[Matt Reiland]

Here is some of my ideas - as a sponsor

Allot of the members on CD have come up with innovative ways to collect money and support their team. Some have problems, other have the so called 'Mega Sponsor' that seems to have endless cash and resources, at least to people not affiliated with the team. Our team is somewhere in the middle but I think the team is going to have to start listening up to threads like this. Many may think that once you get someone like GM as a sponsor it is smooth sailing, everything is taken care of. Well, I think that unless you constantly keep up on everything, and do the important followup up items as listed by dm0ney above, your team may be in more trouble than you think. As a sponsor and engineer on my team, I think that our team does a 'dismal' job at fund-raising and I feel like our donation to the team is often taken for granted and sometimes even wasted by the team. Most students, I feel, expect the money to roll in each year as a large hand out with essentially no work required to get it. However, if your team puts all it's eggs in one basket........ Times change at companies, especially right now with this economy. All of the teams that have the Big 3 or Tier I,II,III suppliers as their main sponsor may find that the 'Mega' sponsor can't give what they used to.

I truly believe that each team should have a basic requirement of each student regardless of how much a main sponsor donates to the team. In my mind, and thinking way back to the days when I had to fund-raise, it shows a commitment to the team.

What would I do for a fundraiser - Well I can tell you what I have seen recently that works. In Michigan we pay up front for recycling, 5-10 cents per bottle or can. I usually save up a garbage can of them (actually quite quickly) in my garage and dread going to the supermarket to put them into the machine 1 by 1. Every once an a while a fundraiser comes to my house and instead of begging me to BUY something from them, they ask if there is any way that can take my empty cans and bottles off my hands as a donation. I immediately pop open the garage and give them the whole thing probably 20-25 bucks worth. Based on seeing the car going around the neighborhood, I know it is successful. Along the same lines, at a Jimmy Buffet concert I saw some kids collecting cans in the parking lot after the concert started and they filled up the entire pickup and had to come back!!!

So my opinion is, look at ways you can fund-raise without requiring people to fork over a bunch of cash and it will be successful. Also, don't put all your effort behind a single sponsor in the event that that one sponsor either lowers their donation or maybe even drops the sponsorship completely and you will have great success.