[Tom Line]

I think setting up a call would be a great idea. Have everyone submit questions here on Chief Delphi and then have a couple mentors select the best questions to be asked on the call.

For a second, pretend you are the person running all of FIRST. You goal - your hope - is that someday you will create a self-sustaining program that doesn't rely on goodwill and contributions to continue functioning. Then you see financial statements like you see on the FIRST site, that clearly show without all that good will, your awesome program wouldn't exist.

Then you sit down with your program leaders and start talking about things like... liability. Insurance. Acts-of-God. You compare your balance sheet and your $8 million in the pocket to what you're hearing: One lawsuit (say from a major injury at a competition.. like a lost finger, or lost eyesight, etc etc) could wipe you out in legal fees. One major sponsor pulling out could bankrupt you inside 2 years. One act-of-god could destroy your National Championship (like...say a tornado) and you would either have to refund all that money or pay out-of-pocket to get another location on incredibly short notice....

In my opinion, $8 million isn't much cash. I'd say FIRST is healthy - but if I were running it I'd still be pretty darn nervous that a single event could spell disaster.