[DFTF] Paying the Piper

[Joe Johnson]

This is part of a series of posts called Drinking From The Firehose on getting Dr Joe back up to speed on All Things FIRST.

Today's topic:
Paying the Piper

Okay here is a very practical question. Our team has essential $0. All we really have is a commitment by the school's administration to front us the $6500 needed to register for our first FIRST regional, a place to meet & build our robot (still being emptied of 30 years of junk it has accumulated) and permission to start knocking on doors trying to raise money.

It ain't much but it is a start (and it is more than many teams start with, so I am thankful).

Here is my very practical question. When should we pay FIRST? Should we hold off until the last minute in the hopes that we get a grant or find a sponsor or do we pay now.

Part of me thinks it is better not to "go into debt" to the school. That if we can't find a sponsor or get a grant by December, maybe it makes more sense just to watch from the sidelines this season, using the extra time to find the cash.

But the other part of me thinks that we'll find the funding and our team could benefit from being officially enrolled. I don't know if it is still true, but I think that FIRST use to send out the AutoDesk software after they cashed your check, for example. I've got kids interested in animation. They could start doing 3D Studio stuff right now (if that is still true).

While I am thinking about it. It seems like FIRST could send out a lot of the rookie kit as soon as they got the check -- the control system, the pneumatics, the batteries, etc. Do they? If not, why not?

Anyway, thanks for all the advice so far. Keep the information coming.

Cheers,
Joe J.