[pribusin]

What has worked for us in the past is to contact a local business to setup an 'informational interview'. If we want to find out about how to do something, like making a better battery spill kit (baking soda really isn't that effective apparently), we contact several companies in the area to ask if they would share their knowledge. More times than not a company will become a sponsor and either donate parts and products or become a financial donor. If you go in asking for money right up front we found that our success rate was much lower.