What grants have you done?

[purpleandplasma]

Originally Posted by BeltSanderRocks

Our team did the Platt grant and the Verizon grant.

What's the Platt grant. I couldn't find any info about it when i googled it. may have been google-ing the wrong thing though

[nnfuller]

Originally Posted by purpleandplasma

What's the Platt grant. I couldn't find any info about it when i googled it. may have been google-ing the wrong thing though

I believe it is handled through your Regional Director, it might not be something that can be found online, I know that when our team submitted we simply emailed our proposal to the person in charge of the Oregon region submissions.

[Ankit S.]

Originally Posted by nnfuller

I believe it is handled through your Regional Director, it might not be something that can be found online, I know that when our team submitted we simply emailed our proposal to the person in charge of the Oregon region submissions.

That is correct. We got it at either Davis or SVR. Most likely SVR 2010.

Originally Posted by nnfuller

I am trying to prepare my team for a sustaining grant after our loss of sponsorship this year.

I would suggest looking into getting a new sponsor rather than doing grants. Our team currently does grants to earn money, however we have learned that they are not the best things to rely on, unless done correctly or in a huge mass. As a result, we are looking for sponsors.

[tsaksa]

Originally Posted by BeltSanderRocks

I would suggest looking into getting a new sponsor rather than doing grants. Our team currently does grants to earn money, however we have learned that they are not the best things to rely on, unless done correctly or in a huge mass. As a result, we are looking for sponsors.

Unfortunately in smaller towns this is not always practical. Our situation is very similar to the OP. A smaller city without even any large department stores, or a shopping mall nearby, only a couple of large employers. The largest employer in town made it clear they are not interested in funding a First team any more, and the next two employers down the list are non-profits that are unable help sponsor a team. The nearest other cities are quite far, and I can tell you from experience it is really difficult to get any interest in sponsorship from companies that are 25 to 50 miles away. Many even have policies that restrict applications for such support to a specific geographic distance.

Robotics is an expensive endeavor. Once you get down to the point where you are relying on contributions from mom and pop operations it is really difficult to get enough support to run a team. You can do all the car washes, light bulb sales, and restaurant fund raiser's you want, but at some point you need some serious funding, and grants may be the best option in some situations.

[xitaqua]

A recommendation for teams in small cities, it to keep their old robot and invest on a second cRIO. Having a functioning robot, you can raise money buy having stakeholders to own the old robot.....

TIP: Teams should not only get engagement from the students on involvement but also financially. As an example for a team with $12,000 budget we recommend them to sell shares at $20 with a total of 600 shares available. Anyone owning 50 shares can have the robot for their use for one month after the competition. So for $1000 a student can own the robot for one month of the year for the life of the robot, until the robot is "sold off", when the robot is sold off the stakeholders get the proceeds per their percentage of ownership. At $1000, many professional organizations will be happy to sponsor and them have the students come demonstrate the robot at their membership events. http://vimeo.com/33093562/