NASA Grant Winners? [2010-2011]

[Chris Fultz]

There are two types of awards for "veteran" teams.

Program Growth Grants - if funds are available after the 1st and 2nd year teams are selected.

Sustainability Grants - for teams that have lost major sponsrship and can document the details.

Edited quote from the NASA Application information -

Program Growth Grants: ... ,
Veteran teams: Except as noted above, these NASA sponsorship programs are primarily intended to provide support for rookie teams that are just entering the requested robotics competition program. The intent of Program Growth Grants is to assist in the formation of new teams. However, it may not be possible to award all available sponsorships to qualified second-year or rookie teams. In this event, qualified veteran teams that have applied for sponsorship may be selected. Applications for Program Growth Grants from veteran teams will be considered after all rookie team and second-year team applications have been evaluated.

Sustaining Grants: It is recognized that this is an extraordinarily difficult year for many teams due to the national economic situation. Due to the extreme circumstances, many long-term teams have lost significant corporate sponsorship and are on the brink of ceasing operations. It is our intent to provide short-term assistance to those teams to allow them to continue productive participation in the program while they identify and acquire new long-term sponsorship. Toward that end, NASA will accept applications for "Sustaining Grants" to provide registration awards for qualified veteran teams. Sustaining Grants are intended to help teams on the verge of dissolution, and are not intended funding for participation in second or third competition events.

To qualify, teams must document that they have lost one or more of the primary financial sponsors that they had during the 2010 season, and explain how this loss of sponsorship affects the potential for survival of the team. The team must also describe their plans for recovery of long-term sponsorship, and how this will be acquired in time to sustain the team beyond the 2011 season.

The Sustaining Grants are one-year, one-time grants, and may not be offered again in the future