School Ukulele Fund raiser

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gatorglenn

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Hi,

I guess this is a good place to put this information/request.

My daughter is an Elementary School Music Teacher that is just about finishing her first year teaching. In February she started teaching 3, 4th, and 5th grade students the Ukulele. She was able to get 20 Ukuleles donated and a few others were borrowed.

She also started an after school music club that play Ukes and sing. The kids and the school are enjoying this a lot. Last week her music club played their first performance outside of the school. It was a big success.

She is now planning for next year. She wants to get Aquila strings to replace the cheap ones that came on the Ukuleles. Plus she is in need of a couple of cases also.

She is set up through a charity website for donations to be able to do this.

http://www.donorschoose.org/project/u-2-can-ukulele-part-2/1231794?utm_source=dc&utm_medium=Project Page&utm_campaign=copyURL&rf=copyURL-siteshare-2014-05-project_page-donor

The link does not seem to work. If you go to www.donorschoose.com and search for "u-2-can-ukulele" you will find it.

If you can donate a few dollars it will help a low income school and her music program. Use the code 100Women and your donation will be doubled until 5-23 or 24th.

Thanks,
Glenn
 
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I applaud your daughter's effort to make a difference with music. :)

But I really have to question why she'd pay retail for 25 sets of Aquilas from Amazon. You can find them cheaper at numerous other online vendors. At the least, she should negotiate for a quantity discount with reduced or free shipping. With a little outreach, she might be able to get an extra special deal thru one of the uke-focused vendors like HMS or Uke Republic.

And $49.99 for a gig bag? One can do better, even on Amazon.

Then there's the $4 payment processing fee, a $30 fulfillment fee, and the $54 "optional donation" to the site, which tacks on another 32% to the retail pricing on the goods.

Anyway, I do wish her the best of luck.
 
Hi,

The teachers do not choose the vendors or the prices for items. They make the request and Donors Choose does their research and where and how much the items will cost. I believe they are getting free shipping in the deal but yes there are a couple of other fees tacked on. The "optional donation" is optional. As far as I can tell you don't have to pay that.

Thanks for considering helping her project.

Glenn


itsme said:
I applaud your daughter's effort to make a difference with music. :)

But I really have to question why she'd pay retail for 25 sets of Aquilas from Amazon. You can find them cheaper at numerous other online vendors. At the least, she should negotiate for a quantity discount with reduced or free shipping. With a little outreach, she might be able to get an extra special deal thru one of the uke-focused vendors like HMS or Uke Republic.

And $49.99 for a gig bag? One can do better, even on Amazon.

Then there's the $4 payment processing fee, a $30 fulfillment fee, and the $54 "optional donation" to the site, which tacks on another 32% to the retail pricing on the goods.

Anyway, I do wish her the best of luck.
Click to expand...
 
I like Elderly for larger string purchases. If you order enough string sets to get free shipping, their prices beat nearly everyone. I ordered 10 sets of Aquila soprano strings for my uke class. Ended up costing me $4.50 a set, free shipping. Maybe we can do a group purchase...a few of us can kick in and get those Aquilas for her?
 
gatorglenn said:
...yes there are a couple of other fees tacked on. The "optional donation" is optional. As far as I can tell you don't have to pay that.
Click to expand...
Well, if it's optional, then she must have opted for it because it is listed as part of the cost of the project. So, the first $88 donated will have to cover the overhead before her project can even get off the ground.

PhilUSAFRet said:
I like Elderly for larger string purchases. If you order enough string sets to get free shipping, their prices beat nearly everyone. I ordered 10 sets of Aquila soprano strings for my uke class. Ended up costing me $4.50 a set, free shipping.
Click to expand...
And that's exactly what I was talking about. A huge savings, even before you consider the extra "overhead".
 
PhilUSAFRet said:
I like Elderly for larger string purchases. If you order enough string sets to get free shipping, their prices beat nearly everyone. I ordered 10 sets of Aquila soprano strings for my uke class. Ended up costing me $4.50 a set, free shipping. Maybe we can do a group purchase...a few of us can kick in and get those Aquilas for her?
Click to expand...

That is a great price for the strings. Her problem is no money from the school. She already spent several hundred dollars this year on assorted equipment. I also spent some buying her an Acoustic-Electric Ukulele and an amp so she could be heard by the students while teaching them.

She teaches in Jacksonville. Here is a picture of her music club's performance last week.

20140517_120358.jpg

Thanks,
Glenn
 

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itsme said:
Well, if it's optional, then she must have opted for it because it is listed as part of the cost of the project. So, the first $88 donated will have to cover the overhead before her project can even get off the ground.
And that's exactly what I was talking about. A huge savings, even before you consider the extra "overhead".
Click to expand...

I only know. When I made my donation I opted out of their optional donation. It is a charity and like most of them I guess they must "make" money to cover their operating expenses. I never said it is a perfect solution but she has no other money from the school.

The strings thru Elderly seems like a great deal.

Thanks,
Glenn
 
Skinny Money McGee said:
Phil's idea is even better. Post the School's mailing address. I'll send a few packs of strings. I have a concert gig bag I'll give her for free.
Click to expand...


Thank you,
Englewood Elementary
Ms. Baker
4359 SPRING PARK RD
Jacksonville, FL 32207-6957
 
I'm not going to knock donor's choose.org, but there are better ways to do this.

I've ran a few uke clubs in low income schools. As a matter of fact I am currently running one. I did every thing through this website and got overwhelming support from UU members. As a matter of fact, You have Mainland Mike asking you to help (he was instrumental in getting my club up here in Alaska started).

I've had gig bags donated by MGM (RIP) and had tuners given to me at cost by UkeRepublic and UU members.

I'd like to help and I will do so through donorschoose b/c I am setting up my project for next year through them.
 
Yukon Cornelius said:
I'm not going to knock donor's choose.org, but there are better ways to do this.

I've ran a few uke clubs in low income schools. As a matter of fact I am currently running one. I did every thing through this website and got overwhelming support from UU members. As a matter of fact, You have Mainland Mike asking you to help (he was instrumental in getting my club up here in Alaska started).

I've had gig bags donated by MGM (RIP) and had tuners given to me at cost by UkeRepublic and UU members.

I'd like to help and I will do so through donorschoose b/c I am setting up my project for next year through them.
Click to expand...

It is my daughter's project and she set it up with Donors Choose. Her first one was for 20 Ukuleles and it was very successful. I think this one is a harder one because of the timing, what she is asking for, and the fairly low amount needed. But it was her choice and it was one way she knew to be able get some donations.

I am trying to help her because she is my daughter but also because she has done a great job in her first year of teaching. The school did not have full time music for several years and she was the first teacher to re-start music there. So she didn't have much nice equipment to start with and she got almost no money from the school system to buy any.

From what I have seen the people here on this forum love Ukuleles and music. I think that is great. I am married to a high school band director so music has been very important in our lives.

The kids at my daughter's school are very excited over music and Ukuleles. Hopefully my daughter can keep that going. I am contacting Mike to see what he might be able to do and I appreciate any help from members here.

Thanks,
Glenn
 
Just a side thought/ thinking outside the box here...
There is a member on here who uses fishing line vs. Worth Fluorocarbon strings (since they're similar/ but probably close enough).
If you're buying, say, 20 lengths of strings, would that be more cost-effective? I don't know how or where the fishing line sells at or how many feet/sets you could make. Just a thought...
 
Donors choose is a great way to do it. I just didn't realize they had to use certain vendors. I was given a check when I did it a few years ago.

There is a brand of strings that are made for kids. Great investment.
 
igorthebarbarian said:
Just a side thought/ thinking outside the box here...
There is a member on here who uses fishing line vs. Worth Fluorocarbon strings (since they're similar/ but probably close enough).
If you're buying, say, 20 lengths of strings, would that be more cost-effective? I don't know how or where the fishing line sells at or how many feet/sets you could make. Just a thought...
Click to expand...

I did not know about that fishing line. It could be possible. I will have to look around to read about it.

The main problem she had with the stock strings on the student model Ukuleles were that she spent about an hour ever day tuning them. Plus over sound quality was not that good.

Glenn
 
Try something like this thread - Seaguar fishing lines... OldePhart is the user I believe
http://forum.ukuleleunderground.com/showthread.php?18975-fishing-line-ukulele-string-recipe


igorthebarbarian said:
Just a side thought/ thinking outside the box here...
There is a member on here who uses fishing line vs. Worth Fluorocarbon strings (since they're similar/ but probably close enough).
If you're buying, say, 20 lengths of strings, would that be more cost-effective? I don't know how or where the fishing line sells at or how many feet/sets you could make. Just a thought...
Click to expand...
 
Hi,

My daughter's Donors Choose project was funded and with the awesome help from Mike of Mainland Ukes she should be ready for next year. She should have enough Ukuleles to return the couple of them that were borrowed and not have to use her personal ones. Hopefully next year will be bigger and better for her music classes and her music club.

And just in case you would like to see more pictures of the kids and info about the original project that funded 20 Ukuleles, you can see it here http://www.donorschoose.org/project/u-2-can-ukulele/1172601/

Music is GREAT!

Thank you,
Glenn
 
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