I am writing this as a grateful FRC alum who did not go into engineering but would still like to support FIRST and potentially my previous team. I am hear to see if you have any advice on things I may not have considered given I have not been involved in FRC for quite a while.
How would you restrict a donation to an FRC team if it all? Travel expenses were a huge barrier to many of the families who wanted their children to join my previous team, but I remember wanting fancy machining equipment and the latest sensors when I was involved.
What DD would you do in my situation beyond a basic tour?
If you’re wanting to help a particular team with a directed donation, I’d recommend getting in contact with the coaches of the team and asking them what they need and what they could really benefit from. Teams have a lot of different needs at different stages in their development.
In addition to what the team could benefit from, ask how to make sure the TEAM gets the money instead of the school (or district)–it’s not unheard-of for schools to see “big donation coming in for robotics” as “big donation to school, maybe some should go to robotics”, and the team sees very little of it. If you’re donating to a team, and you want the money to go to the team, then you probably want to put some “armor” on the donation so the school sees “give this to robotics, OR ELSE!”
Thank you for informing me of this, I remember this being a persistent problem with the team I was on as they did not have their own 501(c)3 established.
I’ll talk with the coaches and see what they need. What do you think about talking to student’s through their outreach / “Chairman’s” team?
Look into ways to multiply your effective contribution. For example, my work happens to match donations to any 501c3 up to a limit. Plus, I was able to use a 5% cash back credit card offer.
So, instead of spending 100% to donate 100%, I spent 95% to donate 200%.
I am not concerned with the dollar and cents structuring. I am primarily concerned with the risks of donating to organization I am wholly unfamiliar with or have not interacted with in quite some time.
Something you can do is offer to purchase something for the team based on how much you want to give, for example funding the team’s drive base/ or new Mill. I think as other posters have suggested, contacting the coach and getting to know the team and the team’s needs is a key step in this process.
The low cost effectiveness and financial instability of the vast majority of FRC Teams have made endowments largely unheard of.
This may work if the team is Fiscally Sponsored by a larger/more strongly established non-profit, but it may burden a smaller team whose finances are managed on a smaller scale.
Geeze is this really a thing? I guess I’m not too surprised but this is a really scummy thing to do.
I think this would be hard to handle, and if the team goes through a school and doesn’t have their own accounts/501c3 I would think it to be impossible, but I’m no expert in the field.
Other then that I echo pretty much all the advice posted so far that contacting the coaches is your best bet.
Also if you’re looking for a team that would do everything they can to guarantee to use the funds for travel so every kid in need (or just every kid) can go to events hit me up
I’ve heard of it happening if anything about the donation is unclear. Yeah, it’s scummy. Tell the government to fund schools better so they aren’t trying to take donations from one part of the school and use them elsewhere. It can also get the school in trouble if the donor gets wind of what’s going on.
Team I’m on, the school holds the funding for us. But, they’re not going to take it and use it elsewhere if it’s marked “robotics”–they’ll let us know it’s in and how much pretty quickly.
You can do an in-kind donation as well. Ask the coaches what equipment / tooling they need if that’s what you’re interested in helping with. We’re fortunate enough to have a substantial amount of equipment that was either directly purchased by our donors when we renovated our old shop or purchased by the school via an escrow account that they couldn’t touch except to pay for POs as invoices were coming due and we received delivery for stuff when we built the building. Otherwise, the school couldn’t touch the money for anything else.
Talk to the adults on the team not the students in chairman’s / outreach especially if you’re going to spend a sizable amount of money (30-40k plus). They know what they need for tools, machinery, motors, sensors, etc and what would be the best use.
i’m not completely sure. Ideally, a large unrestricted donation would be the most convenient, but given the nature of FRC, restrictions have to be place (especially with the school district information!).
I’m looking to be more active in the future, so a creative solution that addresses travel expenses for many teams would be attractive long term.
So I was only half joking because it sounds like they want to give it to their former team (gotta shoot your shot though haha!), but I took it as they want it used for travel and not to chase the shiny new equipment/toys. Not that either is a bad thing or changes any of the responses they’ve received so far.
Also I don’t agree with excluding the kids here, I know many teams were the students are just if not more knowledgeable then the adults. I think talking to both is a great idea to get a feeling of the team
