[EricH]

What I'm seeing is that there are 3 distinct sources of non-sustainability, and a wide range of solutions. This is just a summary post; feel free to add to it or take issue with something I say as you will.

1. Funding.
--Solutions vary depending on team situation, ranging from find more sponsors to convince the school/district to let them raise more (or fund them more). Grants are a band-aid, not stitches. A matching grant, as Basel proposed, would be a longer-term patch, but not necessarily a permanent fix.

2. Leadership/Mentor/Student Involvement.
--Students are relatively easy--recruit more. OK, so you do have to convince them that non-nerds can do it, but that's not much of a hurdle. The bigger problem is if a key leader has to step down and there is no succession plan. The best bet is to have several mentors; second best is to have a definite plan such that if Head Mentor A is transferred to a point five states away, Mentor B (or, in the case of teacher-advisers, some other teacher at the school) steps up for a while.

3. School/District Involvement, or Lack Thereof.
--Which is worse: the district ignoring you, other than "Oh, we have a robotics club? That's nice", or the district stepping in and placing limits on you, along with their funding your registration? Either way, it's got the potential to be bad. Awareness is key here. While I wouldn't suggest kidnapping a superintendent or principal and hauling them off to competition, telling them a) that you exist, b) that you want to keep existing, and c) that you'd really, really, really like them to show up at your competition on X date is certainly acceptable, and in fact encouraged. Community awareness helps too--administrators are more likely to listen to the people that pay their salaries (aka taxpayers for public schools, parents for private schools) than to students.

--Independence from a school district is another option, but you really need help to get started if you're going that route so that you don't run into any serious trouble with the law (IRS tax codes and non-profit status come to mind).