February 9, 2015

“My life amounts to no more than one drop in a limitless ocean. Yet what is any ocean, but a multitude of drops?”
― David Mitchell, Cloud Atlas

For a few years now, ever since I used to volunteer teach abroad, I’ve had this dream for a more sustainable, socially-responsible teach abroad program: one that emphasizes teacher collaboration, professional development, and mutual respect/understanding between cultures. I’ve often talked about it, even complained about the lack of it, but never did anything about it. I never knew where to start – until I discovered crowdfunding.

Crowdfunding is the practice of funding a venture through small contributions from a large number of people, generally online through websites like Kickstarter, Indiegogo, and StartSomeGood. But to me, crowdfunding is more than just a platform for collecting money; crowdfunding is the answer to the question that anyone with a dream asks themselves: “Where do I start?”

With crowdfunding, all those dreams we always “talked about” suddenly become the dreams we “did something about”.

Instead of Kickstarter they should call it “Dreamstarter” (and if that name isn’t registered yet, someone ought to get on that!).

But you don’t do it by yourself! The beauty of crowdfunding is that it rallies your entire circle – your friends, family, and community – and lets them each be part of your dream. It reminds me of the above quote from David Mitchell. Each person’s contribution – $10, $20, $50 – may seem like a small “drop”, but a multitude of these drops makes an ocean and has the power to realize any dream.

As we enter the final days of our crowdfunding campaign, I’d like to invite everyone to be a small drop in the ocean that is my dream, TIEs with Teachers. Visit StartSomeGood.com/tieswithteachers before February 12th to be a part of this campaign and turn this dream into a reality!

And I urge everyone to consider jump-starting your own dream with crowdfunding. I’d love the opportunity to be one of the “multitude of drops” that makes your dream happen!