Hey all, captain of a rookie team here. We have like no money. We’re super behind the ball on getting sponsors. I don’t even know if we got the NASA or FRC grants, and don’t really know when I’ll find out. That, coupled with the fact that my lead mentor doesn’t understand the sheer time commitment we need (we are there 60~ hours the first two weeks but then he’s saying we only need 7hr a week for the next 4) is making this super stressful. What do I do? Who do I talk to? We have a decent business plan, but how do I turn that in to money? Help!
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First, you seem to have 2 problems here. First is that you don’t have enough money, second that you don’t have enough time to meet. I’ll just talk about the money issue.
The main avenues for getting money in FRC are corporate sponsorships/public grants, money from the school, and donations from family/friends.
What we’ve done in the past:
- Letter-writing campaigns to parents and family. I suggest that you ask the students to all bring in 10 names/addresses they can write to, have a base letter, then have the students write the last few sentences as a personal statement. We made 10,000+ on this.
- Corporate sponsorships - there are 2 ways to go with this, you can get a student’s parent or a mentor to talk their boss into sponsoring the team, or you can reach out to a local company and try to prove why you’re worth their time/money/machine shop.
- Awards and grants - Generally they’re competitive enough that it’s hard to get into any, but if you apply everywhere you’ll have a great chance at getting some money out of them.
In addition, you can certainly pinch pennies. A few thousand dollars can go a very long way, especially as prices for robotics hardware is falling. If you design your prototypes right, it’s possible to essentially tack them onto the robot with few replacement parts.
I recommend that you talk with your mentors/leadership team and see if any of these fit well. Unfortunately they all take a lot of time, which we’re certainly running out of at this point in the season. Let me know if this advice did (or didn’t) help, and good luck - I know you can do this!
Information related to the grants can be found here: https://www.firstinspires.org/robotics/frc/grants
If that link doesn’t help you, question 2 on this link should be able to put you in touch with the correct people.
https://www.firstinspires.org/robotics/team-grants-faq
As for time commitment, that is not super critical. If you find yourself in a pinch just remember that there are tons of awesome teams in the Bay Area that I’m sure would be willing to help.
I have next to no knowledge on the business side of things so I will leave that to others to help.
Don’t worry about the time thing too much - if you plan your meetings beforehand, and are productive during them, 7 hours a week can be enough. I know there are plenty of teams that meet not very often, and they still do well because they know how to use the time they have effectively. Conversely, there are teams that meet a ton, but don’t use the time usefully.
As to the money, we’ve in the past, done a “shotgun” approach (is that what it’s called?) where we sent out a bunch of emails to a bunch of companies in Connecticut, and we got a new sponsor from that.
It is good to see your concern about your team.
The good:
You are registered for an event $6,000 PD
You get a basic KOP
You only live about 1 hour away ( can travel, don’t need hotel) savings of 3-5k
Questions:
Is your team part of a school? if yes
they may have a budget for the team you are not aware of
If they do not they should
Do you have access to some shop to build or fabricate?
If Not do you have some basic tools? (you will need some)
I am sure there are other teams in your area. They may be able to help you out with extra parts, stock and maybe a work space if needed.
Use “The Blue Alliance” to locate them
IMO 7 hrs a week is NOT enough time to build a robot. This would depend on your mentor-ship (seems limited), student knowledge ( probably also low as you are a rookie team), team student numbers…,and build space.
So Money or things you can get with it.
Check with local Manufacturing. They may have tools and or materials they would give you.
Not sure how it works out west but in MN places like the American Legion, Elks, Eagles, ect. give a lot of money to education. You will probably have to go present to these people so be prepared.
best of luck
If you search “fundraising” (I prefer searching post titles using advanced search), you will find a ton of advice & ideas, including “Fundraising 101”. https://www.chiefdelphi.com/forums/search.php?searchid=8628774
Our team’s fundraising includes a mix of several different parts, and I think this is true for most teams. My 2 cents:
- Definitely make the most of opportunities to obtain grant funding. Determine which grants you’re eligible for, and complete the applications.
- Some companies give a matching $X donation for every hour its employees volunteer. See if this is the case for any of your mentors or other adult volunteers. Even if a parent is just volunteering to drive students to competitions, that should be eligible “company match” volunteer time that could turn into real money for the team.
- We request (but don’t require) each team member’s family make a donation.
- Local businesses. Start with the network of your coach, mentors, and team member parents… What business owners and business decision makers do people know? Have team-associated adults with these connections help with getting an appointment with the local businesses. Have groups of 2 or 3 team members visit these businesses, each wearing a team T-shirt. Be prepared. Explain the benefits of FRC to students and the benefits to the sponsors (e.g. logo on back of T-shirt, social media exposure, etc.). Bring a way to show pictures/video of FRC robot build & competitions (e.g. iPad tethered to phone).
- Typical small fundraisers can help. Carwash, bake sale, restaurant takeover, etc.
Good luck!
If you are based out of a school as a club or team, you can get tax credit donations. These offer some incentive to those donating in the form of tax credit and it is one of the main ways our team fundraises besides sponsors which I understand can be hard to get in a limited time. Good Luck!
We are supported by our school by building use only… Sounds like you might be in the same situation…
Have you thought of crowd source funding?
We used that successfully this year to fund our registration as well as one of our regional fees.
We use Donor’s Choose. We have had several other projects funded through this.
Just get the word out locally, withing the school and PTA, small paper add…
After a bit of time you might end up with quite a few anonymous donors that like to match other folks donations…
What helped us meet our goal was having the student fees, which you should have some nominal lab fee, were paid into there by the parents.
For robotics we have a $100 lab fee to help offset the costs of tee shirts, buttons and the like.
Sure cannot hurt to try…
Aloha!
If you received the NASA grant or the FRCRookie grant they should be on your TIMS account. Your lead mentor will need to log in and look for those.
For the NASA grant you can also check the link below to see if your team is on the list.
Bases on the team number on your profile I do not see your team listed, unfortunately.
There’s a great Compass Alliance Pathway on Fundraising that compiles a ton of resources to try and help lay a solid foundation for a team.
https://www.thecompassalliance.org/pathways
The struggle for money is a never-ending conquest for all teams. It’s great you’re engaged with the community here. You can get a lot from searching and learning how other teams have endured.
Good luck this season and feel free to reach out if you have any questions!
-Brando
Hey Bryce,
I checked the NASA grant website, and unfortunately your team wasn’t able to get it, but neither did ours or the many others that applied, so there is always next year.
We would love to help you with the fundraising aspect. I can share with you our sponsor letter if you shoot me an email or PM. I would recommend as the many before me said with corporate sponsors, local businesses, or even team “dues” for members that can help get your team rolling.
For the time thing, if your lead mentor can only meet 7 hours over 4 weeks, so be it. We’ve had that issue and continue to have that issue with mentor availability, but that shouldn’t stop you from meeting with your team with another mentor, or online or at someone’s house. I’d recommend calling your mentor and ask what his availability is, and if it doesn’t change to match the demands of build season, find something that suits you and your team.
If you need any more help throughout the season (in design or fundraising or outreach etc…) let me know. Our team would be happy to help! Feel free to send me a PM for more details on the sponsor letter template I have.
This is where the kit of parts drive base is your friend…
Keep your time and energy focused on driving early.
Build it and attach a board across the bottom and get it wired to drive.
Once its driving, have groups drive and others making the other system for game interaction…
Coding can be done off site and/or through Skype on even a call.
It is possible, just keep it basic and functional…
Lots of resources here, the search tool is your friend .
Good luck, keep calm, if can…
Aloha!
FIRST has a Fundraising Toolkit that has plenty of helpful resources and tips.
Funding: Plenty of good stuff above.
Unfortunately, it’s probably too late to get large company sponsorships in time for this season. Start putting out those feelers now, but you’ll have to work on local companies (especially if someone on the team has a family tie). Go to all the local companies you can find time for, with emphasis on any tech/fabrication/construction/contractor supply in your area. With those later companies, also ask about support “in kind”, whether in the form of parts/supplies (sometimes construction and fabrication companies have lots of waste that’s plenty big for robots), time on tools, used tools, and mentorship.
On several occasions, we have successfully used piggybackr.com to raise a couple of thousand dollars per campaign. It’s a crowd funding source, but is specifically made for youth teams, following customary youth privacy rules. The downside of it is that they do NO advertisement or public posting - all the publicity needs to come from team members (including mentors/parents). We have found that the more specific you can be about what you want, the better the results. That is, don’t just say “expenses so we can compete”, list the things you’re planning to buy if you meet your goal (perhaps tools, perhaps a control system, perhaps a bus to get to and from competition), then follow up in more general terms what you’ll do if you go over your target.
On time, 30 hours per week is pretty grueling, but 7 hours per week follow up is really light. Spreading those 88 hours out over 6 weeks would be less stressful on everyone’s academic progress, and allow a lot more time for ideas to come forth. Also, the team should continue to meet after bag day! You can’t do anything with the robot in the bag, and I wouldn’t advise a second robot with your resource issues, but you can spend this time on your pit, costumes, mascots, cheers, scouting plans, checklists, and such.
The tax credit funding is a god send to Arizona teams, but it is an Arizona specific thing and is unfortunately probably not an option here as I don’t believe California has a similar program.
On time, you can build a robot (even a competitive one) meeting only 7 hours a week. Minus some extra time on MLK and President’s Day this is what we have done for 3 years and we’ve still managed to end up as a lower seeded alliance Captain the past two. The key is to focus your time at school to building and to quick discussions to finalize and test designs. Draw up designs, build cardboard prototypes, read the rules, and order parts at home outside of meetings, your meeting time is precious and has to be reserved for what can only be done when physically present as a team.
Ok, now breath.
Next, talk to your school mentor! You listed a lot of stuff that you just don’t know, your mentor should. Your school, parents, and mentors should have/be meeting to determine a fundraising strategy.
If you need more help than this please contact your closest FIRST Senior Mentor. https://www.firstinspires.org/senior-mentors
It appears to be Bert Abrahamzon ([email protected]) for anything north of L.A.
You’ve already gotten a lot of great advice on the financial side of things.
The time constraints aren’t necessarily the emergency they feel like. 1257 has 9 hours of official meeting time a week during build season, with the option to allow more time if and only if they are being productive during the official meeting times. You might be able to convince your mentor to agree to allow more time later in the season if you can demonstrate that you are working effectively and still need more time. My experience has been that we use additional time much more at the end of the build season when we need time for fabrication/repair/testing/practice that has to be done in our workshop than at the start of the season, when we’re doing more planning and strategizing that can take place anywhere. Your mentor might even agree to bank some of those extra hours he was going to give you in the first two weeks to allow you to use them later in the season.
With your time (and financial) constraints, my recommendation would be to simplify and prioritize. You’re going to want to build a robot that can do every task in the game. Fight this urge. You’re going to see people claiming online that you have to do everything. You don’t need to. When the game comes out, read and understand the rules, and then figure out the ways you can score points. Skip the things that are hard to do and don’t get a lot of points - they’re great as tiebreakers, but you’re not going to have time for them. Focus on stuff that’s easier to do and gets relatively high points - that’ll give you the best payoff for your limited time.
Your first priority should be to make a robot that can drive well - it’s our top priority every year, because it’s usually enough to score some points, and without that ability, you’re going to have a hard time scoring any points. The KOP will come with a kit for a drive chassis. If you use this (possibly a modified version, depending on the game), you’ll have a sturdy, reliable base to build your robot on, and it will drive pretty well. Beyond that, priorities will vary based on the game.
For money I suggest either emailing businesses asking for money or literally just walk inside and ask for the store owner so you can talk. Email is best though but you can’t always find one. Also if you literally walk in then explain why you want to talk to the store manager to whatever employee you ask because otherwise they might worry that your reporting them or something. That is why emails are best.
As for hours, I suggest almost everyday for at least 3 hours on week days and 5 or preferably 10 on weekends. It is best to work too much at the beginning then rush at the end. Many teams work until midnight the last day and some times a few days throughout the build season. No one wants to work that late. Also not all members need to be there the entire meet. It should be at least most of it. Some come just for food so be careful with that. Also while I am talking about food, check food allergies everyday before ordering food and WRITE THEM DOWN!!! My mentor always forgets that I am lactose intolerant so I usually need to head home to get food myself even though Pizza Factory has sandwiches I can eat. Also food sponsors are very useful. We have 7 and thus if our mentors use them, we don’t need to pay for food at all the whole season and even for off season competitions. One of our sponsors is called Restaurante Molise and each meal typically costs at least $20 each person but we can eat there for free whenever we want.
Build a super-simple robot that is 110% reliable.
Enjoy building something (bot + controls station + drive team) that can be depended on to always meet it’s commitments.
When the time comes, in every match put a decent number of the “easiest” points on the scoreboard. Let your allies go after the other points.
Starting right now, learn to manage a “project” and thereby meet deadlines (be able to turn data (not guesses) into accurate predictions).
Do those things and you will have had a wildly successful rookie season.
FIRST FRC uses tournaments and robots, but FRC’s purpose is not holding tournaments.
Blake
+1
Read this about making sure you have a more reliable robot
there is also a separate thread about this.
Ask for help from other teams when you get stuck
Have fun!
R