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Unread 31-10-2003, 15:57
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Re: Let's say you are the CEO... What do you do with the money?

Quote:
Originally posted by Aidan F. Browne
You decide that you want to do something special to support FIRST.... you decide that you want to spend $250K a year for the next five years... but you want to find a really unique way to support FIRST that no one has thought of yet... What do you do with the money?
Buy a 30-second spot on the SuperBowl half-time show, and advertise the heck out of FIRST to the entire country.

Yes, SuperBowl advertising time is on the order of $1,000,000 per minute, so that is only half of what is needed. But since FIRST is a non-profit, the networks and NFL can (and do) provide cut-rates for special purposes.

In one fell swoop, you get the image and message of FIRST put in front of 100,000,000 people world-wide. If only 1/10 of 1% of them follow up, that is still 100,000 people who have a new interest in FIRST.

And lots of them will have check books.

It is the old "feed a man a fish, and he eats for a day, teach him to fish and he eats for a lifetime" philosophy. Rather than just funding some teams for a few years, or one single regional event, etc. etc. etc. and then exhausting the $250,000, you need to find a way to make the investment lead to more funds, and let it become self-perpetuating.

-dave
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Unread 31-10-2003, 16:00
KenWittlief KenWittlief is offline
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MAKE THE NATIONS HOLD 500 TEAMS!
all the nations?

wow! that would take a lot of work - how many nations are there?

would the UN go along with this?

[friday afternoon humor :c) ]
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Unread 31-10-2003, 16:09
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Re: Re: Let's say you are the CEO... What do you do with the money?

Quote:
Originally posted by dlavery
Buy a 30-second spot on the SuperBowl half-time show, and advertise the heck out of FIRST to the entire country.

Yes, SuperBowl advertising time is on the order of $1,000,000 per minute, so that is only half of what is needed. But since FIRST is a non-profit, the networks and NFL can (and do) provide cut-rates for special purposes.
That was my idea. However, nowadays, Superbowl advertising is 3 million for a 30 second commercial.

But I agree, FIRST needs to get its message out in a broader way, so that the program can continue, rather then using the money to keep the status quo.
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Unread 31-10-2003, 17:55
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Re: Re: Let's say you are the CEO... What do you do with the money?

Quote:
Originally posted by dlavery
Buy a 30-second spot on the SuperBowl half-time show, and advertise the heck out of FIRST to the entire country.

-dave
That's exactly along the line of what I am thinking of, althought not quite like it. I didn't want to post before I think about it more.

But how about ads in nation wide magazines promoting FIRST? Not exactly the super bowl half time commerical, but it will get exposure to the right people who read the magazines, providing you target the right magazines that attract the crowd you want to know about FIRST. Popular science will be good to have an ad at, so will Times, popular mechanics, and all sort of education/business/technology/engineering magazines.

I think that's a more "creative" way to spend the money that haven't been done before.

Although it is good to spend the money to sponsor more teams, or regionals, there are chances that teams will disappear, or regionals cannot find any future sponsors. Therefore, I believe it is more worthwhile to start ad campaign to promote FIRST more, and get more people drawn into the idea.

Right now, it's not exactly easy to spread to word. A lot of people respond "is that like the one on TV?" when told about US FIRST Robotics Competition. The media is the most effective way to spread information, let's take advantage of it.

P.S. I like the idea of driving around the country spreading the idea of FIRST, but I think 1 car and 2 people might be a little too slow ;-). Maybe it's something that the regional committees can do: drive around the state to spread the words of FIRST.
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Unread 01-11-2003, 18:15
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planting seeds

Three ideas....

How about picking an area thats ripe for a new regional (lots of employers, lots of schools, need for jobs in technical fields) and using some of the money (not ALL of it, I'm not done yet ) to get the regional running successfully.

Use the remaining money to sponsor new teams. Err on the side of quality over quantity. Make sure your new teams "stick" by getting committed sponsors with technical mentors and funding the teams with enough cash to keep them from struggling. Make the teams fundraise enough so that they know what it takes to keep the team going in successive years.

Pony up another $250k the following year )

Ken
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Unread 02-11-2003, 11:15
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hey- I think we did pretty good?
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Re: Let's say you are the CEO... What do you do with the money?

Quote:
Originally posted by Aidan F. Browne
Let's say you are the CEO of the ACME Corporation, a multi-billion dollar company. Your company does lots and lots of good charity work all over the place, including sponsoring a few FIRST teams.

You attended the 2003 Championship and really got hooked on the program.... you think its the best thing you have ever seen for motivating the youth of America.

You decide that you want to do something special to support FIRST.... you decide that you want to spend $250K a year for the next five years... but you want to find a really unique way to support FIRST that no one has thought of yet...

What do you do with the money?
My suggestion-
you take $50k and use it to pay for the registrations for 10 FIRST teams on a 50/50 sponsorship basis. I would also use $50K for bonuses to reward the employees of my company who dovote the endless hours to the kids in the program in the name of corporate goodwill and pride. The remaining $150k would be formed into an "interest bearing" trust that generates sponsorship money from then out.

The next year the second $250K plus interest is divided in similar fashion with a $5K sponsorship grant offered to as many teams as possible and the remaining principal banked to continue growth of the fund. A provision would be made to existing teams in the program to increase their sponsorship based on their growth and initiative. As the years pass the principal total would grow as well as the # of teams from the parent company.

The ideal case is a perpetuating fund where there is a consistent set of sponsorship positions and consistent growth over the years. All involved teams would always have a source of funding and not be cut loose after a few years

Of course throughout all this, as a CEO of a major company, I would be hob nobbing with the other CEOs challenging them to support my fund in the same fashion and challenging their teams to compete against mine.

WC

(aside- the "if I won the lottery dream" of my good friend Paul K. is to build a FIRST stadium available to all of us for our events and for rent to those basketball and hockey teams to use when we aren't busy with it. I like the idea. Got the priorities straight. he he)
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Unread 02-11-2003, 21:54
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Yes Dave and Wayne

A self perpetuating fund is the first thing that came to my mind. Take the first 250K to start the fund in year one, then add to it with a portion of the money in subsequent years. A board of trustees would oversee that fund and decide on how to best spend it in perpetuity.

As for the remaining funds, I'd do something along the lines of Dave's thoughts, but a little broader.

1. Billboards all over the country with the web address and FIRST logo. Use different kids of catchy phrases like, "Would your child like to have access to more than 3.5M in scholarships?" "Where are tomorrow's leaders in science and technology training today?"

2. Buy banner ads on the web at major sites - search engines included.

3. Commercial times on as many major networks as possible.

4. Full page ad in the NY Times
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Unread 03-11-2003, 01:10
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hold the money for starting up new rookie teams. Lend it out MATCHING whatever money the new rookie team can raise on their own. If they can raise $2500 on their own, they've got themselves an entry fee covered by you
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Unread 03-11-2003, 21:27
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Find an area with several nearby rookie teams/ teams without major sponsors, and build them a basic machine shop they can schedule time in for free. Or fund the building of one at a local vocational/community college on the condition the staff there give the first teams access and instruction. Try to make it possible for all the high schools in the area, with a little money and one or two volunteers to compete without being limited to hand tools. Teams would be expected to do the main construction at their schools, but schedule time to come in and work on specific parts.
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Unread 04-11-2003, 18:35
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I would say you should begin a project to build an entirly new FIRST stadium, or renovate an old stadium(ex. the Astrodome) and make it the land of the firsties so that championships don't have to be held all over the place and that way no matter how big nationals get the stadium could always be enlarged because it is FIRST's. that is my opinion anyways.
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