[Brandon Holley]

It is important, I think, to keep in mind that teams with large budgets or are "well off" are there for a reason. These teams have worked hard to develop their team and make it a program that companies want to invest in and form partnerships with.

As the teams grow larger, and make more connections, it allows for even more fundraising. Maybe your team is able to start a small lego program with some surplus of money after one season. This allows you to insert another feather into your cap to sell your team, and in turn brings in more money to allow you to start more lego teams. More companies are now supporting your team with more money each year and the program continues to grow. After several years, you now are supporting a whole network of teams and in turn your team has grown from a borderline have/have not team, to a really well off team.

The above example is one of the ways my high school team was able to evolve from a 1 competition/year team to a several tens-of-thousands of dollars financial powerhouse.


The point of the example is that its easy to sit back and say, "well you only really NEED enough money for 1 competition", and that may be so. However, I applaud any team who has put themselves in a situation where they are a financial machine, capable of supporting several initiatives at any point in time. Yes, technically for these teams to participate in FIRST, they only need enough money for a robot and 1 competition, but this is not the attitude we should take. Some teams have become so ingrained in their communities, that for them to take any steps back financially would actually hurt the people they support.

In conclusion, I think a team pursuing any kind of monetary donation through fundraising, sponsorship, donations, whatever it may be is just in doing so. Every team has the same opportunity to get out there and raise some money. Some teams may have a better starting point than others, and some teams may have better conditions for growth to occur, thats just life. Not every team will be able to reach that point where they can self-sustain year to year, and thats ok. The point I'm making is that what isn't okay is for a team to stop trying to become self-sustaining.

-Brando