[Qbot2640]

Non-school-based teams are becoming more and more common each year in NC for these reasons. We're in the process of creating our own independent organization as a 501c3 - and buying our own liability insurance. We operated generally as an independent organization this year, and all of the situations where the school was involved ended up being disasters. If we would have strictly followed school rules this year, we would not have fielded a robot, and we would have had to be "no-shows" at our week 1 event, because the school tried to shut us down for a snowstorm that was predicted to hit locally AFTER we would have already made it to Palmetto. The team ended up getting their parents' to sign waivers and we went as a non-sanctioned trip. I was particularly proud that every single member still attended, and we had 100% support from the parents.

From my experiences thus far: Obtaining an EIN to create the organization and open a bank account - free via online form / Requesting 501c3 status...small to moderate budget teams (<$50,000) can do this with the EZ form and the cost is $400 / One year of liability insurance - estimates $800 - $1200.
Add it all up, and it is less than the difference between fuel for private vehicles and the cost of a charter bus for one moderate-distance trip.

We need the school's support to allow our field trips to be excused absences, and to recognize the kids' accomplishment - but they provide us no space and no money, and the level of liability-paranoia makes it impossible (not "difficult"..."impossible") to operate within the rules.