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Team #3020 Needs your help more than ever!
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!!!!!! |
Re: Team #3020 Needs your help more than ever!
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 |
Re: Team #3020 Needs your help more than ever!
Just so you know Tuesday is the 17th and today is the 14th, you might want to double check when it is due.
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Re: Team #3020 Needs your help more than ever!
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 from this website. Here is a second one 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! |
Re: Team #3020 Needs your help more than ever!
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. |
Re: Team #3020 Needs your help more than ever!
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. |
Re: Team #3020 Needs your help more than ever!
Quote:
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. |
Re: Team #3020 Needs your help more than ever!
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/vol...t.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. |
Re: Team #3020 Needs your help more than ever!
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 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. |
Re: Team #3020 Needs your help more than ever!
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.
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Re: Team #3020 Needs your help more than ever!
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. |
Re: Team #3020 Needs your help more than ever!
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. |
Re: Team #3020 Needs your help more than ever!
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 |
Re: Team #3020 Needs your help more than ever!
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 |
Re: Team #3020 Needs your help more than ever!
So, BurtGummer, any update on how you are doing raising funds to get to Atlanta?
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