[PhilBot]

Originally Posted by JesseK

Do we allow teams with large fundraising opportunities in their community to simply slack and take the easier road of applying for a grant? It is my opinion that we do not.

I don't want to speek for Bilfred here, but in my case I wasn't proposing that the grant be used for getting to Nationals. My idea was that it could be used to fund a worthwile outreach or technology awareness project, proposed by the team.

I assume that Teams without good community involvement already, don't win Chairmans or Engineering Inspiration awards... So one assumes they are already heavilly tapped into the sponsor loop.

What I'm proposing is that instead of FIRST saying.... "Good Job! you get to pay to go to Nationals".... FIRST could say. "Good Job! can we help you get EVEN MORE outreach with a Grant."

It seems like a much bigger bang for the buck all around. Maybe it could be a matching grant to get the community sponsors even more involved (I come from a rural communuty without large cooporate sponsors, so it's always a grass roots campaign)

Phil.