How I Crowdfunded $27,000 for a Master of Laws at Harvard: Strategies That Worked for Me
This post is an excerpt from The Ultimate Guide to Funding Your Master's Degree, in full available here.
Introduction
To fund my master's at Harvard, I had to secure $92,000 in total: $62,000 for tuition and $30,000 to cover living expenses. I raised $58,000 through scholarships and supplemented it with savings, but it still wasn't enough. After a long period of seeking additional funding opportunities, I decided to crowdfund the remainder.
Crowdfunding for a degree may seem unconventional, but it was life-changing, and I hope sharing my experience can help others. There are several reasons why I consider crowdfunding a viable option in funding a master's degree.
A crowdfunding campaign allows you to tell your story on a transparent, public platform where people can see who you are, verify your credibility, and track your progress in real-time. Having an online presence, like a crowdfunding campaign, makes it easier to approach people, companies, and NGOs for support, as they can see something tangible.
Before launching my campaign, I felt uncomfortable asking people and organizations to invest in my studies, explaining my background, goals, and intentions in every outreach. However, the campaign streamlined that process, as it told my story for me. It was shared over 2,000 times on Facebook, engaging people and fostering a sense of participation and transparency. Everyone could see any time of day and night how I was doing. It kept people engaged. Ultimately, this visibility made it easier for a Russian NGO to step in and cover the outstanding balance.
A campaign also acts like an "accountability buddy." Once it’s there publicly, it motivates you to stay active and committed to promoting and completing it, and generally taking action to make it successful. Unlike private outreach, where you might drop your efforts, a public campaign creates a strong drive to finish what you started, leading you to success.
my story
When I mention crowdfunding $27,000 for Harvard, I get mixed reactions. A friend, even years later, still jokes: ‘You must be so popular back in Russia to have raised that money!’ (I still smile at that memory 😁). But many people assume it was easy: I got admitted, decided to ‘just take other people’s money,' and then did so. That could not be further from the truth. Crowdfunding happened out of desperation - after two years of striving for a master's degree in law, not comprehending how education could be so inaccessible because of the things I’ve been born into, and a fierce desire to escape the life script dictated by my nationality, socio-economic status, and upbringing.
In 2017, I set my sights on a U.S. master of laws degree. Before that, I’d studied in Europe through scholarships. My family couldn't support my studies financially: I grew up in a village on the outskirts of Moscow, with my father working as a plumber and an electrician. My mother was living in Kazan, a city 800 km from Moscow, raising my younger sister on a salary of a kindergarten teacher, notoriously underpaid in Russia, and struggling to leave an abusive relationship.
I submitted my applications for admission and all scholarships that I knew of. A few months later, I was thrilled to receive an offer from Harvard. Harvard offered a $30,000 grant, but I needed an additional $62,000 cover the full cost. For months, I searched for more scholarships, convinced that I just hadn't yet found the right options. Eventually, I won a $28,000 scholarship from the Russian-U.S. Legal Education Foundation - but with a catch: it came with an obligation not to seek employment outside of Russia for two years after graduating. That meant that even if (hypothetically) I wanted to work the U.S. and make a lot of money afterwards, I was ethically obliged not to.
I also explored loans, but they proved nearly impossible. Russian banks didn't support loans for overseas education, and I wasn't eligible for Harvard's own loan program due to the sanctions imposed on my country.
Facing these dead ends, I finally searched online for what people do when they don’t have enough funding. That's when I stumbled upon the story of a British student who crowdfunded £26,000 for her master's at Oxford. Initially, the idea seemed absurd - who would donate their hard-earned money to a stranger's personal project? I buried it for a while.
But with deadlines approaching, I reconsidered. I had nothing to lose. At the very least, if I tried crowdfunding, I could say I'd exhausted all available options.
So, I got to work. I researched successful campaigns, wrote my story for the website, created a video script, and filmed my promo video in a public library with my sister's help, making versions in both English and Russian. After editing, I launched my campaign on Indiegogo's non-profit platform, Generosity, and promoted it everywhere I could. In three weeks, I reached my goal.
With the funds raised, I paid my tuition and went to have one of the best years of my life at Harvard.
Actionable Guidelines if you've decided to crowdfund
Guideline no. 1: Don't Throw a Pity Party
Crowdfunding for education differs from raising money for a business or art project. The latter can be easier, as the project offers value beyond yourself, allowing you to give something back, like shares or album copies.
Crowdfunding for a personal cause, however, is all about your story - there is little in it for others, which makes it harder to "sell." Many people, when crowdfunding for personal reasons, focus on hardship and throw a pity party. Instead of making their contributors feel inspired by their journey, they complain about life, sending a message that other people should contribute because of it.
I faced this choice myself. I was tempted to share difficult aspects of my life: growing up without indoor toilet -20C) winters, an abusive grandmother calling me a daughter of a prostitute since I was seven, and growing up without a mother. I chose not to share these hardships, not because they weren't valuable - there were. They made me who I am today. But my pain didn’t define me. The way I built my life in these circumstances did. I wanted my life's resilience, not my pain, to define me.
I wanted people to feel inspired when they saw my campaign. Instead of seeking pity, I wanted people to see me as a brilliant lawyer who had achieved much in extreme adversity, genuinely in love with what she was doing and needing only an extra help to make a crazy dream come true. This approach seemed to resonate.
When crowdfunding for a personal cause, remember that people contribute not because of the cause itself, but because they're inspired by who you are. They want to become part of a meaningful story, to feel that they've increased the amount of good to the world.
Guideline no. 2: Make It Reciprocal
When crowdfunding for a personal project, you usually don’t as many ways to reward or thank contributors as you might with a business or art project. Still, there are ways to express gratitude and make your campaign more reciprocal and less one-sided.
One option is to offer something in return for a contribution. What you offer will depend on your skills. For example, I offered discounted legal services and assistance with graduate applications. I’ve seen others offer business consulting (someone crowdfunding for a startup bootcamp), handmade jewelry (someone crowdfunding for a jewelry degree), and more.
Think of what you do best and offer that to your contributors. If you think you don't have anything to offer, think again. Everybody has something to offer. If you are at a stage of your life when you are applying for an advanced degree, you must have acquired a variety of skills by now. What do people often ask you to help with? What could you do for them?
You don’t need to be an absolute expert. The purpose of offering something isn't to show off your mastery, but to show gratitude and ease the discomfort of accepting money. It won’t feel as one-sided when you offer something valuable in return.
Guideline no. 3: Promotion Is Just As Important As the Launch
Promotion doesn't mean a sleazy sales pitch; it just means letting people that you're raising money. Carefully plan both the launch and promotion of your campaign. Don’t stop after launch. The launch is only half of the job - it's success depends on ongoing promotion just as much as pre-launch preparation.
Make a list of people to ask for help spreading the word. Also, ask a few friends to make small contributions at the start, so your campaign doesn't sit at a zero balance at the start, which can psychologically deter others from donating. Offer to reimburse friends in advance, i.e., before they spend their own money. Share your campaign on social media, professional networks, etc. Send personal emails to every person you’ve ever had a positive interaction with, but don’t spam them – one initial email and a follow-up near the end should be enough. Remember, if you don't maintain the campaign's energy, no one else will.
Guideline no. 4: Treat Each Contributor Like a Love Affair
When you ask people to contribute, treat each one like a short-term love affair.
This is your personal project, and no one owes you anything. If, when, and how much anyone contributes is their own good will. Don’t complain about the amount. Whether it's $1, $10, or $100, it’s already an incredible gift. Be grateful.
After someone contributes, follow up with a warm, personal thank-you email - not a mass message. Let each contributor know how much their support means to you.
Guideline no. 5: Make a Video
A video adds authenticity and shows effort. If you're asking people to share their money with you, demonstrate that you’ve put in the work. Not making a video can come across as lazy.
Videos help people feel connected to you, showing them that you are a real person and that this campaign is genuine. People are more likely to watch a video than read a long text, and a campaign with a video feels more alive.
Guideline no. 6: Don't Be Afraid to Ask
You'd be surprised how far you can go by explicitly asking for what you need. Politely and genuinely ask people to contribute. If you ask, they may contribute or not, but if you don't ask, you'll never know.
It never hurts to ask.
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If you are interested, as a matter of reference, my campaign still available online here.
If you'd like to learn more, I talk about my strategies for funding in more depth in my Ultimate Guide to Funding Your Master's Degree. Part of it, the Guide to Negotiating Financial Aid, is available as a preview for free.
I wish you best of luck! ☺️
Now, go and get that money.
And in the meantime, I'll be waiting.
