The Audacity of 3 Bucks

Six weeks ago I was accepted to study an MBA at Oxford University, focusing on social entrepreneurship; a degree teaching students to apply business tools to social challenges. My challenge? Funding it; knowing full well that social entrepreneurs lack the financial security of an investment banker. I had an idea: why not seek a small amount of funding from a large number of people using a simple business tool -- open-sourcing -- applied to a personal challenge. So www.3bucksforbrendan.com was born. My plan? Ask 30,000 people for $3 to help me get to Oxford, and thank everyone with an actual piece of the degree. And if it doesn't work? To give any funds raised to Engineers Without Borders (EWB) Canada and Médecins Sans Frontières.

This began to make sense: if I hope to become a better social entrepreneur, why not try something different? If I truly believe that traditional business and non-profit approaches need to be challenged with new concepts, why not challenge how we can obtain a higher education? While working with Engineers Without Borders for the last 5 years, I think I've distilled their highly effective approach down to three main characteristics: naivety, confidence and humility. There's the naivety to not know what other people think can't be done, the confidence to believe that a bunch of 20-somethings can trigger systematic change, and the humility to understand that we do not have all of the answers along the way. And so after being immersed in this, I'm not entirely surprised that my solution is bold, one which few would consider possible, but requires the help of many along the way.

There's a certain audacity in asking many people for money, even if only for small amounts. But audacity mixed with a strong vision, as Barack Obama has highlighted with his campaign, can be a powerful catalyst of change. Barack Obama's campaign has, in its celebration of small individual contributions, empowered people to help. When the sum is small, it removes some of the barriers to the decision of whether or not to support a cause, a vision or an ideal. So when people commit to giving small amounts, like they have by the millions for Obama, they're sending a very clear message of support, an act as symbolic and personal as it is financial. People shift from being outside the political process to become central within it. It's tough to build a groundswell out of $1000-a-plate fundraisers, but when you have millions who commit as donors for the first time, you can create something of a phenomenon: millions more individuals who are politically engaged. As I watch the presidential race from afar, I have been able to experience one small aspect of Obama's approach -- to challenge many people, no matter how small their donation, to buy into a goal, and feeling gratitude and the weight of expectation when they do.

As our challenges become more global, our responses must as well. Thankfully as the need for collective action increases, so too have the available tools. What has allowed Obama to fundraise so successfully (and me to attempt to raise $3 from 30,000 people) is the power of reach and low transaction costs that the internet provides, something all but impossible only a few years ago. On Friday, Arianna Huffington outlined how some inspiring social entrepreneurs are already leveraging these tools (folks, $3 to me or not, please check out some of these organizations and support them). Certainly these tools for collective action are still not available to everybody, but the situation is improving. Cell phone use has spread rapidly in Africa, bridging a longstanding communication divide. Internet usage is not far behind. When I first worked in Senegal in 2004, on a potable water project with Engineers Without Borders, there were 3 internet cafes in my town. When I returned again in 2006, I was amazed to see how internet cafes had spread: not just in number, but in purpose as well. The original three had been eclipsed by over a dozen more, situated in the poorer neighborhoods and used by Senegalese, not tourists. It's fascinating to see this spread, both in North America and far beyond, allowing billions more people to access the necessary tools to contribute to their vision of change.

There is a beauty in collective action that these new tools allow. There is purpose that shines through when the widest range of voices call together to achieve something out of the ordinary. I see this happening as the presidential campaign gains momentum. I see this emerging in the fight against global warming, driven by actions in Europe but rising as well, belatedly, in my own country, Canada. And on a much more personal level, I have seen the beauty of collective action up close, as people have offered thousands of dollars, believing in me and helping me achieve my dream. And so to those who have helped me in my quest to get to Oxford, and to those who choose to do so in the next few days: thank you, you will find a small piece of an Oxford degree in the mail and the commitment to use social entrepreneurship to change our world for the better.