We need some help with fund raising. The past few years haven’t been great for us money wise. We have only one sponsor who gives us free aluminum, but that doesn’t help us pay for events, hotels, and other supplies. If you have any fund raising tips for us please share them.
You should also try studying the fund raising strategies of the teams that won the Entrepreneurship award and mimic what they did.
Type up a one page letter, maybe put a picture of your bot on it, mention what FIRST is and why its a good program. Talk about your team, achievments, how FIRST influences students and their life. Mention that without sponsors this program is impossible, because it is.
Then with that letter go to local stores and have a student or two talk about FIRST and the Robotics program and maybe give personal experiances and then leave the letter with them(best to talk to the manager, not just a normal employee)
We also went to Carbonnees(sp?) and they gave us coupons for 5 free pizzas. And that is better than having to purchase 5 pizzas even though they only lasted 2 meals or less but we didn’t have to purchase them. We have gone to the local Lions Club, Rotary Club, a local small collage. Also some local Enginnering/Science/Technology busnesses.
Hope that helps
Go to the FIRST President’s Circle Website as there are many things that can help you there form Fund raising, to Getting new sponsors!
This is a presentation I did for raising money for not-for-profits. This particular presentation is not targeted specifically at FIRST (I did it for a local symphony orchestra) but the ideas are common no matter what kind of NFP you run. I serve on a number of not-for-profit boards.
Feel free to copy and distribute, or drop me a line if you’d like a “FIRST” customized version of it, or have any questions.
The big thing that new NFPs forget when they are raising money is to PUSH THEIR SPONSORS. These guys and gals GAVE you money. Mention them every place you can - whenever you have an interview, show the robot off, in your pits, on the robot itself, on your banners and T-Shirts, on TV etc. Think NASCAR. If you watch a NASCAR race you’ll see the sponsors name on EVERYTHING. It’s INSIDE THE HOOD in case the engine fails and they have a shot of the engine on TV. Give back at least as much as you get, and you’ll get more money and better sponsors next year.
Your goal should be that the SPONSOR’S CUSTOMERS and PERFECT STRANGERS, come up to them and say “hey - I saw you sponsored a FIRST team! Can you tell me more about that?”. I guarantee that if at least one customer comes up to them and says that each year - they’ll sponsor again and again. And guess what - that fits into Woody’s mission to “spread the word” about FIRST because by promoting your sponsors - you’re also promoting yourselves.
Cheers,
Lee Drake
NFPs – Raising funds.pdf (119 KB)
NFPs – Raising funds.pdf (119 KB)
Also, if you browse around the internet, many of the big corporations around do have grants that you can fill out and apply for. Going around and calling local companies to see if you can schedule a demo for the people sometimes does help in getting money. If local companies won’t let you, set up a demo or fundraiser at places where there are a lot of people.
Finally, be involved with as many different activities where there are a lot of huge companies invovled. Even if you will have to spend money getting in, the results can be overwhelming.
Good Luck!
Thanks!! This really helps. If you got more please keep them coming.
on a similar note, we also have a coupon for 20 free doughnuts (= (or is it 50? i cant remember)
one way we have found successful for fund raising is looking for local restaurants that host events for NP organizations. We bring our robot it, hold a raffle, explain our team to those interested, and usually get $500 to $750 from the restaurant/raffle profit/donations.
another thing we sometimes do is picket outside of stop&shop or home depot or something like that, and explain our bot to those interested.
something else we do often are demonstrations to the various schools in our area, promoting the ideas of robotics and technology (and hopefully recruiting new members!). what usually happens here is that excited kids tell their parents, and then excited parents come visit us, and if they are still excited they talk to their company (sometimes).
First of all…never hate to admit anything on Chief Delphi, we’re all here to help:)
Check out team 75’s plans and also Skunkworks. Both are great teams.
The Skunkworks, 1983, had some issues with fundraising our first year because we expected to get a NASA grant and didn’t. That’s where our business plan has come from. I would recommend downloading it, and not only checking out our spaghetti dinner fundraiser and student letter writing campain (which both consistently have raised over $10,000 apiece) but adapting the document to fit your own team. It might take you a little while, but it is really impressive to take to businesses and prove to them that your team is a good investment.
We have found that requiring each of your students to raise (not have their parents write a check for) at least $250 per event they wish to attend is a good place to start. Also, if you wish, I can get you a copy of the vague letter explaining FIRST that we send out for our letter writing campaign, just PM me. We also suggest that students write a personal letter explaining their experiences and what the FIRST program means to them and how it has affected their lives really helps get money, especially from local business owners (but also family and friends).
Also, knowing that you guys are very close to us, I’m sure I can run something by my coach and the rest of my team, if you want to maybe talk about some joint fund raising i think we might be able to work on some of that.
If you have any more questions, or might be interested in what I have mentioned above, feel free to contact me through PM, or an email to [email protected].
www.firstrinos.org has MANY fund raising and grant sources for you to use. Good luck!!
WC 
one thing that we did for fundraising is that we had a Halo 3 Lan Tournament for the school
Two that our new team is looking at (and will most likely do):
Pizza Hut -=- http://www.midlandfoods.com/dford.html -or- http://www.midlandfoods.com/fundraiser_nights.html
Krispy Kreme -=- http://www.krispykreme.com/fund4ways.html
As someone mentioned earlier, don’t be afraid to ask for help. That’s the point of FIRST, to put people willing to learn in contact with people who, collectively, know lots of useful stuff.
As for advice I can give in addition to everything that’s already been said, don’t be afraid to do cold calls. Many businesses would be willing to make small donations here and there, and that can add up pretty quickly. However, this is time consuming so I would do this now, and NOT during build season. (Oh, and don’t make the mentors do your calls. Make sure you know the proper manners of a telephone call, and be willing to tell your potential sponsors a little bit about your self. If they know what they’re really sponsoring, many business owners become quite generous.)
Another tric-, I mean, perfectly legitimate fundraising idea is to call local politicians during election seasons. Just about every one we’ve called gives in the $100 range every time they’re running.
+1 to everything here. I highly recommend developing a business plan. You can check ours out here. If you need help, feel free to PM Thomas Weese or I, we’re happy to support you if you have any questions.
Edit: I just realized that this thread is from 2008, as is the post I quoted. Anyways, anyone reading this feel free to contact Thomas and I if you need assistance.
My old employer, Lockheed Martin, appears to still strongly support STEM education, including FIRST’s programs (and 4H, and PLTW, and …). When I was working for them, it was easy for any employee able to claim affiliation with a FIRST team to get some corporate $ to that team (one check per team). If you can form a connection to a LM employee, it will hopefully be rewarding for them and for your team.
LM Web Site
You do know this thread was posted back in 2008, right? The OP hasn’t been active since 2011.
Don’t get me wrong, this thread does have some good info on it (albeit, with some broken links), but holy necro-post batman. :rolleyes:
I genuinely didn’t notice that. I actually thought this all was recent…