Sponsorship

[Masterchi45]

Hey, I am the captain of FRC Team 5438. We are located in Jersey City, NJ (right across the river from New York City). I am having a REALLY BIG PROBLEM WITH SPONSORSHIPS. Our main sponsor has not replied to our emails. Now, I am just going to call them. Other than that we have nothing. PSE&G said no and Best buy said no. Could anyone help with GRANTS or Sponsorships??? I really need it. We are a private school, so we have a 501(c)3. My email is shahc@students.spprep.org. Email me or private message me if need be. I am looking for pretty much anything right now. Attached is my Business Plan from last year. We are in the process updating it. Thank you!

[Sperkowsky]

Hey I'm the captain of a team from long island. We face a similar field of sponsors so I think I can help. Add me on Skype samp400.

[GreyingJay]

I suspect every team goes through this... dig around here on CD, there are probably a ton of good ideas.

Off the top of my head:

- get the students and the mentors involved. Make sure they all have a copy of your sponsorship package that parents can take to their workplaces or give to friends.
- remind everyone that you're not just looking for big names and big tech companies. That pizza joint your family goes to every Saturday? The hair stylist that knows you by name? The chiropractor with pictures of sports teams he's supported all over his office wall? Give them all a package. (And I don't mean just YOU, tell all your STUDENTS this too).
- grab a bunch of students, go to your local mall, and go door-to-door. You'll probably get a lot of no's, but hopefully also get some yes's or "here's how to contact head office".
- ask your students for ideas about fundraisers. We do bottle drives in our community and each one nets about $800-1000 CAD. We're planning to do other types of fundraisers soon but the bottle drive is an easy one to do.
- sell team clothing. Everyone on 2706 gets a free T-shirt but if they want a matching hoodie or extra shirts we sell them a few dollars above cost.

[logank013]

Our team member on my team is required to get $600 in sponsorship. It works pretty well. We usually have 35 students or so and lose 5-10 members who don't want to get sponsors. We can't go to any competitions until we get our money in. If you have 25+ students, try that. If you have a small amount of students and cant afford to lose any, try with a little smaller amount.

[rpaulsen]

Hey, team 5202 has been going through that as well. We are just north of the Bronx, and have had no luck over the last 3 years finding sponsors or mentors. The mentor problem has really been the difficult part for us, as I am the only mentor, and my background is in Library sciences. It has been very difficult to find, let alone recruit, professionals in the area willing to provide their time and expertise. In the few instances that I have come across of available mentors, all have been NYC residents, who have been confined to the subway system. Honestly, I don't even blame them considering how many teams there are in the city.