交不起MBA学费 那就众筹吧

Funding is a significant barrier for many who want to attend business School. Whether you need to raise the cash to cover some or all of your course and other costs, not everyone can rely on their parents or loans.

对于许多想上商学院的人而言，资金是一大障碍。你需要筹钱支付部分或全部学费，还有其它费用，并不是每个人都能依赖父母或者贷款。

High street banks tend not to lend internationally, and while more flexible online options exist — Prodigy Finance offers alumni-funded MBA loans, for example — there are still restrictions, such as nationality, or that finance is offered only to those attending certain business schools.

大型零售银行通常不提供国际贷款，同时，尽管存在一些比较灵活的在线贷款选项——比如Prodigy Finance就提供由校友资助的MBA贷款——但仍有一些限制，比如国籍限制，或者贷款仅提供给进入某些商校学习的人士。

Faced with such challenges, some students are turning to crowdfunding.

面对这样的挑战，一些学员转向了众筹。

Any potential business student can set themselves up on a crowdfunding website such as Indiegogo, GoFundMe or Crowdfunder. But it is a hard sell beyond close friends and family and it is tough to raise the amounts of money needed. So how can someone start a successful MBA campaign?

任何一个准备进入商学院学习的人，都可以在Indiegogo、GoFundMe、Crowdfunder等众筹网站上发起众筹。但在密友和家人以外，这是一桩难以达成的交易，很难募集所需要的金额。那么如何启动一次成功的MBA筹款活动呢？

It is not a case of setting up your donations page with a picture and basic description of your intentions, and the money will come flooding in.

建立一个捐款页面，配上一张图片和有关你的意图的基本描述，钱就会涌进来？事情不会像这样发展。

“If you put no effort into a campaign, then you’ll receive few or no contributions,” says Kelly Angood, UK director for technology, design and hardware at Indiegogo, a California-based platform.

“如果你没有在筹款中投入任何努力，那么你只能得到很少，或者得不到任何捐款，”总部位于加州的众筹平台Indiegogo的技术、设计和硬件英国总监凯莉•安古德(Kelly Angood)说。

Addis Tigabu, who is from Ethiopia and is currently doing a masters in international business at Frankfurt School of Finance and Management, needed to find the Euro8,000 to cover his living costs in order to obtain his visa to study. After he failed to find anyone who would lend to him, he set up a crowdfunding campaign on Indiegogo and ended up raising Euro6,000.

来自埃塞俄比亚、正在法兰克福金融和管理学院(Frankfurt School of Finance & Management)攻读国际商务硕士的亚的斯•蒂加布(Addis Tigabu)当初需要筹集8000欧元支付自己的生活费，从而获得学习所需要的签证。在未能找到任何能够借钱给他的人以后，蒂加布在Indiegogo上发起了一次众筹活动，最终筹得6000欧元。

His experience highlights that to be successful you need to think of everything from how you present yourself, to social media and marketing strategies.

他的经历凸显出，要想成功筹款，你需要考虑从如何展现自己，到社交媒体和营销策略等方方面面的事情。

His advice is to make sure enough time is given to develop an appealing story. The first question any potential donor will ask is, “Why do I want to contribute to you?” says Mr Tigabu.

他的建议是，确保用足够的时间来想出一个有吸引力的叙述。潜在捐款者会问的第一个问题是，“我为什么想要给你捐款呢？”蒂加布说。

He appealed for funds on the basis that he wanted to be involved in Africa’s development and would also set up a platform to help others who wanted to study but struggle to raise the money.

他呼吁人们为他捐款的理由是，他想要参与非洲的发展，他在学成之后将设立一个平台，帮助其他想要学习，但难以筹到钱的人。

Yacine Zerkdi, who is from Morocco but lives in France, started a campaign on GoFundMe and has so far raised Euro30,000 towards an MBA at Harvard Business School. He also highlights the importance of an effective personal narrative. “The statement I wrote on my page seemed to have hit the spot,” he says. “People really related to it and said they decided to invest after reading it.”

来自摩洛哥、现居法国的雅辛•泽尔迪(Yacine Zerkdi)为了在哈佛商学院(Harvard Business School)攻读MBA在GoFundMe上发起了筹款，到目前为止已募得3万欧元。他也强调了有效的个人叙述很重要。“我写在我的页面上的陈述似乎打动了人们，”他说，“人们真的产生共鸣，并表示他们在阅读后决定投资。”

On his page he portrays himself as someone who breaks the HBS student stereotype and highlights that great things come from crowdfunding — such as Alexander Pope’s translation of Homer’s Iliad, which he started in 1713.

他在他的页面上将自己描述成一个打破哈佛商学院学生固有形象的人，并提到了众筹造就的一些伟大的东西——比如，亚历山大•蒲柏(Alexander Pope)从1713年开始翻译的荷马的《伊利亚特》(Iliad)。

Videos and photos are also a good way to get people’s attention. Ms Angood points out that campaigns with these elements do much better.

视频和图片也是吸引人们注意的一个好办法。安古德指出，有这些元素的筹款要成功得多。

It is also important not to underestimate the small things: Ms Angood adds that you should make sure to use correct grammar and spelling and avoid sounding sad or desperate. “Don’t write a long list of why the world has done you wrong,” she says.

不轻视小处也很重要：安古德补充，你应该确保使用正确的语法和拼写，而且避免听起来很悲哀或者绝望。“不要罗列一长串你的委屈，”她说。

When it comes to social media it is important to use various channels to spread the word. “Create a Facebook page, Twitter account and if possible even a website,” says Mr Tigabu.

至于社交媒体，使用多个渠道传播你的讯息很重要。“创建一个Facebook页面，一个Twitter账号，有可能的话，甚至可以建立一个网站，”蒂加布说。

Ms Angood adds it is worth trying to build an audience before a campaign is actually launched. “Once they know and trust you . . . strangers will be much more likely to give money,” she says.

安古德补充，在实际发起筹款前尝试建立一个受众群体是值得的。“一旦他们得知消息，并且信任你……陌生人捐钱的可能性会大得多，”她说。

Mr Zerkdi says that if he was to go through the process again, he would start by raising a specific amount through friends and family first so he could begin a campaign with a little bit of money already behind him. “I think it has a different impact psychologically when you actually come up with something already in the bag,” he says.

泽尔迪说，如果他要再一次进行筹款，他会首先从朋友和家人那里筹集到特定的金额，这样，在他开始筹款的时候，已筹集金额上就已经有一点点钱了。“我认为当你已经筹到一些钱之后，那会产生一种不同的心理效应，”他说。

Once your campaign is up and running Mr Tigabu recommends updates such as facts and figures on progress, which can help keep up momentum. His partner also helped him to set up a “Euro3 challenge” on Facebook with the aim of creating a multiplier effect. Mr Tigabu asked people to contribute Euro3 and challenge three other people to do the same.

一旦你的筹款开始，蒂加布建议更新你所取得的进展的事实和数据，这能帮助你的筹款维持势头。他的伙伴也帮助他在Facebook上发起了一个“3欧元挑战”，目的是取得乘数效应。蒂加布请求人们捐献3欧元，并向另外3人发起采取同一行动的挑战。

As part of his marketing plan he contacted various media outlets. The Frankfurter Allgemeine newspaper picked up the story and one reader contributed Euro1,000. A friend also hosted an event in Frankfurt that raised Euro800.

作为营销计划的一部分，他和多个媒体渠道取得了联系。《法兰克福汇报》(FAZ)对此进行了报道，一名读者捐出了1000欧元。他的一个朋友也在法兰克福发起了一个活动并募得800欧元。

Fundraising targets must be realistic — do not expect to raise enough to cover the full $200,000, or thereabouts, to attend a top school for two years. Aim to raise a proportion that covers something specific . Mr Zerkdi’s aim was to try and raise up to $100,000 to reduce the amount he would need to borrow from a bank. He has not raised anywhere near this, but “Euro30,000 is still great”, he says.

筹款目标必须切合实际——不要期望募集到进入顶级商校学习两年所需要的整整20万美元，或者类似的金额。以募集到一部分金额以支付某个特定目的费用为目标。泽尔迪的目标是尝试募集10万美元，以减少他需要向银行贷款的金额。他所募集的金额距离这个目标还很远，但“3万欧元还是很棒”，他说。

Crowdfunder, a UK-based platform, says the average pledge is ￡50, so for every ￡10,000 you will need an average of 200 backers for a project. Try to offer rewards, no matter how small, to those donating. Mr Zerkdi, for example, intends to pay the money back to those who pledged to his cause. Mr Tigabu offered various gestures depending on the amount given: for Euro1, a donor would be kept informed of progress; those giving Euro50 would get an individually designed and signed thank you card; and for Euro100 a donor would be thanked personally in a thank you video.

总部位于英国的平台Crowdfunder表示，支持人的承诺捐款金额平均为50英镑，因此每为一个项目筹集1万英镑，你就需要找到200名支持人。尝试给予那些捐款者回报，不管这些回报多么微不足道。比如，泽尔迪打算以后把钱还给那些承诺帮助他的事业的人们。蒂加布则根据捐献金额做出多种表示：捐献1欧元的人将会获知筹款的进展；捐献50欧元的人能够得到个性化设计和签名的感谢卡片；捐献100欧元的人能够在感谢视频中得到亲自致谢。

Whichever way you choose to run a crowdfunding campaign, it is not an easy route. “It takes time and dedication,” says Ms Angood.

不管你选择哪种方式来进行众筹筹款活动，这并不是一条简单易行之道。“这需要时间和投入，”安古德说。