Team #3020 Needs your help more than ever!

[BurtGummer]

First I want to say how great these forums have been as a resource for our team. There were several problems that we had in building our robot, but the ones we couldn't figure out ourselves were figured out by the members of these forums. We can't thank you enough! We are a rookie team who built a robot in 13 days. It harvests, dumps, and pins other bots too. I call it a success :D

So to our problem.....

We can go to Atlanta because we got the All Star Rookie Award at the LA Regional this weekend, but our sponsor, Boeing, nor our school, will sponsor the $5,000 entry fee for Atlanta. We were told after the awards ceremony 'congratulations, but we can't go'. Now, I'm not gonna let it go like that. It's our rookie year, and we can go to Atlanta, so in my eyes, we HAVE to go to Atlanta.

So, does anyone know any sponsors who would be willing to pay our $5,000 entry fee? Even partial amounts would help, heck even $5 would help. You can have as many logos that will fit on our bot if you'd like :D We also have to pay the money by this Tuesday, March 14th. I'm sure we can spot the money though if sponsors can't get it by then.

Thanks so much, and we really hope we can get this $5,000!!!!!!

[wilmo]

Try finding other companies in your area who will help sponsor, you aren't just limited to one sponsor. Team 868 has 9 *major* sponsors of $1,000 or more and numerous other sponsors. I'm sure there are *many, many* companies in the L.A. area who would be willing to help you out.

Thanks,
Wilmo

[Laaba 80]

Just so you know Tuesday is the 17th and today is the 14th, you might want to double check when it is due.

[nlknauss]

My team was in sort of the same situation after having won the award at the Washington, DC Regional. I'd absolutely suggest perusing other sponsors and donors in addition to the ones that currently support your team.

Check out this white page search (http://www.chiefdelphi.com/media/search/results/275449) from this website. Here is a second one (http://www.chiefdelphi.com/media/search/results/275462) too.My team took a look at all of these excellent examples and created a sponsorship letter and bracket system of our own. It never hurts to ask companies in your area for donations. Talk to you students about how to approach these companies, send them out, and see what happens. Keep in mind that you will have until Tuesday to make a decision, that's how it was for my team after our regional. It's a little tight, but really try to go for it. Good luck!

[Enigma's puzzle]

I would send out some letters to some potential sponsors in your area, offer to do a presentation, if you have a good team website, put the url in the letter, or offer to go to there place and show a team video, and/or talk to them about FIRST.

If you talk to a lot of the businesses around you, at least sending out a humble and graciously written letter, you will get a response. Look especially at engineering and machining businesses, as they could be a valuable resource besides money in the upcoming seasons. At this point in the season i would avoid Corporate firms as they have large hierarchy to go though before you will ever see any money. They are the types of sponsors you talk to in the off season.

[rsisk]

Team 3020 is definitely deserving of support.

For a rookie team, they had a very decent robot that performed on the field. It could retrieve balls from the floor or the human player and deliver them into a trailer. It may not look polished, but it does function well.

[Daniel_LaFleur]

First I want to say how great these forums have been as a resource for our team. There were several problems that we had in building our robot, but the ones we couldn't figure out ourselves were figured out by the members of these forums. We can't thank you enough! We are a rookie team who built a robot in 13 days. It harvests, dumps, and pins other bots too. I call it a success :D

So to our problem.....

We can go to Atlanta because we got the All Star Rookie Award at the LA Regional this weekend, but our sponsor, Boeing, nor our school, will sponsor the $5,000 entry fee for Atlanta. We were told after the awards ceremony 'congratulations, but we can't go'. Now, I'm not gonna let it go like that. It's our rookie year, and we can go to Atlanta, so in my eyes, we HAVE to go to Atlanta.

So, does anyone know any sponsors who would be willing to pay our $5,000 entry fee? Even partial amounts would help, heck even $5 would help. You can have as many logos that will fit on our bot if you'd like :D We also have to pay the money by this Tuesday, March 14th. I'm sure we can spot the money though if sponsors can't get it by then.

Thanks so much, and we really hope we can get this $5,000!!!!!!

First off please read This e-mail blast. (http://www.usfirst.org/community/frc/content.aspx?id=12688)

You do need to make the decision by Monday whether or not you will go. and if you choose to go you'll need to fill out the info in TIMS.

As for the money ... there are a lot of funraising options (already pointed out in this thread). Leverage the Rookie All-Star award in any and all fundraising. Don't forget local newspapers (this tends to be a good 'feel good' story and is excellent PR ... Note: don't 'beg' in the papers, let them know your situation and that you want to go to the world championships).

Also, even though many of your sponsors may not be able to assist you monetarily, they may be willing to assist with mailing lists, printing mailings, Hosting a fundraiser and such. Use what you can.

Good luck.

[RoboMom]

Contact your Regional Director and your Senior Mentor for advice.

For RD: http://www.usfirst.org/regionalcontact.aspx

For Senior Mentor: http://www.usfirst.org/community/volunteers/content.aspx?id=3310

I would also consider the approach of the matching grant. Commit to raising x amount (by team fundraisers-there are tons of examples on these forums) if x company will match.
And it's not just the $5000 registration. Estimates I am hearing now is that teams should be looking at $500-600/per person for travel and hotels and food.
Contact a veteran team in your area for advice.

[Billfred]

Also keep in mind that while you have until Tuesday to decide (see Section 4.15.1), you have until April 10 to actually come up with the money if you can secure a Commitment Letter from a sponsor or purchase order from the school in the meantime. See here (http://www.usfirst.org/community/frc/content.aspx?id=460) on the FIRST site for the details. There are risks, obviously, in writing a PO for money you don't have--your school will surely enlighten you about them.

Don't forget about travel, either. The best airfare on Travelocity for LAX to ATL for Wednesday-Sunday is $350. Then add hotels, food, MARTA passes, the FIRST Finale tickets if you wish to attend, and you're looking at a significant cost to get any size of team there and back.

[Salbert]

Sikorsky (part of United Technologies) and Lockheed Martin are two big sponsors for MARS, maybe they can sponsor you guys too. I really hope you guys can go to Atlanta, it's amazing with nearly 400 teams.

[Lil' Lavery]

I'm going to echo many of the other posters. Talk to local companies and businesses, as many as possible. Have the students ask their parents to ask their employers if they can contribute.
Anything helps. $100 from a local restaurant, $500 from an auto shop, etc.

[mrmummert]

I too have to mirror what everyone has been saying...we won the same award
in our rookie year (2005) . We would'nt have even known we could go, but for the fact one of the members of the team had studied the awards and mentioned
it to our team leader. We made the decision to go on that saturday at the regional (Nasa/VCU) and scrambled to find the money to go. Our team leader
used some of her own family personal money to cover somethings until
grant money could be found to replace it. Also...contact your local school
board to see if they can allocate funds for this. Our local school board
has helped with transportation money and this year spent money to provide
us with a new place for the team (the reason we did'nt compete this year
was we had no place to build until this was done) We'll be back next year and
some of us are volunteering this year.

Its gonna take some fast wheeling and dealing to get what you need. Don't miss any opportunity to raise funds. We did one fund raiser that we made 700.00 off of.If anyone can make a temporary loan that can be covered you
could do that too.

You all being a new team...try to find ways to keep it cheap. While it would
be nice to take all team members...that first year we were faced with the possibility that only the very core of the team would have went. Luckly we
all were able to go. If its cheaper...find a hotel further out of Atlanta
where prices might be cheaper . We had to use a charter bus while
in Atlanta. A nearby team to us at the time (former team 616) flew down
except a couple of mentors who drove with tools and other stuff they needed. If you can find a hotel near the Marta transit system and have a
mentor or two who can drive your parts, tools and pit stuff there that could help.

I work for BAE SYSTEMS who sponsor a lot of First teams and events. I don't know how far from San Diego or San Francisco you are, but BAE does help out local teams in those areas (at least thru BAE's shipyards in those areas) Contact them and see if they could help. Do a web search for BAE SYSTEMS in California. There are also other groups from BAE
(besides BAE ship repair who i work for) who are sponsors for FIRST teams also. The local BAE group i work for sponsors 6 teams here.

[BurtGummer]

Thanks for all of the ideas everyone! I sent an email to the OC Register of southern California, since they already had an article for us during build week, so hopefully they can do a 'follow up' or results page, expressing our need for money to get to Atlanta.

Our school is a private school, so there is no district who will get us money. Our supporting teachers who have gotten a room for us to work in everyday talked to our principle, and he was the one who said the school can't support the $5,000 dollars......even though we are spending millions on new buildings.

Right now, we just want to get the $5,000. The airfare, lodging, and food, in our eyes, should be payed by the students if they want to go. If we can get more money for that stuff, then awesome, but we just want to be able to compete at this point.

I tried looking for an email for JPL and WDI, but I couldn't find any. If anyone has any contact information for possible sponsors, that would be greatly appreciated.

Feel free to PM me!

Thanks,
Sean, 3020

[RoboMom]

The stickys at the top of this thread are invaluable.
http://www.chiefdelphi.com/forums/forumdisplay.php?f=63

Also some hints here: http://www.firstnemo.org/resources.htm

[rsisk]

So, BurtGummer, any update on how you are doing raising funds to get to Atlanta?

[BurtGummer]

As of today, Boeing of Southern California will sponsor the $5,000 entry fee for Atlanta. Now we are in the process of seeing if the school will even let us go.......so we'll see how things end up.

[R.C.]

As of today, Boeing of Southern California will sponsor the $5,000 entry fee for Atlanta. Now we are in the process of seeing if the school will even let us go.......so we'll see how things end up.

Congrats guys and thank you BOEING for sponsoring us this season also.

[DustinWyke]

We are having some of the same problems with our team. But really REALLY push the "World Championships" issue. In our town at least we are the only team or group or anything to get to the world championships. So its a big deal. Grab a phone book and call all the businesses in the area. Great way to make $.
Some students might not be able to pay for lodging and flight and all that. All the extra should be distributed among the students.
This is what we are doing. I think its a good start.:)

[EricH]

We are having some of the same problems with our team. But really REALLY push the "World Championships" issue. In our town at least we are the only team or group or anything to get to the world championships.
Like the school needs more arm-twisting. They have the robotics team's qualification as roughly the second item in their news section on their website's front page... Thanks to the OC Register. Chalk one up to using the press to your advantage and keep fundraising.

Definitely push that it's the world championship and go straight to the top. Know what you are asking for, though. In this case, 2-3 more days off school and maybe some funding to travel.

For local businesses, tell them that you're going to the world championship and that anything they can donate will help, even if it's only $50 or the opportunity to do a fundraiser within the next couple of weeks.

[BurtGummer]

Well our administration had a meeting this afternoon regarding the matter.....and they did not reach a conclusion, which in my opinion is not a good thing. We wouldn't even miss school! It's right in the middle of our Spring Break. And yeah, the article on our website says we ca go to Atlanta, but that doesn't really mean anything when it comes to our administration. :(

[EricH]

Well our administration had a meeting this afternoon regarding the matter.....and they did not reach a conclusion, which in my opinion is not a good thing. We wouldn't even miss school! It's right in the middle of our Spring Break. And yeah, the article on our website says we ca go to Atlanta, but that doesn't really mean anything when it comes to our administration. :(In the middle of spring break? Then why does the administration need to make a decision on whether or not you can go?

Unless, of course, it's the whole "school activity during spring break" thing.

[BurtGummer]

Our school controls everything that is considered a part of it. The robotics 'club' is under the school, so no matter when it is, it is their decision.

[rsisk]

Well, keep on top of it. You have already cleared two HUGE issues, winning the Rookie All Star, and getting funding. We are all proud of your accomplishment so far.

Also, check you Private Messages.

[Team 135]

We knew way back that we had this problem. We wanted to go for sure and needed to get the money. First was calling us and we kept putting them off hoping we could tell them Yes for sure we are going. Finally we decided to talk to them and explain that we cold not make it because we did not have the money. The lady from first hung up and called GM and they agreed to pay the $5000. I think it would be acceptable for teams who are truly in need, to talk to first and see what they can do for you.

[JDeCola]

As of today, Boeing of Southern California will sponsor the $5,000 entry fee for Atlanta. Now we are in the process of seeing if the school will even let us go.......so we'll see how things end up.

Good Luck!! hope to see 3020 there!

[Team2339]

Be sure to let your administration know the basic purpose of education:
Apply knowledge in the real world.
Also point out the scholarship potentials and careers available through FIRST.
That is a money point, always effective.

[Teammax]

First of all congratulations!! Your team should be very proud.

As a mentor and the main person that handles the money on my team I am going to say something that is obviously not popular. We go to Atlanta every other year. We have wonderful sponsors that we do not 'over ask' for money and we have a good working relationship with them. Our team knows that even if we win something big we will be staying home this year. Also, our school understands our schedule so there are not many complants about loss of school time. Next year we are going to Atlanta. It is just the way it is. In my opinion, winning the rookie all star award is in no my diminished if you do not go. If you start planning now for next year you can register for both a regional and the championships.

I have found trying to rush a trip is very hard. Do-able yes but hard. It might be an oppurtunity to find new sponsors but is also might be a time to turn off existing sponsors when you ask for more money and they feel obligated to give it. So be careful. Also with such a tight time frame I have found that team members get left behind wether it is money constrants or time constrants. So the full team does not make the trip.

Maybe you can avoid these issues but at least be aware of what could happen when a trip is quickly thrown together.

I am not trying to be negative, honestly, but being realistic of the situation. If there is no plan going into the regional then it is hard to make one now.

[BurtGummer]

We got the OK from the school today, so we will be going to Atlanta. Now one of our teachers and an activities director want to raise $10,000 more for airfares.....we'll see how that works out. All other activities at our school are "pay your own fees if you want to go".

[EricH]

We got the OK from the school today, so we will be going to Atlanta. Now one of our teachers and an activities director want to raise $10,000 more for airfares.....we'll see how that works out. All other activities at our school are "pay your own fees if you want to go".
You can do it. Car washes, fundraisers with local restaurants...

OK, just see http://www.chiefdelphi.com/forums/forumdisplay.php?f=63 for more ideas, especially the sticky threads.

[keehun]

We got the OK from the school today


Congratulations! Wow, what an opportunity as a rookie team to be at Atlanta. I wish the best of luck with your fundraisers and competing in Atlanta!

Keehun
Team 2502

[FIRSTgirl675]

Try asking friends and family for smaller donations. This year, my team (675) lost all of our sponsors. My father and I went out and asked close friends and family for smaller donations of $100 (some were a lot more than that), and they so far have totaled over $6,400:ahh:!!!!! It has done a lot for our team, and I'm sure that if you make each person on your team go out and collect a few hundred each you can make enough money to send you to Georgia.

Good luck in your fundraising efforts!

[rsisk]

We got the OK from the school today, so we will be going to Atlanta. Now one of our teachers and an activities director want to raise $10,000 more for airfares.....we'll see how that works out. All other activities at our school are "pay your own fees if you want to go".

Seriously, check your Private Messages on ChiefDelphi and reply to the PM I sent you. I would like to help you out, but if I don't know how to donate, I won't be able to help.

[sillydrunkard]

As of today, Boeing of Southern California will sponsor the $5,000 entry fee for Atlanta. Now we are in the process of seeing if the school will even let us go.......so we'll see how things end up.

Would it be possible for you to email me your contact's name at Boeing? We're also sponsored by Boeing in Richardson and we're having some difficulty getting additonal funds for nationals. Perhaps we could put our contact in touch with your contact to help us get some traction on this...

[rsisk]

Congratulations, I see your team made it to Atlanta... and, is that a gyroscope I see in your robot? Nice :eek: