Chief Delphi - Corporate Sponsorship?

If it's helpful, I can say that 488 spent a bit more than $30,000 last year. That paid for the entry to the Pacific Northwest Regional and Championship Event, travel for the team to each event, dinner for about twenty people three times a week, and materials for our robot and ancillary activities.

We spend a lot of money per student because many wouldn't otherwise be able to afford even the modest expense of a trip to Portland. Teams from more economically affluent communities can probably rely more on their students to chip in and pay the cost of their travel.

In 2005 and 2006, we did not have a 'corporate sponsor' in the traditional sense, but relied almost entirely on donations to the team from employees at Microsoft and Boeing as well as grants. Both Microsoft and Boeing match employee donations to non-profit organizations, but it took awhile for us to amass the money needed to pay back the mentors we borrowed from as the season went along. I would not expect all mentors to be so generous with their bank accounts -- we're just a little crazy.

This season, because of the word spread along by those who've donated to us in the past, at least some folks higher up the food chain at area companies have begun to notice our program and how quickly it's grown. Additionally, we've brought DeVry University on board thanks to how closely we worked with them during the season by asking them to send representatives to our team meetings and to Portland so as to engage our students in planning for their college educations.

Sometimes you'll be fortunate and you can make a cold pitch to someone and get some funding from them, but more often than not, you'll need to do some legwork for a while to build a relationship with people who can help you to get what you need.