October, 2010 Team Leader for FRC Team 000 receives check from Acme Manufacturing for $10K!

BFF – Keeping Your Team’s

Sponsors Your “Best Friends

Forever”

Kathie KentfieldFIRST Senior Mentor

Director, NEMO

October, 2010

Team Leader for FRC Team 000 receives check from Acme Manufacturing

for $10K!

November, 2010

Team Leader registers for 2nd Regional and orders new t-shirts.

GO ACME!!!ACME

December 2010

Enthusiastic, young mechanical engineer

from Acme, Tim,

joins team.

January 2011

Tim introduces Stan, Acme’s crackerjack machinist,

to the team.

March 2011

Team competes at home Regional.VP attends with grandson. Grandson

leaves inspired…to become a rock star!

April 2011Team displays robot atAcme’s Take Your Child

to Work Day.

May 2011Team mails out thank you letter

with team picture plaque.

Fast Forward to November 2011No word from Tim, Stan or Acme.

Team Leader, concerned, calls Tim.

November 2011

Tim sheepishly explains why team hasn’t heard from Acme.

December 2011Team Leader contacts FIRST to cancel 2nd event registration.

She is now in panic mode.

December 2011Team Leader calls FIRST Senior Mentor and Regional Director

looking for money!

Sound Familiar?

What did FRC Team 00 do right?

What could they have donebetter?

Re-thinking your fundraising strategies• Consider several small sponsors • Your sponsors are actually your customers • Develop customer-relationship-marketing

strategies• Get the word out about team and FIRST• Cultivate team-sponsor partnerships• Deliver a strong customer experience• Create Believers

“Believers… have an emotional attachment to your company. They feel part of your business and think you are an important part of theirs…. Believers will

be your advocates and recommend you to everyone else. “

~ Dr. Ian Brooks, www.drianbrooks.blogspot.com, ©2012

Believers are plugged in to your team.

Things you can do

• Brainstorm with the team on how you can develop this relationship.

• Make sure team knows who sponsor is.• Want a donation? Ask for it. Each year.• Tell your stories!• Enable the sponsor to

share your stories!• Create photo ops.• Communicate.

• Develop your brand – and incorporate the sponsor name wherever you can.

• Include sponsor information on website – not just a logo.

• Encourage sponsor employee participation on your team.

• Engage your sponsor in your team activities.

• Participate in your Sponsor’s events.• Demo (not just display) your robot in

cafeteria and at family events – and let people drive it!

• Shadow workers – part of workforce development.

• Consider renaming your robot after the President of the company.

• Say Thank You – and let the robot deliver it!

Thank You

from

FRC Team 00!

Thank you to FRC teams 1912, 1123, 359, 1501and Dr. Ian Brooks

Clip-art purchased from www.clipart.com

Kathie KentfieldFIRST Senior Mentor

Director, [email protected]

www.usfirst.org www.ctfirst.org www.firstnemo.org