The company has filed for chapter 11. That is not speculation or second guessing, its the reality of the situation.
Read this report:
http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20051010/...auto_delphi_dc
and then tell us if you think Delphi is going to close plants, lay people off, ask many employees to take a cut in pay, and then continue to make charitable contributions to HS FIRST teams?
Chapter 11 means the company owes money that it cannot repay: suppliers and creditors. Outside agencies become involved in overseeing how every dollar is spent. How can the company tell a supplier or creditor "we owe you money and cant pay it, but we are still going to donate $50k, or $100k, or $500k to these charitable organizations this year" ?
This is a very serious situation for teams sponsored by the company. From my experience, large companies become tight lipped and very cold at times like these, and you wont get any warning that you are losing your funding, or that you are losing your job until the very day it happens.
Its october 10th, we are well into the school year. I would be busy looking for backup funding for this year incase the company is not able to support your team. That way, you are covered no matter what happens. If you take a wait and see approach, and the worse case hits you, its going to be very hard to fund a team on short notice for this years regionals.