Case Study: Proposals for String Program Success

Beginning your string program can be a large task! Between your inspiration and research of instruments, numbers, figures and goals, comes needing to also consider budgets, funding, launch procedures, long-term plans and, of course, convincing leadership and finance teams of your long-term vision. No easy feat!

That’s where our Education team comes in with our empowering proposal service.

Take the case of a recent enquiry from the Sunshine Coast.

A relatively new Sunshine Coast school’s Classroom Music teacher contacted our Education team to begin the process of potentially developing a strings program.

Their plan includes:

a 7 year plan
a focus on arts excellence and music excellence
wanting Arts/Music to be a drawcard for the school’s reputation
a desired 5 - 7 years of instrument learning by each student
recommendations requested for specialised, local string tutors.

To assist with the teacher taking her ideas and goals to her HOD, and then onwards to her leadership and finance teams, we offered a 25 page bespoke proposal to present to her HOD and decision-making teams.

Proposal purpose

A proposal is helpful for all parties to be on the same page from the beginning.

We aim for teachers, coordinators, HODs, admin, finance, P&C, community and leadership teams to feel empowered through your proposal, so you have the information ready at your fingertips and feel confident to present to your decision-makers, whilst decision-makers feel confident in the quality of presentation, products and services to invest in over the long-term, and to ease the transition between your current state and where you wish to be within your program.

Proposal structure and presentation

All our proposals come with a personalised 15 - 20 minute video 'walk-through' with an Education team member explaining all levels and intricacies of the proposal which also assists leadership teams in learning more about the details involved with string instruments which they may not otherwise be aware of.

This school’s 25-page proposal PDF includes:

a welcome letter and introduction from the Simply for Strings Education Manager
initial investment figures relating to your quotes (generally two quotes to choose from)
annual servicing and maintenance recommendations and associated costs, and how to save budget by learning how to service instruments internally (so these funds can be reinvested back into your program
contingency budget per instrument quoted (to cover unexpected repairs or replacement). Any budget not used here can be reinvested back into the program
cognitive development information, especially for this program’s 7 year vision, as 5 - 7 years is the recommended ‘gold standard’ of time to achieve permanent, positive, cognitive change through learning an instrument. All resources referred to are directed to Dr Anita Collins’ research collation.
instrument range options and accessories (relating to the quotes provided)
a summary of the instrument range options for the school setting, along with detailed information about our professional set up
10 year servicing and maintenance recommendations, year on year, including costs.

The proposal PDF is also emailed, and can be printed and posted to you.

“Thank you very much - how fantastic! It’s great to know that you’re in our corner and have the experience and knowledge to get us up and running, and it’s been so good to know you’re just there and to talk through all the details. I’m looking forward to sitting down and running through the proposal with my HOD next week. Thank you!”

Types of proposals available include:

new string programs in education institutions
year group immersion program
instrument hire vs. purchase and how to make purchases viable
cognitive development focus instrumental programs
budget extension and expansion reasoning and requests
grant applications
instrument inventory/asset rollover plan over the short and long-term, plus
long-term maintenance plan long term budget planning for servicing, repairs and maintenance for your current instrument inventory
anything else you require to grow your strings program.