In the past we had an unimaginable amount of money in a buisness partnership acount. The money was supposed to be set aside for the robotics team, but the superintendent felt otherwise. So instead of being well funded for the next 10 years, we find funds here and there.
Because of the feeling that funds were not managed well and the reasons stated by others we started a booster club in order to keep an eye on things. It is not the ideal situation, but it helps get things on a Saturday night, when the school credit card is nowhere to be found, and the robot ships Tuesday
Our main funds are still handled by the school, and large donations go to them, but the smaller stuff like food and travel expenses can be handled by the booster club.