I intern at a non-profit that has a school in Uganda with an FLL and FTC program. Both are barely staying afloat due to funding. Does anyone have ideas of how teams outside of the US fundraise?
Right now I’m trying to find grants they could potentially win. They’re connected with an FRC team in the US who is able to help fundraise a little, but we would love to get them in a sustainable position independent of other FIRST teams.
Thanks!
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Out of curiosity which school in Uganda is this? I know that a prominent member of the FIRST community helps a non profit which builds schools in Uganda and has donated many FLL and VEX supplies.
From what I’m told, the real issue is not the donation of items, it is the transportation of said items to the schools that need them, as well as lack of infrastructure to keep the programs running. Additionally, getting these teams to competitions is a huge cost, and it may be more beneficial for them to just compete internally in the classroom.
Beacon of Hope Secondary School. They’re partnered with 4911 right now which has been great, but we want them to get to a place that doesn’t rely on 4911 for them to exist. As the NGO overseeing their school and program, we have the ability to solve the logistical and infrastructure challenges that 4911 can’t.
Their team has done quite well, so we’re looking to expand the program further. We’ve been able to support their basic needs so far, but want to find more sustainable methods and hopefully increase their funding. Obviously since we are a non-profit ourselves, we can’t directly fund them at the capacity we would like, so we’re looking for external sponsors and donors.
Yes, travel to competitions is expensive, but we are willing (and determined) to try and find a solution so they can have the same opportunities as a student in the States might have 
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When I did some work in Nigeria one of the things that I found difficult was that by not being in country it was hard to find things in country…The sad thing is that there may be funding available through the Ugandan government that the team could access, but you would never know about it from outside of the country.
I will check around and see if I can find anything…How much money would they need a year?
Edoga
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Most of our org is actually in Uganda, so I will definitely do some more digging there! Thanks for the idea! Don’t have an official number quite yet, but any additional information you might come across would be helpful, thanks
The Intuitive Foundation grant is open to teams anywhere in the world. The application is usually released in August and is due by mid-October, and I’ll post it in the Fundraising forum when it comes out. In the past grants have been roughly $1000-$2000 for most FRC teams, and about $500 for FTC.
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I have no idea what companies this might be, but I suggest that you check with whatever industries you have locally, where you have a chance to attract them to funding not only out-country advertising but supporting a home-grown technical workforce so you can keep this money in the local economy rather than sending it abroad. [Same message follows, with a bit of tailoring for the others I suggest.] Next look to things like mining/drilling, equipment [e.g. farm] sales and service, and then co-operatives or larger farms which may be looking to create a local technical workforce they don’t already have. After that, try local builders, repair shops, and handyfolk who may be looking for apprentices. Then, everyone else, starting with the relatively rich and/or patriotic.
And with all of these, also mention that you need mentors! Mentors don’t need robotics experience, just experience building and/or fixing stuff, and a willingness to learn and teach. I’d be quite surprised if significantly more than 5% of FRC mentors’ first experience creating robots was not as part of an FRC or other inspirational/educational robotics program, either as mentor or student.
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Hi. Well, most of the RoboGhana program is funded by 5857. We run at a local school in a village that is one of the most remote and poorest regions in Ghana. We run both an FLL team along with EV3 Courses that are required for all students at the primary school (like math or English).
In terms of how 5857 funds the RoboGhana program… In the US, we run FLL and FTC tournaments and the money we earn from the FLL and FTC tournaments (from selling food, etc) are all donated to the RoboGhana program.
In terms of finding sponsors locally… 5857 has been running this program for the last 6ish years and we have gain strong support from the headmaster of the school, the educational director and the local community leaders (which is how we got the program approved as a required subject for students). With the strong support, we easily connected with different local companies for sponsorships. However, we don’t really rely on these sponsorships to support the program.
In terms of FLL, our spendings are LEGO EV3s (we save up and buy them before we head to Ghana), we have also hired a computer and robotics teacher along with materials (such as binders, colored paper, etc).
Final Advice: Reach out to your local leaders, possibly even educational director. They connected us to companies that sponsored the program. Also, try reaching out to local embassies (like the US, Netherlands, etc.). A lot of embassies have participated in different projects like building Hygenic toilets at schools, making water filters, etc. Try to convince them your project is awesome and get them to support you!
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This is SO helpful thank you!!