Quote:
Originally Posted by kinganu123
I talked to 1640, sab-BOT-tage and they as well have created their own llc
From what I remember, the school was increasingly less supportive of the program. Eventually, they moved into a warehouse/machine shop that a sponsor generously allowed them to use. As an organization, in addition to FRC costs, they also have to purchase insurance and whatnot. It probably helps that they also have a decent amount of mentors who devote their time to the team
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Yes. To be specific:
What kind of arrangements do you make?
When we first had to leave in build season of 2008, we had no arrangements. In 2011 "Downingtown Area Robotics, Inc" registered as our own non-profit (non stock) in Pennsylvania, to include our FRC, VEX and FLL teams. We've worked with a STEM 501(c)3 owned by our lead VEX mentor to handle donations, and are currently working on acquiring our own 501(c)3 for 2013.
How do you handle legal responsibility?
Downingtown Area Robotics, Inc has liability insurance that includes riders for all locations/situations in which we work. We currently split this cost between FRC, VEX and FLL fundraising. We also build "parent trust" factor with open communication and meetings and school-like travel permission forms.
How did the transition happen?
In 2008, our original school district went on strike in the middle of build season. The school-team relationship never returned to the pre-2008 situation, though the district did let us move back in after the strike for a couple weeks and then found us a home in an unused vocational lab and then an unused warehouse. When that warehouse went on sale, we moved through a few (very) short-term stays with the district before striking out on our own with the gracious support of Waterloo Gardens, who has let us work in one of their unused warehouses for this year. This warehouse is also on the market.
What kinds of bumps in the road did you encounter?
We've been in 11 homes over the past 5 years, and our current one is also on the market. We ran into confusion in registering as a corporation as well as continued difficulty in 501(c)3 tax-exempt registration, which makes some sponsorships difficult. There are some sponsors and grants we're simply not eligible for without a stronger school relationship. The lack of a teacher also poses difficulties with in-school recruitment and relationship-building. We as mentors have also learned more than the pre-2008 versions about teaching and teacher style issue-handling.
Where does the team work now?
As above, we (FRC and VEX, occasionally FLL) work in an absolutely wonderful (and
huge) vacant warehouse provided by Waterloo Gardens. We heated it ourselves (portable heaters) in the winter, but they cover many utilities (as they'd need to keep the pipes from freezing anyway). It also helps with their insurance, as vacant warehouses aren't a favorite of many insurance agencies. Unfortunately, it's up for sale, and we are looking at other sponsor opportunities as well as moving back into a school district or Intermediate Unit building.
Can you make this process scalable?
I wouldn't recommend making our exact process scalable, but I think the school club --> corporation/501(c)3 with sponsor home transition is quite doable.