PAT Kick-Off Letter
from our PAT Coordinators - Jennifer Andersen & Chris House
9/26/22
Hello YPSO Musicians!
It’s time for YPSO’s annual Practice-A-Thon (PaT) fundraiser as we prepare for our first concert of the season! Your friends and families love your dedication to playing music and want to support you and your orchestra. During PaT, you’ll record hours spent playing (and singing!) music and they will make donations to the orchestra to honor your effort and to help us provide scholarships to deserving YPSO families.
Our goal is to raise $30,000 during PaT which works out to around $300 per musician. This seems like a large amount, but it is achievable and even small donation amounts will help us to reach it together!
We will celebrate our success similar to last year. Firstly, we want 100% of the orchestra members to participate and try to raise money for our cause. If we can get everybody to raise even a small amount we will celebrate with a special dessert in a December rehearsal.
Secondly, instead of prizes going to the top fundraisers we’ll use a raffle system to draw winners of some great prizes. One raffle entry will be earned for each of the following achievements and you can earn an unlimited number of entries!
Earn 1 raffle entry for every 5 email addresses sent to
(must copy pat@ypsomusic.org on the email to get credit!)
Earn 1 raffle entry for every 5 hours of practice
Earn 1 raffle for every $50 raised
Raffle prizes will be given each week of PaT with three grand prizes drawn in December.
Good luck and please reach out to us at pat@ypsomusic.org if you have any questions!
Sincerely,
Chris House
Jennifer Andersen
2022 Practice-A-Thon Coordinators
It’s super important to log your hours thru our electronic database. You do this by going to your Member’s Suite Account at data.ypsomusic.org and using your student log in. Please CLICK HERE for instructions, if you need a refresh.
ELECTRONIC LOG
P-A-T Resources
PAT INSTRUCTIONS
PRACTICE LOG
SAMPLE TEXT MSGS
SPONSOR LOG
PAT Raffle Prize Week 1 - Lego Jazz Quartet Set - details for how you could win this - see below!
Practice-a-thon Instructions
YPSO 2022 Practice-A-Thon Instructions
Friends and family love hearing about your passion for playing music, and the Practice-A-Thon is a great opportunity for them to support you and to help the orchestra provide scholarships to deserving and talented musicians!
The steps are very easy and you can get as creative as you’d like!
Contact as many sponsors as you can (do this as soon as possible!)
You can use the template found on the PaT page of our website as is, modify it, or create your own! Use one or more of these methods to reach lots of people:
Email: most adults 💖 email and you can send once and copy everybody!
Social Media: post a pic or clip of you playing or asking for support!
Text: send a short text with a link to the YPSO P-a-T page.
Call: ok this sounds old fashioned but is great for close relatives!
Go Fund Me: create your own fundraiser (include a video to make it pop!)
Busk: play music to raise funds (please be safe)
Log the hours you spend playing from September 26th thru October 23rd
Print out the practice log from the YPSO PaT webpage and write down the total number of hours you play each day (rounding to the nearest quarter hour). Remember that all instruments, including singing, and all kinds of playing (school, lessons, practice time, orchestra rehearsal, performances, etc.) count!
On Sunday, add up the total hours from the week, log into your Member’s Suite on the YPSO website, and type in your hours plus any pledges you have received. This is really important because it is where we will track our progress and help determine how many raffle draws you’ll get (see the prize section below)!
Collect donations from October 24th thru November 30th
Starting October 24th contact your sponsors and let them know how many hours you practiced during PaT, kindly remind them of their pledge amount, and let them know the total donation amount. Be super appreciative!!
They can make their donation on the YPSO website (selecting your name so you get credit) or by writing a check to YPSO with your name in the memo line. Check donations can be turned in with a completed sponsor sheet when signing in at rehearsal on Mondays or mailed to:
YPSO, 1935 Addison St, Suite A, Berkeley CA 94710
Win Prizes!!!
We want 100% participation in PaT this year and if we achieve this we will celebrate with a special dessert during dinner in December!!
We will be using a raffle drawing this year to award prizes so everybody who participates can have a chance to win!
Every 5 email addresses sent to = 1 raffle entry
(must copy pat@ypsomusic.org on the email to get credit!)
Every 5 hours of practice uploaded = 1 raffle entry
Every $50 raised = 1 raffle entry
At each rehearsal during PaT we will have a drawing for a fun prize. After the donations are all received we will have a drawing at a December rehearsal to award grand prizes to three lucky winners.
Email pat@ypsomusic.org with any other questions.
Record your time frequently on the Electronic Practice Log in your Student Member’s Suite Account. See below for instructions to access Electronic Practice Log.
If you want a paper sheet to help, you can print from the Resources section below.
On Mondays (if you can), log on to the Electronic Practice Log and report your hours.
Starting Sept 26th, begin contacting your sponsors - tell them what you are doing and why.
Remind them of their pledge per hour or flat rate, and the total amount. Be super appreciative.
Mail in your money or turn it in at Monday night sign ins. You can turn in your money week by week or all at once. Be sure to include the money verification sheet each time you turn in money.
How do I get to my electronic practice log
Remote hours entry is the way to go! We have set up a super simple area in your individual student Member accounts to log your practice hours!
Log in to the YPSO Member’s Suite with your student email and password
Navigate Registration -> Practice-A-Thon
Use the New Session button to add hour daily hours
Use the New Donor Button to add Sponsors
Check out the Leaderboard at the bottom of the screen! Can you win?
