Broke

[SoyStuff]

Thanks for all of the wonderful ideas, guys! The build-a-thon sound promising. We might be able to do something like that. Also, techhelpbb is right. Team 1257 is based in Scotch Plains, not Brooklyn. Not sure what happened there...

[AdamHeard]

Although it isn't the bulk of our fundraising (we cover all student travel, which adds up!) our kids routinely make lots of money on bake sales. They'll have 3-4 kids work 4 hours or so in front of a grocery store and make a consistent $500.

$5000 is a really easy goal to hit if the students are willing to work at it. What helps for us is each student is explicitly responsible to fund-raise X amount.

[Akash Rastogi]

Hit up the following places with a well written sponsorship letter or call them up and see if you can arrange a demonstration for them.

http://www.ekaassociates.com/
http://www.gleicher.com/
http://www.ngkengineering.com/
http://www.ltk.com/
http://redcomllc.com/
http://www.starcomfiber.com/

That was through a simple google maps search of "Engineering near Scotch Plains, NJ"

Edit: actually, your city has made this very simple for you - http://www.visitscotchplains.com/members.html

Just make sure you write up a great sponsorship letter. Many examples are here in CD Media if you need examples. Check out this one that I helped a team with - http://team2495.com/index.php?page=donate

If you spend time researching, you can find plenty more place to contact. Visit doctors, dentists, law offices..etc..

Couple this with doing demo's in front of grocery stores and supermarkets as Adam suggested. By simply standing outside one weekend with your robot and talking to people about the team, you can rake in $400-$800 at a decently busy store.

Shoot me an email or PM if you guys need more direct help. Your teacher is doing the right thing by saying the team should be raising more money otherwise should participate in a different event. Rise to the challenge your teacher is presenting you. Find more mentors, find more money, I am pretty confident you can do it.

[Brandon_L]

Originally Posted by Akash Rastogi

Couple this with doing demo's in front of grocery stores and supermarkets as Adam suggested. By simply standing outside one weekend with your robot and talking to people about the team, you can rake in $400-$800 at a decently busy store.

I second this, grocery stores have been our saviors the past few years. Our local shoprite allows us to bag for tips, with about 8 students on at a time in shifts over ~9 hours we break $1,000. If you're not allowed to bag, but you can stand out front of the store, bring the robot and demo it (people love shooter bots). We did this a few times this year, for $500 a pop.

One mentor for a team is very rough. Try reaching out to Alumni if any are still in the area, or contact your areas senior mentor(s) and see if they know anyone that will be willing to help out. Even asking other teachers in your school can't hurt.

[Wayne Doenges]

One of the things FRC Team 1501 T.H.R.U.S.T. does is we have a robot catalog where people can buy parts for our robot. Anywhere from $5.00 for a box of rivets to $5000.00 for a regional. Funny thing though, we have not had anyone buy us a regional It's easier to ask for parts for your robot as opposed to just asking for money.
Another thing we do. The local Pizza Hut allows us to come in a on a certain Monday's and for every buffet they sell, we get $1.00 plus all the tips. The students take orders, bus tables and generally keep the salad bar stocked. Last time we made over $500.00.
Another thing, you don't need to find one sponsor for $5000.00. You might be able to find 5 sponsors for $1000.00 or 10 for $500.00.
Just keep after it

Oh and a couple of more mentors couldn't hurt

[SarahBeth]

Every year, team 157 sells a calendar with daily prizes. We get the prizes donated from local businesses and we sell the calendar for $10. Usually do it in the spring. This year we're selling calendars in February for March. If every kid sells 10 calendars, that brings in a fair amount. Its not a lot, but it helps!

You definitely need to get some more volunteers for your team - even if companies can't donate funds, they may have some people who can donate their time! One person can't do it all themselves.

Good luck!

[BrendanB]

When our team was low on funds last season our team invested about $300 into Boston Bruins tickets and raffle supplies. Our students camped out at the town transfer station, convenience stores, elections, etc. anwhere we could sell tickets to groups of people. The result was phenominal! We raised just over $3000 in three weeks! We were inspired by another local team who raffled off gas cards to raise funds for their St. Louis trip. Considering the NHL lockout, our team is looking into finding some local gas stations we have personal connections with (through our Bruins raffle sales) to raffle off gas and heating oil cards.

During our raffle, all students participated (roughly 15 students) and they worked hard! Fundraising should be seen as a team activity not a sub-team depending on your team size.

There are a ton of ways to get funds without needing corporate sponsors but your team should find a healthy balance.

I agree with what others above have said, try to find more adult mentors!

[F22Rapture]

Team 3737 built a robot with $400 last year... granted, all it could do was drive and drop the bridge, but we placed 17th out of 53 teams because we consistently did coopertition every chance we got.

It was mainly due to time mismanagement than shortage of money.

[treffk]

Team Stealth has done many things over the years. We ask school clubs like the optimist club, PTA, and booster club for donations to cover certain items we purchase. The booster club normally pays for out wristbands that we pass out at regionals.

In addition to that we send out hundreds of letter to local, national and international companies. A very large portion of these do not ever respond but a few of them do. As others have mentioned we have a tiered donation scale.

After this weekend we are taking over the school craft fair that happens in the Fall, Winter and spring. For each of these events we should make at least $1000. Previously we only did set up, tear down and helped run the event for $300 per event. Maybe there is a community event that you can have the team help with that they will donate money in return.

We also are given the opportunity to have parents work a concessions stand at a high school football game to help raise money. This is open to any club at the school. Maybe there is something similar you can check into.

Applebee's offers a pancake breakfast fundraiser that is fairly simple. We have never done it but I have known other programs who have and found it successful. Many food restaurants have a fundraiser night that schools and programs can take advantage of.

Other local teams have a yearly auction where they collect donations of items and hold a silent auction and dinner.

Recently I have seen teams try to fundraiser on kickstarter.com I do not know how successful this has been though as we have not tried it.

I hope these give you some ideas if you would like more information about any of these feel free to send me a message.