Re: Local government ordinance hampers Beatty finances.
 

I find it interesting that the money would be going into the towns "general fund". If I was 71 - I'd be approaching my city about a plausible sponsorship. For a program that brings so much publicity to the town, I would think the City could throw some of that 71's way.

Re: Local government ordinance hampers Beatty finances.
 

This is why I have been preaching sponsor diversification to my team for the past year. Because if you only have a few sponsors that each hash out a large sum/yr, and one or more take a hit, you're screwed. Teams that have more sponsors than people are the teams with eternal staying power.

Maybe this will serve as a lesson to other successful teams to prepare. I know my own team was this dependent with Ford and had moderate success, and when Ford pulled sponsorship on us for a year, we went into a debt that we still haven't climbed out of.

Re: Local government ordinance hampers Beatty finances.
 

I truly hope that Team 71 can find a way to continue and that the Beatty family is somehow able to still provide support.

Sustainability is such a tough issue that cant be avoided when doing such an expensive and time consuming program. Teams almost have to reinvent themselves constantly, much the same way in robot prototyping/construction if they want to experience continued success.

However, nothing lasts forever.
As a HOF team, I know that at some point before I leave the school, we have to find someone to take over, much the same way as our current mentors who are almost all retired.
Transitioning to new mentors and/or new sponsors that you are accustomed to, is much much harder than trying to build robots year after year. We have been transitioning year after year on the sponsorship part, getting as much as we can and diversifying where and what we support in our program.