[Jon Stratis]

Definitely come up with a budget. Your coaches should have a good idea of the average expenditures for your team. A rough example might be:

5,000 - registration
5,000 - Robot parts
1,000 - PR/Team supplies
5,000 - Travel
3,000 - Second event registration
etc...

Once you have your base budget, you can start looking at additional items. For example develop a "wish list" of tooling - once you have your basic budget covered, you can raise money specifically for your wish list. You might also have a wish list for projects. Want to try swerve drive out in the off season? Figure out how much it's going to cost (buying swerve modules/raw materials if you're making them yourself, control system components, robot frame, etc) and fund raise specifically for that project!

You also want to start some savings for the team. My team has always managed to bring in a little more than we've spent, and as a result paying for champs this year wasn't all that bad - we got a little more from existing sponsors, and didn't have to do any major fundraising effort for it.