You don't really need 50K...

Team 114 operates yearly on an average of 30K. We do three regionals, but it's not that much different to stretch that up to be two regionals and Champs, which is actually what we're thinking of doing this year. 16K goes into competitions, fixed. Next up is the bot, which is actually like 5k realistically. The other 9k goes to keeping the program running, which means paying for tools that break, supplies for side projects, and shipping and so on. The students pay their own travel fees, which actually doesn't come out to that much. We fly up to PNW, and the whole trip usually rounds out to 500 per student. It's a bit stiff, but it's our favorite regional (IMHO, the best in the US!). SVR is local to us, so team members drive individually there. The Davis regional, near Sacramento, we all caravan down in buses, so hotel and food is all that needs to be paid. That usually comes out to 100-150 per student, with a bit of budgeting.

Our team operates on that budget by not paying for student travels. However, in the past we've had members who can't pay for the trip, and are an essential part of the team. When that happens, the team will then pay for that student.

50k is a little overkill, though it's a nice budget to shoot for.