Who Are We?

We are a group of year two engineering students who are setting up a crowdfunding campaign as part of our assignment for the module Business Skills for Engineers.

 

Meet the Team! From left : Aaron Chin, Edwin Keong, Wynton Lee, Kit Hong, Jun Jet, Jen Yuan

 

What are we doing?

We are doing this in collaboration with Pay It Forward Taylor's University (PIFTU), where PIFTU is an initiative done by students to promote and create a loving and caring community that practices simple acts of kindness. We are working with this initiative by helping them set up a crowdfunding campaign which aims to raise funds to construct umbrella stands and purchase umbrellas as part of their PIFTU - 'Inspiring L.O.V.E.' Project Umbrella campaign. The construction of these umbrella stands are slated to begin when the campaign ends. Presently, the design of the umbrella stands have been scrutinised and accepted by the PIFTU community and it can be visualised in the image below: 

 

 

Why are we doing this?

The main reason behind this crowdfunding project is to gather the neccessary funds to purchase the materials like steel square tubing and the umbreallas to construct the umbrella stands and to fill them with the purchased umbrellas. This serves the purpose of aiding students of Taylor's University cope with blistering heat as well as the pouring rain by providing them with an easy access to umbrellas. As an example, in the event where students who drive to campus without an umbrella, they would be able to pick up an umbrella from the various stands around campus and head to their parked vehicle withouth getting soaked from the rain.

 

How are we doing this?

As most of us stem from an Engineering background, we have the necessary technical knowledge to build the umbrella stands. The main materials to be used will be mild steel square tubings 3mm aluminium sheets - both of which are easy to obtain and relatively cheap. The frame of the umbrella stands will be made of the mild steel tubings whereas the aluminium sheets will be used as the base of the stand. Most of these components will be secured with each other through welding or brackets with nuts and bolts. The sides of the umbrella stands will be fitted with hooks to provide students a way to hang and dry their umbrellas. This helps to prevent mixing of the students' umbrellas and the umbrellas supplied by PIFTU which may cause confusion if they are not separated accordingly. At the base of the umbrella stands lies holes that allow water from the umbrellas to fall through which will be collected and used for general purposes such as watering the plants etc. 

 

Budget

With the crowdfunding funds of RM 600, approximately RM 250 will be used for purchasing umbrellas for PIFTU, RM 250 for purchasing the mild steel square tubings and the remaining amount for aluminium sheets and spray paints. (prices of materials listed are true as of 20/10/2017)

Budget Breakdown

Number	Item	Vendor	Price/RM per unit	Quantity	Total Price/RM
1.	Aluminium Alloy Sheet 3mm thickness (3x200x250)mm	Lelong	21.00	5	105.00
2.	Automatic Open and Close Foldable Rain Umbrella For Men and Women	Lelong	16.50	15	247.50
3.	Anchor Aerosol Spray Paint 400ml 65#Mahogany	Lazada	13.00	8	104.00
4.	Mild Steel Tubing 19mm x 19mm x 0.8mm	Japshine Sdn.Bhd	8.35	16	133.6
					590.1

Approximate total spent=RM 590.10