Developers from GoAbroad.com, one of the leading international education and experiential travel resources in the US, have launched a fundraising site to help students raise money for courses abroad.
Based on the concept of crowd funding, FundMyTravel allows students to start a campaign on the site and then share it with family and friends who can make donations. The service is open to students and volunteers across the globe, and is offering US$50 to the first 50 successful campaigns over $800 to commemorate the launch.
“We know that students can have money issues, but we know how rewarding international education is and we want more people to be able to do it,” said FundMyTravel’s Christopher Franks. “Aside from benefiting the individual user, we also wanted to promote the health of the industry overall.”
“We know how rewarding international education is and we want more people to be able to do it”
In creating a campaign, a student lists the programme they plan to participate in, and sets a start and end date and goal amount. Students can raise money for things like air fare, course costs and visa fees as well as upload their own photo or video. Donations are made and received via PayPal and Fundmytravel.com takes a 5% commission.
The site is also supplemented with a blog offering fundraising tips and ideas for experiences abroad.
Franks says that while the site is in its early stages, organisers are working to develop partnerships with international education institutions and volunteer providers who can provide information for inclusion in campaigns directly. IES Global, Barcelona SAE and TEFL Scotland are already on board.
Franks said that partners would enjoy branding opportunities but the service was not focused on advertising. “The site has a pretty simple design. We didn’t want to make it too chaotic or confusing,” said Franks. “It’s here for one reason and for one reason only – to help students fund their trip abroad.”
