledges that the tuition of small, private colleges isn't cheap and she has managed to rack up some "lofty student loans" but believes (and rightfully so) that it will be easier to pay off that debt by obtaining her degree than forfeiting it.
In a time when student debt has exceeded a record high of over $1 trillion, her story isn't unusual; however, the way she's dealing with it is. She's tapping into the growing concept of crowd-sourced fundraising and applying it in an innovative way. No, there aren't any rewards for donating to this campaign like you find on Indiegogo or Kickstarter - but she's only asking for $1.00, and the reward comes from knowing that you've helped someone out there overcome an obstacle that no one would want to face.
It relates to a question I've been throwing around in my mind for a while now - how far are people willing to go (financially) to support something based on emotional appeal, and at what point do they want to see a tangible return on their donation or investment? A prime example of this is the story of Karen Klein, the 68 year-old school bus monitor that was bullied to tears by middle school students. When video of the event surfaced on the web, a man by the name of Max Sidorov created an Indiegogo campaign to send Karen on a vacation. His target was about $15,000. Within a few days, he had raised over $500,000. Some people gave $10, some people gave $1,000 - it just depended on how deeply impacted they were by the story and at what level they felt connected to it. There were no rewards offered for the campaign, but it is arguably one of the most successful crowdsourcing campaigns in history.
So whatever your desire or motivation, I encourage you to check out Katie's website and pitch in $1. Just $1. That isn't even a cup of coffee from Starbucks, folks. Once you've donated, share the link with your friends and ask them to do the same. $1 and a few seconds from you could make the difference of a lifetime for Katie Dwyer.
(In full disclosure: I didn't know Katie until today, nor had I had any previous communication with her. I just thought this was creative, interesting, and inspiring - and I hope you'll see it the same.)