I run a school VEX team and we need help with funding, this is our first year, so we don’t have very much to show off to a potential sponsor. What companies usually sponsor robotics teams? how can we contact the companies to request a sponsor?
Thanks
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I obviously dont know what big company’s are in your area if any. but for example in my city one of the local schools asked for a small sponsorship from the local community college, the college couldn’t help them but they turned them to the Volkswagen plant that is in my city and they ended up sponsoring an entire STEM program within the school. but what im trying to get at is that you need to find larger businesses that have interest with STEM based learning for younger people.
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If the team is majority female I believe there are some special grants you can apply to
Edit:Here are some grants that schools who are making a new team(s) can apply for
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Ok what about big STEM companies? would they be likely to sponsor a robotics team? I feel like its very rare for a large company to sponsor a small team. Maybe its just because this is first year 
if they have a large pretense within your town then you are very likely to be able to get one.
Edit: presence not pretense
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Ah ok. our team is in Austin so I will look for STEM companies that are situated in this town. How should we reach out to them? I know some members of our team have parents that work at STEM companies. This should increase the chances of getting a sponsor right? Can we just write a email or do we have to go to the office’s ourselves?
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Have your mentor or coach email the company. Or the parent who has connections could email the company.
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Ok, thanks. I think I will talk to my coach about the options here. Thanks
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To clarify, there are grants available to all teams, and other grants (Girl Powered grants) available to teams which are at least 50% female. There are also other grants available in certain states/countries/regions.
For these grants, I think you can only get them in your first year, and you may need to get the grant first before you register the team (or as part of the registration process).
Any of these grants can be for a school’s first team, and a Girl Powered grant can also be for a new team at an existing school (as long as the new team is at least 50% female).
(I haven’t confirmed whether you can get these grants for teams that have already been registered, but there may be other options.)
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I recommend that before you approach corporations or businesses for sponsorships, you put together a document that outlines what your team is about, what you are looking for, and what you can provide for them in exchange. There are plenty of examples online from other teams, but I have some from previous years that I can send to you if you PM me.
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The truth is for VEX sponsors aren’t sponsoring because you do really well and you might get their name out there. its way too small an audience watching for that.
Sponsors sponsor just because of the impact it can have on the students. Tech companies at this level want to hear about how it will change the lives on the students and inspire students to pursue STEM. It is always important to think about the value proposition of the sponsorship.
When I ask people to Sponsor my Battlebots team, its very different from when I asked people to sponsor my old HS VEX team.
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