[Team 2811]

Hey,

You aren't alone. We had trouble even getting just enough money to register for the FIRST competition. But we got a marketing specialist to come in one day and help us. He came up with a lot of ideas for us.

For us, we did send out letters and we also made calls to possible sponsers and in a couple of cases, we went to the company in person and explained what FIRST is. There are many ways to get sponsors. One effective way is to talk to your mentors and ask if they can get their company to sponsor you. Another way is to invite news reporters to one of your meetings; this gets your name out into the community. We did and sponsors came to us.

Mostly, just try to get your team known to the community and then people will be more likely to recognize that you are an actual organization, not just a bunch of students with powertools gone wild. Give your team a "story." Nike's story is "There is an athlete inside of everyone." I think that it worked. To come up with a story, you should identify what your team is doing. What you are doing to help the community and your plans for the future. It worked for us, and we are only a second year team.

Basically just try to put yourself out into the community. Good luck.