"These Hard Times"?

[ManicMechanic]

Originally Posted by neoshaakti

Today members on my team and I called a lot of local companies and corps. asking to talk to their community relations manager or department; however, we were met by an overwhelming "not interested" or "business has been terrible, we can't donate money at this time". Are other teams running into similar problems?

We also have had a harder time than usual raising money. We are a low-budget formerly FVC/FTC team (now Vex team), operating on about $400/year (the original equipment was purchased when a student declined a robotics camp scholarship in exchange for equipment for a school team). Team expenses had previously been earned through an annual car wash that typically netted $400. This year's car wash only brought in $95, and one of the parents attributed it to hard economic times -- gas prices were as high as $4.69 for cheap unleaded, and our county is 2nd in the nation in foreclosures (the #1 is the county just north of us). An additional yard sale brought in another $100.

Rather than having 10 people laboring 6-8 hours to bring in small sums, we made the decision to ask the students and parents to ante-up. If they can afford $25 for a used video game, they can afford to make a contribution to the team.

We will also be buying fewer new parts this year. This will most likely be "the Year of Bent Metal."

Incidentally, even in good times, we've never been able to get corporate sponsors, despite doing over 15 fund-raising/awareness-raising events in our early years. The students once got a hearing with the local Manufacturing Council, but no one was biting, and individual corporations wouldn't let us in the door (none of the kids' parents worked there). I think it has to do with the very low educational level of our region (only 7% of students at a local high school have parents with BS degrees or above) and lack of vision that comes with it. Also, almost all the industry here is food-related, and most of the college degree holders are "service" professionals, like teachers, lawyers, and medical personnel, rather than "industry professionals" like engineers.