In the past week or so I’ve had a lot of feedback. Most very positive, some not so much!
Here’s a sample:
“Dear Brendan,
You are a brilliant madman and have chosen an inspired way to raise the money for your scholarship. What I particularly like is the cheeky and friendly nature of it, which of itself would scream at any potential donor that you embody the very values you wish to pursue. I salute you and wish I had thought of this angle myself. The only similar thing I have come across, other than the guy who sold individually sponsored pixels on his screensavers and made a million dollars (or was it pounds) that way, was an extraordinary man who was elected to be the Chairman of the local Rotary Club and, part of his job was to host a fundraising event in the year of his incumbency. He was desperate as auctions and auction prizes are so common place and people so reluctant to give or participate….He went to the local hospital and asked each of the Consultants to donate an operation., he made a fortune on the night.
So…Yes, what a great idea and I totally support you in spirit. … I wish you all the luck in the world, you deserve it. Didn’t St Brendan do something pretty unlikely and get away with it?
Kind regards
Tim Smit”
- Tim Smit, Founder, Eden Project
“INSANE!!!!!!!!!!!”
- Anonymous
“Dear Brendan,
I hope you get to fulfill your dream. I have donated 6 CAD’s. I myself come from a developing country. The money that you would be spending for the education is ‘big’ in my country. So I do really hope that you be responsible with the trust that people put in you. In case you manage to get financed for the course through scholarship, I’d hope that the money would go to MSF.
I have spread the word about your crazy idea to a few of my friends as well.
Here’s wishing you the best in life”
- Aju, via email
“Good luck Brendan. I was going to donate $3, but then chose to give more after seeing the outfit with knee socks and headband. ”
- Dene via Facebook Group
“just sent a note to oprah for you”
- Graham via Facebook Group
“Entertaining project. I applaud your unabashed self-promotion but your reasoning why you need the Oxford MBA and why people should donate is laughable. Do you honestly believe that “investing” $ 90K in a MBA in Social Entrepreneurship helps you to “make the world a better place”? If you really wanted you could be a “social entrepreneur” already, so please stop fooling yourself and wasting other people’s time and money.” … (after much discussion offline)…”After initial scepticism, I am also in!”
- Thomas via Facebook Group
“I gave you $6 so you only need 28,000 others. However, I was screwed by the exchange rate. So consider the extra $0.05 a gift. The rest you owe me in social change.”
- Claire via Facebook Group
“screw him, tell him to get a job like everyone else”
- Anonymous via johnchow.com blog
“I think it’s a different approach to raise money to attend college. Financial Aid is usually the route people take when they can’t afford the tuition costs themselves. He’s just thinking outside of the box.”
- Kim via www.7daybuzz.com blog
“Brendan, i already transfer $10. That was about MYR33. I can use up that money for 3days meal here in malaysia. Hope you can use it wisely.”
- Jatt via Johnchow.com blog
“Cyprus Supports Brendan”
- Mariana via Facebook Group
“I think it’s wonderful that he has the ingenuity to harness the power of the Internet. The trick here, however, is for those who are responding to it to go one step further, to really capture the true spirit of giving - and the true spirit of the Internet. If you can donate $3, you can donate $6. Donate $3 for this fellow, and then donate $3 to your favorite charity as well - this can usually be done online…”
- Kelly via Johnchow.com blog
“I’ll give you three bucks just to see if this works. That’s BRILLIANT!!!”
- Michelle via Facebook Group
“I lose $3 regularly in the driver’s seat in my car. $3 is SO little these days, that if you can get anything worthwhile out of it at all, you’re doing well. So I think the satisfaction of being part of something different and exciting is a fantastic reward–whether Brendan gets to Oxford or not.
By the way, he second best thing to buy wih $3, in my opinion, is a Saturday’s Globe and Mail newspaper.”
- Emily via www.7daybuzz.com blog
“Word up…I’m all for for crazy plans especially when they circumvent the market driven nature of higher education. I think you should call this thing the power to the people bursary fund.”
- Tom via Facebook Group
and last, but probably the most eloquent:
“So I’ve been following your quest for 90k and some of your worldly exploits courtesy of facebook. I must say that I am impressed. Not in that “some random guy I went to highschool with turned out to be something after 10 years, who knew?” kind of way. Rather, in a “I know someone who is going to make a fundamental difference in this world”/warm and fuzzy sort of way.
I can’t say that my passion to seek change in this world will ever lead me to an institution like Oxford, or even out of Kamloops, but it does get me out of bed in the morning. My mantra when I walk into a classroom of kids is “teaching is the greatest act of optimism”. Some days it feels more like “teaching is glorified babysitting”.
Today I challenged a class of grade 5/6’s to perform a random act of kindness without being asked and without expectations of a reward. I told them about “paying it forward” and imagine what would happen if they helped 3 people, and those 3 helped 3 more each. I made them write it in their agendas before I would let them go at the end of the day. I can only hope that one actually did something about it.
I want to be teaching my social studies class some day down the road and see you in a text book with a caption about a Canadian who did more than get a job, buy a truck, and consume resources.
I commend you as you strive to give back and become the change you wish to see in the world. ”
- from Erin via Facebook message
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5 comments ↓
Hi Brendan,
My name is Katie Rook, I am a reporter with National Post.
I found your website through Twitter. Is there a number where I can reach you to hear
more about your story?
I am around tonight, so please tap back if you are too.
Sincerely,
Katie Rook
As a privileged and wealthy North American, living in one of the most prosperous countries in the world and blessed with an undergraduate education, you should be ashamed of yourself.
Why not try some, I don’t know, hard work and self sacrifice before going and begging from a bunch of hard working strangers to help you.
This money could go to so many other worthy causes. Too bad those people don’t have the language skills, internet connections or technical knowledge to beg for it like you.
Thanks for the comment, Kris. In spite of the insulting tone, there’s a couple of good questions hidden in there.
Let me respond.
I am definitely a privileged Canadian. I agree that my country’s wealth, freedoms and opportunities have let me have some great choices in life. And I’ve had great parenting, good health. I have an undergrad education, which I am very grateful for. I also worked, saved, borrowed and put in 5 years of study to get it, so it didn’t just fall in my lap.
I think, with this privilege comes responsibility. Not to just to work hard on my own to afford a Ford truck and eat at nice restaurants. But to leverage this on a local, national and international level (eventually) to improve our performance. I’m not sure how much of the site you’ve checked out, or how much of a gut reaction your post is, but my thoughts on some of my country’s challenges can be found here: http://www.3bucksforbrendan.com/CanadianAbroad-Baker.pdf.
So yeah, I don’t see self-sacrifice as working hard to expand my lifestyle at this point, but in NOT expanding my ecological footprint. I worked for 2.5 years as an engineer. It would have been pretty easy to continue on that path to a prosperous career, but it didn’t do it for me. I didn’t feel I could have the impact I wanted in changing my world as an engineer.
On a related note, my background can be found here: http://www.3bucksforbrendan.com/about. I’ll let people decide if it shows laziness or hard work and self-sacrifice, whether I’ve worked hard, or been fed by a silver spoon.
Another interesting point is the one about asking strangers to help you. Good point, to be sure. I’m sure you’re aware that a good chunk of education, whether trade school, undergrad or grad level, is funded and subsidized by bursaries and scholarships (which I am pursuing during this project as well). Quick question: who funds those? It is typically either private individuals through donations (like this project, on a larger scale), or the public through their taxes. How do students get access to these funds to continue their education? They ask (or ‘beg’, as you put it). So, I’m sorry to say, (if you’re Canadian, anyways) you’re already probably paying for students to learn. Your tax dollars are subsidizing degrees and paying for scholarships. Only the money is being dished out by a committee in a back room. With this project, you have the option of funding a student, and knowing exactly where your money is going. And you can choose to help, or not, it’s certainly your call.
Finally, the worthy causes. Yep, again I agree. I’ve highlighted a couple of good ones on the site, including one that does exactly what you claim is not possible: people in developing communities asking for funding to improve their business. I’ve asked people to send me others I can showcase. And I’ve asked on the site, Facebook group, in emails and in person that people support these. And I’ve received support from many who work with one of these organisations, EWB. People who know vividly, and firsthand, what a dollar can do in a developing community, because they (like I) have worked there. I’ve received support from Malaysia, India, Zimbabwe. These have often come with a request to return the investment many times over, down the road. I intend to do this. And if my fundraising doesn’t work out, like you seem to hope it won’t, then the thousands will go directly to two amazing organizations.
So now your turn to put your money where your mouth is: donate to one of these organizations, or another you like, and let us know. Tell me where people’s money should go, so I can share it with the rest. Let’s see if we can’t get some exposure and funding for your favorite, entrepreneurial non-profit.
Thanks,
Brendan
Hey Brendan,
I am proud to offer you some support to aid in pursuit of furthering your education. My hope is that you will, as indicted, put it to use helping those less fortunate than yourself.
Regards,
Bob Lee
Brendan,
Very creative - you are obviously a determined and imaginative guy…..but c’mon, isn’t it time to get a job (or volunteer your time) and start putting back in now rather than another few years, this time at Oxford?
I had my time, at Cambridge, and loved every moment, but couldn’t justify living off someone else’s dime any longer than an undergraduate degree - good for you to go one post graduate turn, but there are limits.
Just an opinion.
John
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