MANKATO — These aren’t just any drums.

These are Djembe drums, which originated in West Africa and come in a variety of sizes and tones. But for the student whose musical skills are just emerging, they are a relatively easy instrument to play and an invitation to musical creation. And for the elementary teacher trying to engage all students in music, the drums are a consistent in-class favorite.

Even more, they are illustrative of the financial support Mankato Area Public Schools receives from its residents and businesses. During the 2010-11 school year, the district received $326,700 in gifts and grants — among them, more than $800 from Tune Town in Mankato to purchase nine drums.

“We do everything we can to stretch the general fund,” Supt. Sheri Allen said, referencing the roughly $50 million in state aid that accounts for about 60 percent of the district’s budget. “But these gifts and grants allow us to maintain our programs or take them to the next level.”

Each year, the district receives grants and gifts from a variety of sources, both corporate and individual. Generally, the gifts are reported to the district and given public recognition at a School Board meeting. Some gifts, however, are never reported to the district office and, thus, not included in the year-end tally.

Also not included in the final tally are: the Educare Foundation’s annual grant program (which distributed $56,000 this year in addition to several mini-grants of $500 or less), funds raised by parent-teacher organizations and volunteer hours.

All tallied, Allen said the numbers are evidence of the community’s support for education.

“It’s very impressive,” she said. “It goes to show how many people really do give back.”

As for Tune Town, it was among the participants in a statewide program to sell a compilation of Minnesota musicians covering songs by The Beatles. The collection was called “Minnesota Beatle Project Vol. 2” and featured artists such as Soul Asylum and Mason Jennings.

Half of the proceeds went to the Minnesota Music Educators Association to fund music programs around the state. But Carl Nordmeier, owner of the Mankato Tune Town, decided to donate the other half to music programs in Mankato.

With those proceeds, teachers bought a Djembe drum for each elementary school in the district.

“They’re lovely,” said Kathy Hopf, an elementary music instructor. “I love them and so will the students.”

But that grant is only one example among dozens.

For the first time this year, the Mankato Masonic Lodge donated $2,000 to the Connecting Kids program, which is used by the Department of Community Education and Recreation to link at-risk students with summer activities.

Al Roehm, program director, said the gift will be used to send additional students — perhaps more than double the amount of participants in years past — to YMCA summer camp.

Other gifts, however, represent annual donations.

For instance, the Key City Sertoma Club regularly funds a trip to the state Capitol for sixth-graders and a copy of the Bill of Rights for fifth-graders. The Mankato Kiwanis chapter gives out books to every third-grader in the city (public school or private) and this year helped fund a swim day for students in the Early Childhood and Special Education program.

Some gifts represent services — such as the thousands of dollars in services donated by Quality 1Hr. Foto to Mankato East High School — and others represent products, such as Capstone’s donation of 4,875 two-pocket folders.

Still others carry a deeper significance.

For the second year, the district received a gift from the family of Dustin Lemke to continue a scholarship in the name of the highly regarded Mankato East graduate who was killed in a car accident in February 2010.

 Scholarship gifts also came from the families of Michael Ries — a Mankato student who died suddenly from heart complications last year — and John Janavaras, a Mankato teen who died during the meningitis outbreak in 1995.