For anybody who wants to help
Buy one instrument for one child.
Most of what we place was given to us. Not all of it. The right cello for a nine-year-old is sometimes two hundred dollars on a classifieds site, a trumpet needs a valve rebuilt before anybody can play it, and a piano that costs nothing still costs something to move. A student volunteer does not have two hundred dollars.
So there is a list of people who have said they would cover one if it came up. Getting on it takes a minute and costs nothing.
This isn't a donation
We do not take money. We never have and we are not starting now — no fund, no account, nothing for anybody to hold.
What happens instead: you pick one instrument below, we tell you who is selling it, and you pay them directly. Or, if a parent has already collected it to stop someone else buying it, you reimburse them. Either way the money goes from you to the person with the instrument, and never through us.
Which also means no tax receipt. We're not a registered charity and we're not pretending to be one.
How it actually goes
- You sign up. Name, email, and roughly what you would go to. No card, no account, no charge — there is nothing here to pay into.
- Nothing happens for a while. Could be a week, could be a month. Most of what we find is free and never reaches this list at all.
- Something turns up that costs money. A student has found it, seen it, and worked out that a particular child needs it.
- We write to you with what it is, what the seller wants, and who it is for. You say yes or no. Saying no is fine and does not take you off the list.
- You pay the seller. Directly. We are not in the middle of it and never hold the money.
- We collect it and deliver it — and then we show you.
The evidence
Anybody can say the money went somewhere good. Within a week of the handover you get:
- What the seller was paid and for what — the listing, and the receipt if there was one.
- The date it was handed over and the town it went to.
- A photograph of the instrument in the house it went to, if the family agrees to one. Plenty do. Some would rather not, and that is their call, not ours — in that case you get the picture without anybody in it.
What you will not get is a child's name or address. We do not hand those out, to anyone, for any reason. See how we handle this.
Get on the list
Nothing needs buying this week
Everything we're chasing right now was given to us, which is the better outcome and happens more often than you would think. This board fills up only when we find something worth buying that a student cannot pay for.
Which is exactly why the list above exists — so that when one turns up, we already know who to ask instead of starting from nothing.
You'll not be thanked publicly unless you ask to be. Most people would rather just know it arrived.
Would rather give an instrument than buy one? That's still the best thing you can do.
Play it forward.
Instruments where they’re needed.
Music where it’s missed.