How Much Does it Cost to Run a Team?
 

So my school is considering trying to start an FRC team (we currently have an FTC team) but we would need to raise the money. We have some ideas as to how we could do this, but we need to know how much we need. I looked at the FIRST website and it seems like it's about 15k for 2 regionals, the championship event, and the kit of parts, but is this all we would want or need? So how much money does your team spend each year?

Re: How Much Does it Cost to Run a Team?
 

Short Answer: If I was intending to do 2 regionals + champs, I probably wouldn't want to do it on a budget much less than $20,000.

Long Answer: To give a more accurate number, your team needs to make some decisions. Travel costs are often second only to registration fees in terms of expenditure (depending on team size and distance to events). If the team does not subsidize trips at all, it will allow the team to operate on a significantly smaller budget, but at the cost of shifting a sizable monetary burden over to the students. Similar choices have to be made for team apparel, food during meetings, and so on.

The price of the robot itself and parts beyond the KOP is greatly affected by your machining capabilities. If you have extensive machining resources, you can probably build a robot on less money since you can make better use of raw materials. For example, if you have good sheet metal capabilities, you can basically build your entire robot out of riveted aluminum sheet metal assemblies, which can be a very economical way to construct a robot. Anyway, to make a bit of a generalization, I would aim for at least $2000 for additional robot parts. You can most definitely build a robot on way less (I've done it myself...), but $2000 will give you more options (conversely, you can spend the full allowable $3500 on a robot, but it is by no means necessary to be competitive).

Re: How Much Does it Cost to Run a Team?
 

Are you just paying for events or are you counting in robot parts, prototyping supplies, tools, and all the other stuff that add up to a ton?

Re: How Much Does it Cost to Run a Team?
 

A rookie team, just out of reality in this economy, should not be thinking about 2 regionals and the championships unless you have a lot of really great mentors who have done this for a while (Like, 2826.... mentors from 93 ;) )

But then don't listen to me because I never started a team..

Re: How Much Does it Cost to Run a Team?
 

Not true, they already have a good FTC team running so they are well on there way to an FRC team. If they do there homework and fundraising they can "easily" do 2 and Atlanta, we did. Just make sure to have a solid plan to follow during the season and solid people to stand behind it. Its very hard work, but its not impossible.

By the way, Monty feel free to contact me if you want to talk about this. We know a bit about converting from FTC to FRC. :P

Re: How Much Does it Cost to Run a Team?
 

If your a rookie team, your not going to have to worry about paying for championships until at least march of next year (rookie criteria)*

$ 6,000 for the 1st regional and KOP**

$ 4,000 for the second regional**

$500 decorations/t-shirts etc.

$x,xxx travel expenses (if your going to a second regional, it would be cheaper to go to a regional that's nearby. ie: Midwest/Wisconsin, Oregon/MSR, SILPI/NY). get the students to fundraise for their trip using candy fundraisers/HEX-BUG fundraisers etc. so that they can pay their own way there

$2,000 Robot expenses, (if your school has a shop class or stagecraft, you might want to check with them to see what tools they have and if they would be willing to let your team use them. If not, look around for a sponsor to help you out (Lowe's, Home Depot, ACE. etc.)... or of course, you can go at it the old fashion way and just buy all the equipment by making an argument that it would be useful for a shop class/stagecraft)

$0 Food (during build, our team would do something that would work, students would sign up on days where their parents would bring in a home cooked meal for the team... or the parents would just pay for the food that we bought to eat for that evening).

$500 Practice field construction/use/maintenance (optional, if there is a team that is willing to let you use their practice field. by all means. practice on it. return the favor though, weather by one of the parents covering for lunch for both teams etc.)

$1,500 Mis. Expenses. It's always good to know that your team has some money to fall back on if something does get pricier than what you guys were expecting.

I would recommend making a business plan on which the team has a proper budget that you can present to a teacher/school administration/sponsors. But then again, you would need to know where EXACTLY that money is coming from.... that's a whole different story.

Your total budget should come out to somewhere between $12,000 to $17,000

* You cannot open register for the Championship in your rookie year, you must win either the regional in which you attend, or win the Rookie All-Star award at the given regional. full details can be found here

**If you live in Michigan, this does not apply to your, your cost is actually $5,000 for the KOP and two district events, and an additional $500 to attend a third district event. it is $5,000 to attend the State Championship though.

Re: How Much Does it Cost to Run a Team?
 

Noting their location (Philly):

$6000--KOP+Philly Regional

$500--T-shirts/promotional

$200--practice field--may vary by year

$2000-3500--Additional robot materials

$1000--hand power tools (drill, hacksaw, etc.). May be less if you already have said tools.

$8000--Funds to keep you going for one more year assuming no fundraising (or a recession). May be accumulated over 2-3 years.

Total:$17,700-$19,200 for one event; add $4000 registration and extra for travel for each additional event (except for CMP, when it's $5000).

Someone's probably going to come in here and say that half of this stuff is unnecessary, and they're right: the only required part of this is the $6000. However, the rest is "expected" of a team.

For my old team, who did 2regionals + Championship for as long as anyone can remember (until this year), we figured $15,000 registration, probably around $4000 for robot parts and materials, $500 for shirts and stuff like that, and travel was paid mainly by the students and parents. (All numbers are approximate or guesses or both, except registration.) And I know I'm missing some things...

Re: How Much Does it Cost to Run a Team?
 

Over the course of a season, especially a rookie season, it is not difficult to spend $6000 in addition to regional registration costs. And that's not including travel There are more costs that come up than you will ever realize at this point. Can it be done on the cheap with little more than the KOP? Yes. Can it be done better with more money? Absolutely. I would not start an FRC team without a minimum of $11,000, and at least one person who has done it for at least two years previously.

Re: How Much Does it Cost to Run a Team?
 

If your serious about starting a team, start looking for potential sponsors and see what's out there. Start with one regional and Champs. Especially for the first year. My $.02

Re: How Much Does it Cost to Run a Team?
 

A good budget plan would be 2 regionals, plus funds in reserve for the Championship if you should qualify - $15000. Plus robot and other expenses of $2000-$5000. Then decide on travel costs, whether it would be covered by the team or the students. If you don't end up spending that $5000 plus travel for the Championship the first year, you have it in reserve to get you started the next year.

And there is absolutely nothing wrong with starting out slower, planning on only one regional. You could do that for about $10000, maybe slightly less. Hopefully you could go to a local regional and not have travel costs.

I firmly believe that every student should have some financial stake in the program. This gives the students more of a feel of ownership for the team. The amount may vary by team based on your demographics. Do all students in your area typically have several hundred dollars of discretionary funds, or would $50 be a stretch for them? In addition, each team member should be responsible for some fundraising. They would get a credit share for doing things like carwashes, serving in a restaurant, or soliciting local businesses. They would get individual credit for things like candy sales. These funds could be used to offset travel costs. There are several CD threads on fundraising.

Re: How Much Does it Cost to Run a Team?
 

Not to change the subject but only 2 mentors on 2826 had ever done FIRST before.

As for the budget i agree with just about everything that has been said. We, 857, are a small town team and our budget this year was about $35,000. We went to 2 Michigan district events and are going to Atlanta. We don't charge the high schoolers anything except for their shirts, so our travel costs are more expensive than the registration fees and building the robot, that is why our budget is so big.

Your budget really comes down to what you can get and what you plan to do during the year.

Re: How Much Does it Cost to Run a Team?
 

I wouldn't plan on doing 2 regionals and championships your first year unless you have some very experienced mentorship. Start off with just one regional, and championships if you qualify.

As far as actual money goes, take into account what tools you have and what tools you need. If you're starting from scratch you're going to invest a significant sum in tools. Erich listed $1000 for hand power tools, but if you're really at nothing right now, it could easily go higher. Power drills, bits, saws, blades, the list goes on. And none of it is particularly cheap.

If you feel you can raise the money for a second regional, I would highly recommend skipping it your rookie year, and investing that money in tools that can be used to make you more competitive in the future, as well as using it to try to get your students practice using all of them in the off season, as well as practice prototyping new devices, and reading up on basics for electrical systems, pneumatics, motors, etc.

Re: How Much Does it Cost to Run a Team?
 

What people have put in above sounds right. Important part of FIRST is the business and learning from it. NEMO (non-engineering) is just as important as building the robot.

Start at a reasonable level and build from there. I agree with comment above, FTC is a great start.

Another note. As they said being a rookie you can not go to Champs, but being an experienced team you might win all-star rookie like we did and qualify to go to Champs. So you will have to decide at your last regional to go or not and spend the shipping costs. Later you can raise the cost to enter champs, for it is easier to raise money for a winning team.

Re: How Much Does it Cost to Run a Team?
 

We put together a budget to help start a new team in Indy, and estimated at about $10,000 - $12,000 for the first year.

This included going to one regional, hotels, transportation, basic tools to start, extra robot materials, some t-shirts and that was about it.

Remember NASA provides some grants to first and second year teams, but you have to apply and have a good plan for your team. Look at the application process for 2009 teams, and get a feel for what is needed. A NASA grant would pay your FIRST entry fee (kit of parts), but may require that you go to a specific regional.

Items to include in your roll-up

Entry Fee
Basic Hand Tools (screwdrivers, socket set, wrenches, allen wrenches, hammers, hand saws, drill bits, etc.)
Power Tools (hand drills, small drill press, jig saw, small tabletop band saw)
Materials (motors, spare batteries, actuators, sensors, spare control components)
raw materials (aluminum, nuts and bolts, tubing, wire)

Hotel rooms
Meals
T-shirts
Give-Away items
Transportation (bus rental, van rental, gas for personal vehicles)

Re: How Much Does it Cost to Run a Team?
 

$15k-$20k for 2-3 events is a good estimate.

If you need help organizing, applying for the NASA grant, or building, you are more than welcome to contact my team (hit me at jared@team341.com) or any of the other great veteran teams in the Philadelphia area.

Where, more precisely, is your school?