I know that some of you will be shaking your head about this but, I’m still going to ask.
Now that we know that NASA will be awarding us a grant, what happens next? Do they pay it directly to FIRST?
Thank you for your patience,
Trying to Help
(And in coming years, I’ll be able to answer more questions!)
That’s a raher good question. (To me.) I don’t know that either.
From the very first paragraph on the awards listing page:
The NASA Robotics Alliance Project is pleased to announce the FIRST Robotics Competition participation grants for 2010. Listed below are the “Regional Challenge Grant”, “Program Growth Grant” and “Sustaining Grants” applications that have been selected for award. Receipt of a NASA Robotics Alliance Project grant award is contingent upon a team being registered with FIRST and confirmed at the specific event for which the sponsorship applies. Regional Challenge Grants are NOT transferable to other teams or other events. Program Growth Grants may be used for any regional competition event, but they are not transferable to other teams. As indicated in the grant application, awarded funds will not be sent directly from NASA to the winning teams. The awarded funds will be transferred to FIRST on behalf of the awarded team, and used to fund the registration fees for the associated regional competition event.
PLEASE make sure that you read the terms associated with requesting and accepting a NASA team grant. There are specific expectations and requirements associated with these grants, which were detailed when you submitted your application.
-dave
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Yes, the money goes directly to FIRST and will cover your initial event registration.
I believe the “NASA” sponsor tag will also automatically appear in your team name on TIMS. Have your team’s Main Contact log in to TIMS and verify this. It may take a while for FIRST to update your team name with the NASA sponsorship. Ours has not been updated yet.
For more info on grant recipient expectations, go here - http://robotics.arc.nasa.gov/events/2010_sponsorship.php.
I received an email from FIRST today that NASA has already forwarded information to them and my registration for the NC region is marked as paid. I had already paid for one region and that amount was moved to pay my second region since NASA paid for the initial region which was NC. Also, NASA will appear as sponsor on your team name automatically. Be sure to do the other requirements for the grant such as the chairman’s award and the surverys. Thanks, NASA
Thank you everyone! I had already gone in and changed our TIMS account to add in NASA; I guess I’ll just have to see if it shows up again or corrected.
Dave - I’ll be making a checklist and checking it twice. I really don’t want to leave anything undone. Thank you for your patience.
Trying to Help
Teams most often “forget” some things that are required after the season is over. Not completing these items may affect future grant applications. Be sure to include everything in you list.
This was a great question to ask, I am sure many others were wondering the same thing. On some veteran teams the students would not necessarily be privy to these sorts of details so you help them as well.