Laying a Foundation

[sanddrag]

Originally Posted by waialua359

Do you want to hear the short-term easier, more obvious response or the long-term, much more difficult answer? Every time I tell teams about the latter, it goes in one ear and out the other.
If your at Championships, we'd be more than happy to share our business plan binder and give you or anyone else ideas.
Coming from Hawaii, it is extremely difficult, and it took us years to establish some things. In the end, it has been worth it and I wouldn't do things any other way.
I would always ask the question, "Is the effort sustainable?"
IMO, basic fundraising is NOT.

Our team has been fortunate to raise a lot this year despite the economic crisis by "laying a foundation" as you have stated.

I cannot post our balance sheet for this year due to sensitive info, however, I'd be more than happy to give people a glance if you come to our pits.
This year we raised a record total of 133k and will spend at least half of it this year and already.

At 3 regionals we attended this year, at least 20+ judges heard of our plan and came to the pits to ask us about it. They called it "the book." Even by the time we got to the Hawaii regional (our 3rd), judges knew about it from the head judge advisor. We call it our bible.

Hi Glenn,
I'm not looking for specific numbers, but are any of your resources/methods/tips/suggestions available online, for those of us not attending the championship? Thanks.

[waialua359]

Dave,
If you check out our website at waialuarobotics.com, it shows a list of our sponsors. However, its only a current list for the 2008-09 school year.
From that point on, you can PM me about any specifics and I will be happy to provide you info. It includes a combination of grants, charitable organizations, both private and public donors, our State government, fundraiser luau, silent auctions, community service fundraisers, and private sponsorship from families/friends/businesses in the community.
We indeed do basic fundraising, however, it is not sustainable and becomes an issue year-year. We do it ONLY to teach our students about how hard it is to raise funds and that by focusing on the other types of sustaining funds, can you achieve a multi-year plan.
As a grant writer, project director for several large funding sources, and the lead person of our robotics team, I spend an enormous amount of time looking for additional revenue sources and I am the most opportunistic person out there selling our team!
In 2004, I even got HP to donate over $200,000 worth of HP tablets, printers, and computer accessories along with professional development for some of our key teachers in robotics. We appeared in their HP philantropy annual report with 2 pictures showing our kids working on robotics.