TerraBreak.org: An independent Design/Build/Fly (DBF) support site

Introduction

It's the beginning of a new school year, the new rules are posted, your DBF team is recruiting new members, and concept ideas are flowing, but there's just one thing missing: money! Some teams are fully funded by their school, and that's great; however, other teams may have to raise a significant amount of money on their own in order to be able to compete. So, for those teams that need the cash, Terrabreak has put together a little guide to fundraising for your perusal.

General Tips

1. Start fundraising as soon as possible, August should be considered "late".
2. One person on the team should be in charge of coordinating all fundraising efforts, whether it be the team leader, treasurer, or specific fundraising chair. However, all team members should be involved with the actual fundraising activities (manpower, advertising, etc).
3. Start by talking to the person who was in charge of handing the team's money matters last year. Find out where you stand, and then decide on an overall goal of how much money you want to raise. If there wasn't a specific person previously in charge, at least find a bank account statement.
4. Once you know how much money you need, you can make a plan of sources to approach and fundraising activities that will help you reach your goal.
5. Talk to other competition/design teams at your school and find out what fundraising techniques have worked for them in the past.
6. Remember to thank all of your sponsors after competition, let them know how you did -- send a team photo, a paragraph summary, whatever -- it keeps the door open for future contact!

Sources of Funding

Your School

• Start with your department (AE, ME, EE), they are most likely to have funds for student programs or organizations. They are also the most likely to have tips on how to raise the money you need if you can't get it from them. (Expected return: $500 - $2000)
• Find out if any other organizations within your school offer funds to teams (student engineers' councils, engineering organizations, student government groups, student activities offices). Often times, funding for travel to competition can be solicited from organizations or offices within your school, you just have to know where to go or who to talk to! ($1000)
• Career fairs provide a great environment for networking with the corporate world. Though the people there are mostly recruiters, they probably know who you should contact within their company to ask for sponsorship. Be sure you get a business card so that you can follow up, they probably won't remember on their own after seeing face after face at the fair! ($500)
• Companies often visit campuses to give seminars, so go to them, you might learn something. Afterwards, stick around to talk to the reps and hit them up for money! ($500)
• Next try the College/School of Engineering (or similar entity), talk to someone in the Dean's Office. You may have particularly good chances here if you are a new team looking for startup funds. ($500 - $1500; New team: $4000)
• It's a long shot, but you can try to go directly to the top levels in your school (President's office, etc), or if your school has a strong graduate program in engineering, the Dean of the Graduate School might see sponsoring your group as a good way to recruit new students. It can't hurt to ask! ($??)

Alumni

• Start keeping track of all those DBF seniors who are graduating! Once they have big jobs, they might be interested in giving back to the team. ($200)
• Where do the alumni from your department/school work? Are any of them high-ups in their company? If so, they may be able to pull some strings to get money for you through their company. ($1000)
• Many schools have alumni associations where you might get donations, or at least a list of names and contact info so that you can send out a letter. ($100 - $500)

Corporate

• If your team has a longstanding relationship with any corporate entity, start there. ($1000 - $2000)
• Start seeking out other engineering firms/companies/organizations to support your group. Find professors who have good relationships in the corporate world and ask them for contact information. Any company that already has ties to your department (or did in the past) is far more likely to support the DBF cause. ($500 - $1000)
• Sometimes companies may not be able to send you money, but they may have tons of overstock products available for donation. Draft up a proposal for what you want and send it to them. (See our proposal writing tips.) (Free Stuff!)
• Beware of sending lots of form letters, you probably won't get much of a response, and it's a LOT of work! (I think there's a statistic somewhere that says you shouldn't expect more than a 5% return on sponsorship letters). ($200)

Activities

• Target a large audience. Take advantage of popular sporting events if you can (perhaps put all that excess balsa to use and sell some handmade glider kits, or raffle off an R/C plane). ($400)
• Sell something at your school that you can't find at the campus store. Sell something that focuses on engineering in the general sense, such as Departmental or College t-shirts, sweatshirts, or polo shirts. They make great family holiday gifts, and also show school spirit. ($500 - $1500)
• College students need stress relief! How about computer bashing? 5-minute massages? ($100)
• Lots of single guys/gals on the team? How about a date auction? ($200)
• Avoid selling pizza or donuts or any bake-sell-type food item. It's really hard to make a sizeable return...you'd have to do this several times to get a decent amount of money. Plus it's pretty easy to find free pizza and snacks elsewhere on campus. And most students have meal plans anyway, right? ($50)

Conclusion

The key with fundraising is to be unique and creative. These are just some ideas to get you to start brainstorming and headed in the right direction. Have fun and good luck! If your team has any fundraising success/disaster stories, post 'em on the forum!