Should sponsors be held the same standards as teams?

[Bharat Nain]

I think the whole idea behind this is what your organization stands for and what value you want to add to it. As Dave said in the other thread, FIRST stands for its values, and adds even more value to the organization when they refuse to accept sponsorships from Alcohol and tobacco companies. Some of you might disagree with this, but it is true - If FIRST were to be sponsored by a company that promotes drinking or tobacco, just being around an ad or just having the name written on the FIRST website will make people talk. Kids will think it is good(even though we tell them drinking underage is bad) and that would lead to more problems. If you don't believe me, look at your own family and think of what influenced the things you do today - Something from your past. You picked up some values from your parents(unless you hated them). If you say you didn't and you were born in a dysfunctional family, that's no excuse. Psh, who isn't. Think of FIRST as the dad of your family, and then you'll understand the responsibility FIRST has to the leaders of tomorrow.

On the other end of this, companies(and the govt.) are constantly evaluating FIRST since all of us do our homework and work hard at bringing the attention to FIRST. Contrary to what you might think, professionals evaluate businesses and organizations in a slightly different way then you might imagine. They don't look at the finances or results first. The reason for this is S-curve economics. They evaluate an organization by looking at the people and companies involved and where it is going. If I was the US Govt. and FIRST was brought to my attention, I'd set a group to evaluate the organization. If they came back and told me "Well it is for students from FLL to FRC level but they are supported by Alcohol, Tobacco and companies like AOL(dial up, with bad business practices)", I would definitely not support that. Yes, I realize that sometimes even high school sports have alcohol involved, but we are not that, are we? Also, it would be hypocritical of FIRST to tell us to go get students involved and then surround them in an atmosphere that indirectly encourages alcohol or tobacco use.

This is a touchy subject but I think it is one of those factors that will critically impact the future of FIRST. FIRST needs to be marketed correctly in order to get the expected growth. Once they reach a certain point, it is smooth sailing to the point where it will be saturated in all high schools in the US and that's when it will really matter whether we held up to our values or not. By doing it right now, FIRST is also preventing a lot of future problems. After all, our parents also evaluate the activities we participate in school. I am sure they would not want to be involved if there were any alcohol problems at events. By completely staying away from such a crowd, FIRST is taking away one more excuse for people not to participate and adding one more reason why they should participate. Yes, I realize my thoughts are scattered through the whole post, but you understand.