[EricH]

I think it will be a good thing if GM cuts back on monetary support for a few years. Leave the mentor support and as much facility support as you can spare from restructuring, but cut back the money drastically over about 2 years (if given that long).

The teams that don't go down will be stronger than ever. They will know how to raise money, maybe even supporting the teams that don't while they learn fundraising. raumeister and Don are dead on as to where your money can (should be) coming from. If you are dependent on one major sponsor to the point where your team will collapse if they stop funding you, you need to diversify. Small sponsors and fundraisers are the way to go. (And trust me, I took one look at that fundraiser for 68 and thought "They made THAT MUCH off one fundraiser? Why didn't I think of that one? How would I get a team into that sort of thing?")

If you can have a solid foundation even though you lose a key sponsor, you will be in for the long haul. I know that for a while, the students on my old team could fundraise more money by doing little things like car washes and "eat at X restaurant" nights than our biggest money sponsor gave us in one chunk. We've been around since 1998 (or 1997, depending how you count it), for reference. That's the kind of funding you want.