Teenager Crowdsourcing A Summer Study Abroad
If you read my IndieGoGo Crowdsourcing Platform Review, you are familiar with how people are turning to the internet in the hopes of raising money through crowd donations. My own sixteen year old daughter and I tried this creative fundraising idea by setting up her own online fundraiser for her Summer Study Abroad Trip.
Her dream is to attend a summer study abroad program in Bolivia, South America. It’s a unique educational adventure where she’ll realize the challenges of trekking and surviving in the wilderness, along with hands-on learning experiences.
Since IndieGoGo is free, and student travel scholarships or educational travel grants are difficult to find, the IndieGoGo crowdsourcing website is a wonderful opportunity. Anyone over 13 years old can use the IndieGoGo platform, and they have no restrictions on the type of cause or event to be funded. An educational summer abroad program will be accepted.
A Travel Abroad Fundraising Page, should have informative text so readers can connect with the campaign. Youtube can host a slideshow or video that can be embedded in an IndieGoGo travel fundraiser platform and embeded in other websites, such as this one. The idea is to gain maximum exposure for whatever cause your campaign features.
These are all good ideas if you want steps on how to use IndieGoGo.
IndieGoGo also recommends to offer some perks (rewards) for various denominations of donations. Some readers might need some incentive to donate or feel good receiving a small gift.
More for your summer abroad study:
9 Reasons to Fund a Student’s Study Abroad Program
The question that usually comes next is, why would someone consider funding a student’s summer travel abroad? Aren’t summer programs abroad for high school students just another vacation? Not really.
Just getting on a plane for the first time is an educational experience. Children might be surprised to learn you can go to the U.S. Post Office to apply for a passport.
Passing through customs is educational. And, accomplishing the entire excursion without the guidance of a parent, teaches a child to learn while making independent decisions.
See if you might fall in any of these categories:
- You simply feel good when you help someone else, especially a child.
- You believe children should learn to help themselves, and by running fundraisers, they become independent and learn not to rely on their parents.
- Fundraising is a form of working and fundraisers will teach children to associate hard work with the achievement of rewards.
- You’re an environmentalist and believe in teaching appreciation and preservation for the outdoors.
- You’re in the educational career field, such as a teacher, writer, or journalist, and look for ways to promote and further education through experiences beyond reading.
- You are a world traveler, perhaps studied abroad yourself, or you work in a travel occupation and have a passion for encouraging world experiences through student travel programs.
- You’re a musician and you understand hearing a flute in a high school band differs widely from the hint of a reed flute whispering across snow capped mountains.
- You like receiving a “perk.” Perhaps placing a Bolivia magnet on your refrigerator will remind you of how your donation, no matter how small, actually made a dream come true.
- You think we should encourage children to learn to ask for help, because people are generous and often surprise us.
The bottom line is: we donate to fundraisers because we connect with a cause.
What unusual fundraisers have you donated to? What dreams have you made possible? Tell us in the comments below.
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