Quote:
Originally posted by generalbrando
That's what I'd like to see happen with MassFIRST. I'm still somewhat torn on the idea of charging money. This is why I hate money.
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The teams got to understand that nothing in the world comes free. It is very nice that there are all these people caring about FIRST very much and want to give free workshops or competitions to the teams, but if the teams can't even afford a little money for an off season competition, or taking workshops, then they are going to have a really hard time.
The bottom line is, it takes money to provide quality service. The point is that you don't rip teams off charging them. Couple a hundred dollars for entering an offseason competition is more than fair compare to the few thousand dollars FIRST charge for regionals. $5 per person take take an all day workshop learning a great deal about engineering and other business related area is more than fair for the students.
By charging an resonable amount of money, the organizating running the events have a source of income, and can continue to provide to service in the coming years. Getting sponsors to support the short term events are nice, but in the long run it is much more healthier to use those sponsor money in investment in the organization, such as getting equipments you can use for a long time, or building up the organization itself.
The organizations will do a lot more good if they live to continue the service they provide to teams instead of doing it for a couple of years and stop because of lack of resources.