(Lack of) Value in the Regional Model

[Nemo]

FIRST HQ makes the teams do their fundraising for them. We raise something like $20 million each year in the form of registration fees to pay for the cost of running FIRST HQ and whatever else it pays for.

FIRST doesn't tell us where this money goes. Their annual report has one line that says "XY million: FRC expenses," and that's all we get to see.

[Richard Wallace]

Originally Posted by Nemo

FIRST HQ makes the teams do their fundraising for them. We raise something like $20 million each year in the form of registration fees to pay for the cost of running FIRST HQ and whatever else it pays for.

IMO this is a good system. It promotes partnerships between schools (or other pre-college student groups) and industry sponsors, and it provides an entry-level for sponsoring the mission of FIRST: sponsor a team. Other kinds of sponsorship should begin there, because a sponsor needs to see FIRST from a team's perspective to understand how this thing of ours works.

Originally Posted by Nemo

FIRST doesn't tell us where this money goes. Their annual report has one line that says "XY million: FRC expenses," and that's all we get to see.

I expect this to change as Frank and his HQ team continuously improve transparency. Their track record since Frank took over the FRC is great and getting better all the time. The CD community can help by keeping our concern about transparency where FIRST can see it. Frank can't do this all by himself.

[MrRoboSteve]

Originally Posted by Nemo

FIRST HQ makes the teams do their fundraising for them. We raise something like $20 million each year in the form of registration fees to pay for the cost of running FIRST HQ and whatever else it pays for.

FIRST doesn't tell us where this money goes. Their annual report has one line that says "XY million: FRC expenses," and that's all we get to see.

It took me two minutes to find the audited financial statements and the form 990, which have a lot more data than "XY million: FRC expenses."

[Alyssa]

I am very much so excited for California to transfer to the district model soon. I think it will lead to more play time and more opportunities for teams to attend Champs. However, as many have said, there are a lot of tradeoffs. I for one am not looking forward to missing even more school than I already do for robotics. Of course, I love competition and I will continue to do anything possible to compete as much as possible. But I know my teachers and many other teachers on campus are not happy when the same group of 50+ students on my team are gone for the last part of the week multiple weeks in a row.

That being said, I love competition and am glad more teams will be given the ability to go on in competition in the district model.

[PayneTrain]

Originally Posted by alyssa2485

I am very much so excited for California to transfer to the district model soon. I think it will lead to more play time and more opportunities for teams to attend Champs. However, as many have said, there are a lot of tradeoffs. I for one am not looking forward to missing even more school than I already do for robotics. Of course, I love competition and I will continue to do anything possible to compete as much as possible. But I know my teachers and many other teachers on campus are not happy when the same group of 50+ students on my team are gone for the last part of the week multiple weeks in a row.

That being said, I love competition and am glad more teams will be given the ability to go on in competition in the district model.

More often than not district events take place on Saturdays and Sundays so you won't be missing any more school time than before. You may be missing even less.

[Lil' Lavery]

While I didn't run the numbers, I wouldn't automatically characterize it as "more often than not" districts are Sat/Sun affairs. I'd say it's a fairly even split between the two schedules.

This season, Dawgma students are going to miss 2-3 days of school for all three of our events combined (depending if they're part of the crew we bring Thursday to MAR Champs). We had one season where they didn't miss any school at all.

[Siri]

Originally Posted by Lil' Lavery

While I didn't run the numbers, I wouldn't automatically characterize it as "more often than not" districts are Sat/Sun affairs. I'd say it's a fairly even split between the two schedules.

This season, Dawgma students are going to miss 2-3 days of school for all three of our events combined (depending if they're part of the crew we bring Thursday to MAR Champs). We had one season where they didn't miss any school at all.

A quick TBA scan tells me it is indeed still leaning Fri-Sat rather than Sat-Sun.

That said, another good thing about Districts is how responsive they are. That is, if you respond. (District events and the district model itself happen because the people in the district make them happen.) Have enough people concerned enough about missing Friday that they're willing to work on a Sat-Sun option (or the other way around)? You can make it happen, particularly in a place that's as FRC-dense as San Diego. Disclaimer: I know nothing about San Diego; I just typed the first zip code Google gave me into the FRC team search engine.

MAR leans very heavily Sat-Sun while FIM leans heavily the other way. PNW and NE seem more split.

[PayneTrain]

Originally Posted by Lil' Lavery

While I didn't run the numbers, I wouldn't automatically characterize it as "more often than not" districts are Sat/Sun affairs. I'd say it's a fairly even split between the two schedules.

This season, Dawgma students are going to miss 2-3 days of school for all three of our events combined (depending if they're part of the crew we bring Thursday to MAR Champs). We had one season where they didn't miss any school at all.

I said S/S because I know MAR leans heavily S/S and with Cali's frequent Fri-Sun regionals they might have more S/S events when they go to districts in 2022 or whenever. I do know that MI has a LOT of Fri-Sun and last year I know NE had a T/F and S/S event one week because IIRC Andy Grady worked both events.

Originally Posted by Siri

A quick TBA scan tells me it is indeed still leaning Fri-Sat rather than Sat-Sun.

That said, another good thing about Districts is how responsive they are. That is, if you respond. (District events and the district model itself happen because the people in the district make them happen.) Have enough people concerned enough about missing Friday that they're willing to work on a Sat-Sun option (or the other way around)? You can make it happen...

Always a salient point.

[Nemo]

Originally Posted by MrRoboSteve

It took me two minutes to find the audited financial statements and the form 990, which have a lot more data than "XY million: FRC expenses."

Ok, I stand corrected. Thank you for pointing me to the IRS 990 form. It lists some expenses broken down by categories like salaries, information technology, and travel. It also has an $11M category called "additional robot expenses."

The first form you linked is what I was thinking of. It has FRC reduced to a single line item as you can see in the copied section below from page 6 of the pdf:



This is the form that is available on FIRST's "Annual Report and Financials" page. That is why I came under the impression that they aren't disclosing a whole lot about their expenses.

[cadandcookies]

That form 990 is crazy. The government could probably save a few trees if they let nonprofits condense that grants section.