Broke

[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