[AR] Re: Funding for projects
- From: Henry Spencer <henry@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- To: Arocket List <arocket@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- Date: Wed, 9 Oct 2013 14:42:36 -0400 (EDT)
On Wed, 9 Oct 2013, Thomas McNeill wrote:
> Marketing and Business students are a great help. Often they will want
> some material for their resume.
An excellent idea. If you want to do significant fundraising, possibly
the most important thing is that you need somebody on your team whose
primary job is fundraising! Preferably somebody who likes the job and is
comfortable with it, not a techie reluctantly talked into it. Unless you
get lucky, fundraising is going to take serious time and effort, and that
has to be part of the plan.
Formal status as a school-recognized club would help, ditto any other
organizational affiliations you can arrange. So would having an advisor
who's a professor or has other technical qualifications. (How much
technical advice you actually get from him is secondary. for fundraising
purposes; what matters is that he's willing to say that (a) he is your
advisor, and (b) you guys are honest and at least halfway competent.)
If you can't find $7.5k right now, figure out something you can do that
you *can* afford and that is at least a step along the way. And start
doing it, now, right away, without waiting to see whether fundraising
efforts work. Don't forget to capture it on video! Being able to show
would-be sponsors some track record of achievement will help a lot. It
will be much easier raising funds for your second rocket than for your
first. (Not least, it will make your cost estimates more credible!) And
seeing you spending your own limited resources toward your goals will
also help convince potential sponsors that you're serious about it.
Henry Spencer
henry@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
(hspencer@xxxxxxxxxxxxx)
(regexpguy@xxxxxxxxx)
Other related posts:
