Okay I desperately need help from all the old time teams. Is it true that in order to obtain the NASA Grant that we have to have 6,000$ dollars raised in sponsorship to even apply or recieve this grant? And if so is it also true that the money we raised from last year 2500 does not carry forward as part of that amount even if it is not used? We are about 4,900$ short if that is so and my sons leader is saying we are gonna fold and sit out his SENIOR Year if we dont get it. I and my son are devestated and we have been hitting the pavement and phones for the last week since we were told this information what do we do?
From the NASA grant application:
*Additionally, teams applying for a second year NASA sponsorship must:
• Demonstrate at least $6,000 of existing corporate or community funding, and
• Agree to mentor a rookie of the requested robotics competition team either directly or via telephone/email.
*
You have raised $ 2,500 last spring plus another $ 1,000 now.
You have raised from the community or corporate sponsors a total of $ 3,600.
There is NO statement from NASA regarding when you raised the money, just that it came from someone else. You are $ 2,400 short of your goal.
I would recommending giving a call to your regional director with a caveat. It is NOT your RD’s job to find you money but the RD may be aware of some funds that are available in your community and would be appropriate for your team to pick up. So your RD may be able to help with some guidance.
From the wording of your email it sounds like there are some others issues out there that need some work.
Ed
Ed is right on the money here. I would definitely recommend putting together the full story of what is going on, then contacting Ken Rosen, the Assistant Regional Director for Minnesota.
I’ve sent you a Private Message with Ken’s email.
I apologize for this post being so far off topic.
I want to say thank you for taking an active interest in your son’s education.
As far as raising funds. I don’t know your area but consider contacting the Chamber of Commerce. Sometimes it is better to have 10 sponsor giving you $500 than 1 giving you $5000.
Thanks so much for the support and replies the note of who to call Ken our RD was perfect I didnt know where to begin. My sons teacher lead has been amazing but does not have enough parental involvement. I think the problems where we kept asking what can we do but felt we were being pushy and it was really just the fact that he was overwhelmed I think. He has been a wonderful mentor for my son and I dont want him to lose this especially his Senior year.
Thanks for the idea to call the Chamber of Commerce me and the other mom were thinking about doing this and now we have our game plan for the day!
Thanks again guys
Melissa
http://www.firstnemo.org/resources.htm Also has several resources (scroll down to sponsorship).
And, has your son applied for the various scholarships? (http://usfirst.org/aboutus/scholarships.aspx)
Also, if you have to travel and can’t get a group discount rate find another team to work with, between the two of you you should be able to get a discount.
Best of luck!
Our team is also applying for a NASA grant: the sustaining grant, as opposed to a second-year or rookie grant. My latest understanding was that the $6000 of existing funding ONLY was required from second-year [year after rookie year] teams.
Here is the wording of the grant, which we are currently working on:
This is the only question in the body of the form that I can find, which mentions 6k.
Second-Year teams only. Rookie and Veteran teams skip to question 11.
If you are applying for a second year of funding you must also demonstrate at least $6,000 in existing school, community or corporate sponsorship.
If this is not the case…we are goin’ down. We have only secured $3000 of funding to date, there are more grants in the works but there is no way the organizations will reply by the Oct. 30th deadline.
Also, if our team had $6k already, we probably wouldn’t be apply for a NASA grant. Our team spends around $1000 on parts and so on each year [or so I’m told by our mentors] and parents mostly foot the bill for transportation, lodging and so on. We’re trying to play this up a lot, focusing on how frugal we are, because of course this is an insanely low budget for an FRC team.
We’re located at a small private school and are SO fortunate to even have a team…but the school really can’t afford to sponsor us for very much.
I sure sympathize with the OP, this is my fourth year on the team and I really want to be able to participate in FIRST my senior year. Here’s hoping that clause doesn’t apply to us! Does any NASA representative or experienced mentor-type know the truth of this?
Thank you,
Bethany
Well, the NASA grant application just closed…here’s hoping y’all got yours in!
And [re: the OP] I am almost positive that if your team is ‘veteran’ * the $6000 of prior funding is not required.
All the best! Good luck in the 2011 season!*