FRC Grant Opportunity- RoboTerra’s Global Impact Grant

[Roboterra]

Hi all as a member of the RoboTerra team, I'm exciting to make a grant opportunity announcement here!

RoboTerra supports new ideas and practices to bridge the gap between learning and practicing in STEM. Our goal is to fund and share successful learning strategies to educate and prepare students for bright and rewarding futures. We encourage students to participate in FRC and hone your skills. Currently, we only respond to requests from California, New York, Massachusetts, Connecticut, Pennsylvania and North Carolina. Deadline for application is 5:00pm EST, November 30, 2014.

If you are interested in applying for RoboTerra’s Global Impact Grant, simply visit the grant application page of our website http://www.roboterra.co/roboticsworld/roboterra-grant/

After submitting the online application, you will receive a confirmation letter and an application package. We recommend you to go through the application instruction and double check your eligibility before you start.

We look forward hearing from you!

[Roboterra]

Thank you again for those who have completed the online application. Just a reminder, please do check your spam for the confirmation letter

[RyanCahoon]

Hi,

Can you provide any information about the grant without me having to supply all my personal information? I imagine this information is available in the application packet, but I'd rather not give you the ability to spam me if I don't know what I'm going to get out of it.

The two big questions that come to mind are:
- What do grant recipients get? Money, software, equipment, one-on-one assistance, something else?
- What are the criteria the grant applications will be judged by? More succinctly, how can I tell if my team could have a shot at receiving a grant?

Thanks,

[Roboterra]

Hi Ryan,

Thank you for your interest. The grant recipients will receive money from RoboTerra.

We evaluate teams comprehensively based on their proposal and supplementary materials submitted.
In the application package, applicants are asked to answer questions such as what they have done or what they plan to do to improve community awareness, and global impact. Thanks for your reminder, we just updated our grant application webpage so there are more details viewable before submitting any contact information. We respect your privacy and your contact information will not be shared with a third party.

http://www.roboterra.co/roboticsworld/roboterra-grant/

[Rosiebotboss]

Regarding the requirements of the grant:

3.Agree to be involved in RoboTerra activities for one year (sending a representative(s) to serve on RoboTerra’s curriculum development tele-conferences, providing active team involvement in 2015 Off-Season Invitational organized by RoboTerra).

What does this mean? The team has to send a representative that is schooled in curriculum development to a (tele)-conference to help you write curriculm for you to sell to other school systems? And where is the Off Season Invitational going to be held? It may cost teams more money to attend an event in North Carolina than the grant is worth. Or is RoboTerra covering travel expenses for the team?

One last question: Has this grant been approved by FIRST? I find it a little "off" that you chose to announce it here, on a public forum, rather than the normal channels, such as a FIRST press release.

[Roboterra]

Thank you for asking.
The main purpose that we would invite students to the tele-conference is to encourage them to provide suggestions and feedback on the curriculum developed by us.
Invitational will be held in cities where students will benefit a lot from such events globally. Teams are expected to actively involve in off-season invitational. Active involvement can be supports to RoboTerra's efforts in organizing off-season games globally. It does not equal to guaranteed spot in the game, or mandate participation of the game, or payment or expenses in any means. The invitations of the games will be sent to teams selected by a review committee consisted of educators from the U.S. and the region where such games are organized, and teams invited can decide whether they plan to participate or not.
RoboTerra worked closely with the international branch at FIRST and was offered with insightful advices in developing our guidelines for this grant to best support FRC teams. This grant is fully sponsored by RoboTerra's corporate social responsibility mission. We are separate entities from FIRST, but we do share the same vision of promoting STEM learning from robotics education. You can contact FIRST directly should you have any questions about how RoboTerra grant aligns with FIRST's mission.