I’m a co-lead for the business subteam of 7414. Last year we raised about $36,000 between two business members, which was a record year for our team. This year, however, we’ve only picked up about $5,000 despite requesting more grants than the previous year. We’ve got enough money saved from last year to continue, but $31,000 is a pretty major disparity. I’ve still got a fellow business member, so there are two people working on it. Next year, though, I will be the only business member with experience on the team.
Because of this, I was wondering if anyone knows any useful grant sources or companies to request fundraising. I want to expand our business initiative in general next year to include other fundraising options, but grants are still our primary form of funding. Essentially, I’m looking for companies to request that are usually pretty reliable and that we could start building a rapport with in order to fund further in the future as well. I’m not necessarily asking for a guaranteed grant, but I’m just looking to see if anyone can narrow my search at all. Thanks, all!
Local companies are your best bet go to option for funding. Even better if a parent works there. Looks like Dow and Pfizer have locations within a few miles of you team location.
Grants are nice but a face to face relationship is better, especially if you run into a situation where you might need help quickly. We have students try to raise a set amount for each kid, we have found that some places will give a small donation just to have them leave satisfied and other see the value of the program and give more. Our donations this year range from $50 up to $3000, and we have close to 30 different organizations that help us do what we do at different levels.
Don’t give up on the grants either, those are great sources. But while you wait for responses, go get some local money through phone calls, emails, and arrange some face to face meetings. Every company is an option too, some of our biggest sponsors are a local notary service, acab company, a spring manufacturer, and a few restaurants and engineering firms.
Thank you so much for the response! I’ll be sure to pass this advice along to the team and implement it ASAP. We’ve got a rudimentary local system going, but we really need to establish a further one (especially after seeing this message). We will definitely not give up on grants as well!