Team Support Organizations by State

[Qbot2640]

I just did some research on the organizing structure of FRC teams here in North Carolina and was very surprised at the results:

• Only 44% of NC teams are controlled by a traditional public school entity (either a single high school or a single school system ie. "acme county schools")
• 32% of the NC teams have independent organizations created specifically to support the robotics program. Most are organized as 501(c)3 not-for-profit corporations.
• 14% are organized under a National Youth Association, mostly 4-H, but we have one team affiliated with the Girl Scouts of the USA.
• 2% each for private schools and magnet schools, and 6% charter schools.

I'm kind of interested in seeing how this compares to other states. The trend in NC seems to be teams moving away from school control. What's going on in your state? Hard data would be great - but I'd love to hear opinions too.

[The other Gabe]

from what I know, the PNW has a lot of school-based teams

[Alex2614]

As far as I know, 0 of the WV teams (all 4 of them) are based out of one school. MARS and PARTs are the two largest teams, both of which are community teams that have students from multiple high schools.

I know MARS is a 501c3 non-profit. I do not know the specifics of the other three in WV.

[Mr V]

Just because a team shows up as having their own not for profit orginzation does not mean they are not a single school team, a team based on a school district or don't meet on school property. Many teams form their own non for profit to ensure quicker turn around time to approve parts purchases and to be able to carry a balance forward until the next school year. I know a number of school districts that have a policy that a school account can not carry a significant or sometimes any balance forward.

In the case of WA The Other Gabe is correct that the vast majority of teams are based out of a single school with a handful being district wide teams, a handful of 4H teams and several at private schools.

[GeeTwo]

I don't know about all of the teams in Louisiana, but all the ones I can think of are associated with a public or private high school (or in the case of 1912, two public schools located about five miles by road from each other). I've always wondered how teams can manage school absences if they're not associated with a school or a home school group; five non-field-trip absences in a semester will result in a high school student failing in Louisiana public schools.

3946 also has "Slidell Tiger Robotics Booster Club, Inc.", which is a state-chartered 501 (c) (3) which handles a significant portion of the funding for the team, and is designed after the "Band Booster" model; I understand that this is not the usual case here. Due to policies of the sponsors and the school board, some of our money must go through the school account, but we pass as much as we can through STRBC as the processes to spend and manage the money are much simpler. For sponsorship recognition purposes, we consider gifts to the STRBC as equivalent to gifts to our school account.

[KeeganP]

Originally Posted by Qbot2640

I just did some research on the organizing structure of FRC teams here in North Carolina and was very surprised at the results:

• Only 44% of NC teams are controlled by a traditional public school entity (either a single high school or a single school system ie. "acme county schools")
• 32% of the NC teams have independent organizations created specifically to support the robotics program. Most are organized as 501(c)3 not-for-profit corporations.

We (an NC team) fall into the category of "both" from above. We're technically our own 501(c)3, but we are associated with Athens Drive High School. We currently have at least two other FRC teams within our nonprofit umbrella, and welcome other teams to join it if needed.

We draw many students from the school and consider it our "base" school, but we also do not meet at the school to save ourselves from teacher workdays, snow days, etc. That said, we have started two rookie teams* in the last two years and had an even split -- 1 school based, 1 community based (and now in our nonprofit).

I'm curious as to whether people think one "method" of setting up a team is better than the other.

*We're quite proud that they both won Rookie All Star and have great plans for the future.

[Billfred]

Of the 41 teams in South Carolina this year:

-8 (19.5%) list multiple schools or a school district (281, 283, 343, 1102, 1293, 1553, 3489, 4083)
-2 (4.9%) list 4-H (4452, 4901)
-1 (2.4%) lists "Neighborhood Group" (4965)
-30 (73.2%) list precisely one school in their team name (everyone else)

For the early years of my involvement, the multi-school team was definitely more in vogue. Three of the four teams I've been on have been multi-school teams (1293 and, at the time, 2815 were school district teams, 4901 is 4-H; only the defunct 1618 was one school), and all of them have shown challenges in getting kids from the further-flung schools in the district. 1293 definitely skews towards one geographic end but still gives it the college try, while 2815 converted to single-school after the school behind 3976 spun off.

Why's it that way? I think a few factors are in play. First, teachers seem to prefer it this way more (district infighting can be a thing, travel between schools is a thing, scheduling is a thing, branding is a thing...). Second, I do think FRC has gotten more accessible with the rise of COTS parts; you don't need to find a big machining sponsor or as many engineering mentors to have a prayer (at least on the regional level). I know of at least two Palmetto Regional winners with no engineering degrees on the roster, so there's hope yet!