Crowdfunding campaigns are part of digital life like selfies are part of Instagram. It is no longer unusual for film and music projects to be financed by crowds, even Zach Braff has done it. But crowdfunding your semester abroad is also unusual in our digitalized world. The twin brothers Tré (21) and Isaiah (21) did it anyway: They crowd-funded their semester abroad in Germany.
It started like all crowdfunding campaigns: with an idea and not enough money. Inspired by the stories and experiences that their friends and fellow students had during their semesters abroad, the brothers Tré and Isaiah decided not to miss out on these experiences. They were sure that they wanted to take the step abroad and study for a semester away from their homeland in New Zealand. It also quickly became clear where the journey should go. “The German education system has a fantastic reputation. “The country is also centrally located in Europe and is therefore ideal for exploring the rest of the continent,” Isaiah explains her decision.
But the flight from Wellington to Germany already cost a small fortune, plus the cost of living there and the pocket money needed to travel and have experiences. All in all, more than the two students had on the high edge. So, like everyone else, they applied for scholarships. “A lecturer helped us with this and at some point he had the idea that we could raise money for the semester abroad with a crowdfunding campaign,” remembers Isaiah.
Three months before departure, their crowdfunding campaign on “Givealittle” went online in December 2014. “We had no expectations of the campaign and were happy about every cent,” says Tré today. But they didn't want to rely entirely on crowdfunding. At the same time, they worked as much as they could and continued to hope for scholarships, while the first donations from friends and family slowly trickled in.
The power of social media
They actually didn't expect that strangers would give money to their crowdfunding campaign. “But after an article about our campaign was shared on Facebook, this actually happened. In total we received around NZD 1,050 from people from New Zealand and Germany. “It was far more than we ever expected,” says Isaiah. And the crowdfunding campaign also had another positive side effect: the state of Baden-Württemberg liked it! After the campaign, the twins also received a scholarship from Stuttgart.
Their time in Germany is now over and Tré and Isaiah are back in New Zealand. They had exactly the experiences they had imagined. You have seen many European countries. You have learned German. Made new friends and made memories to last a lifetime. None of this would have been possible without the crowdfunding campaign.
If you are interested in studying in New Zealand, you can find information here .
Crowdfunding campaigns are part of digital life like selfies are part of Instagram. It is no longer unusual for film and music projects to be financed by crowds, even Zach Braff has done it. But crowdfunding your semester abroad is also unusual in our digitalized world. The twin brothers Tré (21) and Isaiah (21) did it anyway: They crowd-funded their semester abroad in Germany.
