I just wanted to say...

[dlavery]

Jeff is absolutely correct (OMG, did I actually say that? ). The majority of FIRST teams receive no funding at all from the school or school district. They rely solely on funding from external sources such as partner corporations, foundations, or grants (ref: FIRST Board of Directors report, January 2004). This is not the first team to lose their funding, nor will it be the last. So the school board cut the funding. Just because it happened does NOT mean that the team has to fold. It just means that you have to get out and start fund-raising NOW as hard as you can. Check this whole forum for ideas. Given that you have existing robots that you can show to prospective supporters, along with several awards that help show your successful participation in the program, you are already way ahead. Many other teams have come back, stronger than ever, from a loss of funding or primary sponsor. You can too - go for it!

-dave

[miketwalker]

A suggestion I'd have, if even just for a year to keep your team from dieing and being harder to restart next year... there are a ton of teams within a 20 mile radius of you guys (which probably makes it hard for sponsorship)... but you could always try to work something out with the other teams to do a temporary merger for a year to keep new students joining if you can't find funding. Maybe even some of those teams will have sponsors who are interested in wanting to sponsor yet another team. You have many teams very very close to you guys and several in the same town even, talk to them and see how you guys can help each other out. That's the whole purpose of FIRST... Gracious Professionalism. Good luck, and if you need any help, feel free to contact me.

-Mike

[Joshua May]

Is it possible for your school to still give you a workspace? My team receives no funding from our school, we simply use the woodshop after school. I hope you guys can do something to maintain a team, I'd hate to see a team go like this.

[Blacknight]

Down here at SPAM the school gave us an old portable to work in and that's become our pit. Other than that we have no support from the school system. We do have sponsorship but we do require a good sum of money from each student to raise (550) but we also have put together a public speaking team to take the robot around for demonstrations to corporations who might be interested in sponsoring us. Also go to your dentist, your orthodontist, insurance agent, ect. they might not give a large sum but $20 is better than none. And I agree with Mike, talk to surrounding teams, and maybe for this year they can let you share their pit with you while your team restablizes itself. Don't know until you ask.