[TheOtherGuy]

I'm a college mentor for 4183. I've been a bit busy the past week or so setting up some work for my senior capstone project, so I haven't been able to keep in touch with the team since we got the news. From hearsay, it appears that the school doesn't want to deal with financing a team whose budget is in the mid 5-digits, as the school is relatively small and most clubs require little resources. So, I do believe that with a little push, we could get our club reinstated with the school.

That said, I've also had time to think about the formation of a 501(c)3 organization. Now, I'm very split on the issue, so I'd like to open the discussion up a little more: would it be more beneficial for a team to continue their affiliation with a school, or create a city-wide non-profit organization open to students from any school (provided both are available options)?

I'm actually leaning towards the non-profit. BASIS, fantastic as it is, doesn't have an enormous need for a FIRST team (almost 100% of students, if not that, make it into college, and quite a few in STEM areas). By forming a local organization, we can recruit students from lower income areas, have more freedom with our finances and work space, and enable the club to exist uncontested. My old FRC team is in their 8th year and now on their 5th teacher sponsor. Although they're still successful, I've noticed the well known teams have a consistent mentor/teacher base that enables them to be stable for much longer periods.

The way I see it, we can either fight for our right to be a team, or we can turn this little push by the administration around and become a much stronger, community-based team. Opinions?