Hey there,
We applied for the 3M grant before the extension with a mentor and only heard back yesterday morning that we were rejected because 3M had received “many more applications than anticipated”. We only got one day to complete the funding and have no way of doing so easily.
Due to the exchange rates in Turkey, it is very difficult for our parents to complete the remaining 1200$, which is about 22,000TRY, at least in a day. Has any other team had such a situtation and what is the best thing to do at this moment?
Hi!
Have you reached out to your regional director or FIRST HQ yet? At the top level, everyone who is involved in running FIRST wants you to compete. They’ll do what they can to help, and may be flexible on deadlines if you ask!
As to raising the money: are you in a big enough town/city where you could go door to door to all of the local shops/restaurants/department stores/whatever to ask for sponsorship? It can be a little scary, but that’s how you have to do it sometime. If you can get 12 companies to each give $100, you’re there. You may have more success with that than asking one company for $1200.
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Our regional director organizer had a funding program, but they only provided funding up to $4000 (if you already had equal to or more than $4000 they don’t fund) and we asked for some flexibility but they didn’t grant. They just wished us luck. I left a message in the FIRST livechat but it’s unlikely they will respond on time considering they took 3 weeks to tell us we were rejected for the 3M grant.
FIRST has sent some emails to lead mentors stating that your status for 2023 will not be affected if you do not complete payment on time due to waiting for funds. FIRST might not be able to give you money, but they definitely can give you some extra time to raise funds.
The door-to-door approach is scary, but it works, especially if you have a good story to tell (like we need just $XXXX more to register for the season!)
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Haven’t heard something like this before, perhaps you can share that/those email(s) if it is okay for you?
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See the image in this post: NASA Grant Release Date - #4 by ShelbyA
That’s specifically referring to the NASA Grant that FIRST knows is running late, BUT if you contact FIRST HQ and explain your situation, they should be more than willing to give you some leeway.
We did get an extension by calling Accounts Receivable 
563 is their extension
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