[Pat Arnold]

MARS asks each student to fundraise, both by helping at team activities (car washes, a homecoming carnival booth, a "Guitar Hero" tournament) and by soliciting business or family sponsorships. Each student is expected to bring in $175.

As stated in other posts, we too have found this responsibility to be an effective way to find students who are willing to invest some effort into the team, so that we end up with committed members by the time robot build begins. With over 40 active students for the last 2 years, members don't appear to find the task too difficult. One mentor with an advertising background provides a fundraising workshop each fall explaining how to approach businesses. A deadline for earning $ is set in late Nov. or early Dec.

Outcome: We currently have 2 main business sponsors together contributing $11,000 and approx. 50 small business supporters who donate anywhere from $25 to $2,000 each.