Quote:
Originally Posted by TheNotoriousKid
I don't wanna seem like a killjoy...but I don't believe this is an appropriated thread for CD.
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I disagree with that, and don't see the harm in sharing some generalized financials for estimating purposes, or for comparison.
That said....
Quote:
Originally Posted by Andy L
A few questions
1. How much money does your team usually spend on a robot??
this includes tools you break or need new ones of, replacement parts, metal, practice robots, field, bolts, rivets, etc. etc.
NOT including shipping, competition entry fees, flying to comps
2. How much money does your team get from sponsors??
3. How much money do your team members donate to your team??
4. How many different services do you get from sponsors??
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1) Depends, but usually about half of the allowed 3 grand or $1500 on the robot accounted for in the BOM go into the robot as parts. As far as tools, we use the machine shop at the HS we build at (which we have gotten a lot of (used, and some new) machines* donated to by sponsors, or contacts through industry through our 10 years, most donations at very minimal, or zero cost to us or our school)
*Millers, Lathes, Bandsaws, Plasma cutter, CAD Stations.. etc.)
2) Up to and including 5 grand from any given sponsor. We are very proud of the fact that we are a multi-sponsor team, and also fundraise (both students & adult members at times) to pay for our operating costs.
Being a 501(c)3 non-profit organization attracts bigger sponsors, and gives them a tax break for sponsorship.
Look up 501(c)3 here on CD for more info about that.
3) All team members fundraise throughout the year, and are given personal goals to be determined by the costs of things throughout the season to cover their travel and competition costs.
Whatever any member has not been able to fundraise or raise in other ways they are responsible for if they want to travel with us.
4) We have sponsors give us money of course, and then also donations for Pasta & Pancake fundraisers we have throughout the year. We also have some sponsors help us by fabricating custom parts. (Cutting out metal parts on CNC, etc..) As well as the machinery donations from both sponsors, and community contacts.
I'm actually quite surprised you haven't asked what a team's yearly budget was.
I'm not sure what it is nowadays, but I know when I first joined the team it was somewhere in the range of above 25 grand (which isn't too hard to imagine if your team competes in 2 regionals (6 grand + 5 grand), The Championship Event (6 grand), and build a robot as well (3 grand limit) plus all the travel expenses associated with at least 25 students participating my first year.
I know teams who get by on a lot less, and I know teams who have probably 100 grand per year to play around with.
I would say this year, we are midrange of those numbers.
(No single member gets paid on our team for their time involved since it's completely volunteer based, so we can't even add that cost in which would make it go up even more in some cases.)
Probably somewhere in the 30k-40k range.
Teams can exist at any level of funding, & it's what you do with that funding that makes the difference.
Great topic of discussion!