Re: Team Budget Per Season
 

If you're at an event with 4481 and don't run into them, you're making a big mistake. It would be hard to make that mistake because:
1) Most of them are ~2m tall and dressed out in bright orange
2) They'll probably come talk to you

---

Large disparities in team expenses come from the difference between team-paid travel, team-subsidized travel, and individual travel. Consequently, you can also see a sizable disparity between teams that charge fees that are all inclusive (all travel and apparel) teams that charge fees that cover certain expenses (our team fee in the past went to apparel and our local event only, for example) and teams that do not have a team fee (one major team I can think of is 696, IIRC).

We budget for the cash we have on hand during transitions between operating years. For example, we have ~$55k cash on hand right now so we have a budget that is lower than that. Any money we raise during the 2015-2016 Operational Year will go to the 2016-2017 Operational Year unless the sponsor wishes otherwise (ie a sponsor gives us $3000 to go buy a trailer and put their name on it RIGHT NOW). Since we have... difficulties... arranging direct funding of the team through the Governor's School Foundation, we have students pay their own way through lightly subsidized travel and students who have earned their way but can't afford it are fully subsidized individually through the foundation.

It's important to understand that a majority of the teams who will give the information you are requesting probably are what I would call tier 2 or tier 3 teams.

Tier 1 - Low Resource Team
Tier 2 - Sustainable Team
Tier 3 - Competitive Team
Tier 4 - High Volume Competitive Team
Tier 4+ - Powerhouse

Low resource teams go through <$10k /year, Sustainable Teams go through less than <30k/year, competitive teams <50k, and HVCTs and powerhouses eat up more than 50k in a year.

Being unfamiliar your membership level, potential burden for travel, workshop availability, general geography and demographics of Eastern Ontario, and most importantly, your goals puts me in a tough spot as to any direct advice. While teams can get by on less, I think getting above the $10k hump is something all teams should go for if they can.

Also stretching your dollar is something you should always do, no matter what kind of team you have. Re-use that COTS part, save your stock, etc. Look for in-kind donations that can enhance team capabilities like a dedicated location for robot practice. Look at presentations and other resources online on how to develop a winning formula at any level through the gospel of FRC Strategic Design. And feel free to come here or shoot off PMs any time (but avoid the political and CJ threads if you value your soul; it's too late for me)

Re: Team Budget Per Season
 

On the LigerBots, we spent $46k in 2014, while last year we spent almost $47k. However, both years we went to Worlds, which gets expensive when driving from just outside Boston to St. Louis. Without counting Worlds, we spent approximately 12.5k and 18.5k respectively. We would have spent more, but we didn't have the money.Money for Worlds tends to come mostly from parents paying travel costs, and additional sponsorship money.

We are currently reusing stock, primarily from the RR bot. One of the reasons is something you might want to think about doing, which is demonstrations. Let's face it, 2015 was not an exciting game. Nobody wants to look at things stacking crates (unless it's like the Scorpion from 246). We are using the stock we used for RR to fix our 2014 bot, for outreach events, because catapult bots are way cooler than stacker bots. Try hooking up with local stores to set up a demonstration in a parking lot and have a donation box. Do fundraisers, make a website with a donation button. If all else fails, try going to other towns to find sponsors.

If you want more specific help, I'd like more specifications on your current budget. I'm the LigerBots (student) treasurer, so if your sponsors would like an example of what other teams finances can look like, feel free to ask. ;)

Re: Team Budget Per Season
 

On my old team students were expected to pay their own ticket and hotel if we made it to Champs. That being said each year our school gave us 7500, which was the cost of one regional and Champs every other year. Later on we acquired a grant that would also pay for the NYC regional.
As for transportation to the events, our school would give us a bus. Some students would provide their own transportation if they liked. Going to NYC one year our drive team and a few others took the train, which saved us when the bus got delayed and we were still able to compete in out first match.

On my new team we have sponsors help donate to offset the cost of regionals and tool. Our rookie year we spent about $22k. That was the cost of materials for the robot, regional and champs entrance fee, travel expenses covered for the whole team, and tools. Our team got a buss and hotels for champs for a pretty fair price.

Re: Team Budget Per Season
 

We spend between $25-40k a year, the majority of that goes for travel with a team about ~15 to an away regional/Championship.

The school district has been generous and has paid for the first two regional registrations, with a promise for Championship registration if we earn an invite, and given us between $1000-1500 of money to spend at AndyMark (via a bulk PO for all the district teams). The rest has been raised mostly through corporate donors, with traveling students usually paying in the neighbourhood of $150 to help offset travel costs.

Wetzel

Re: Team Budget Per Season
 

We too are a rural Ontario team located relatively close to you. Our annual team budget has grown from about $18K when we were based in a school and attended one regional to roughly $70K now. We attend 3 regional events and cover student's travel and accommodation costs which includes flights to Calgary and travel to St. Louis.

We are a small team (18) so fundraising is always a struggle, but we have worked on our approach and materials so now manage to raise close to $45K each year from industry sponsors.

Students pay roughly $400 in registration fees but must fulfill certain commitments to the team (ie build hours, sponsorship, etc.)

Dan, we would be happy to share some of our fundraising materials with you guys and talk more about how we raise our funds (who and how we tend to approach businesses).

Send me a PM or contact us on our website cybergnomes.ca. Good luck and we will see you in North Bay.

Re: Team Budget Per Season
 

Depending on whether we go to the local KC regional or travel, our budget varies. When we stay local, our budget is around 19k. However, when we travel that number bumps up to 31k. We lost our two biggest fundraisers this year and we travel...we need more fundraising ideas to be able to attend our regional this year...and our CFO last year let the team spend over 50k on many long-term events.