Grants

[Cody Burd]

Hello First community. We are currently looking for Grants for next year as we will not have enough to register. Any help is appreciated and thank you in advance

[robochick1319]

Consider reaching out to your school district and the your State Department of Education. You are in New Jersey, yes? There may be educational grants that you can apply for over the next several months.

Also consider reaching out to companies in your area and start with places with which you have a connection (i.e. a mentor works there, a student has a parent who works there, etc..)

Make sure to network at the regionals you attend to pick up contacts. You never know who you might meet at a regional. I met Jeb Bush once!

Above all else, spend the summer fundraising. There are so many things you can do when the weather is nice and it is also a great team building activity. Set your goal budget and plan out how to get there.

And of course, reach out the CD and FIRST Community whenever you need support and encouragement.

[DELurker]

Also...

Read everyone else's shirts/robot to get ideas.

Kickstarter.com has been successful for some teams.

Since you're at South Hunterdon, contact Hunterdon Central (3637), Hillsborough (75), Bridgewater-Raritan (303), and/or Hopewell Valley (293) for assistance. They may be able to suggest things that have worked for them in your area in the past.

MAR has some grants available.

NASA is a possibility.

[ctccromer]

I'll just leave this here: http://www.chiefdelphi.com/forums/sh...ad.php?t=68044

Good luck!

[artdutra04]

You should take note that if your team is registered as a 501(c)3 non-profit organization (NPO), the variety of grants that your team can apply to is significantly larger. There are often a number of local charities and organizations in most towns and cities that dedicate all their efforts and funding to improving their local community.

The biggest hurdle to getting access to these kinds of grants is to get your team out into the community and positively contribute in ways that are not restricted to just STEM. Once you have a positive track record and a 501(c)3 NPO backing your team, you can apply to these grants to fund your team's activities.

Please note however that most of these organizations do not fund "general operations", but instead fund specific projects and goals that can have quantifiable results. One such specific goal might be getting new team computers to teach CAD, or a 3D printer or CNC mill to teach advanced manufacturing, or to subsidize travel costs for under-represented groups in STEM.

Now is the perfect time to begin planning for next season, as the full process to apply for 501(c)3 status can take many months.