Team Grant Opportunities
Teams need to fundraise in order to pay registration fees, buy robot kits/parts, and travel to events. There are a number of grants available to teams. Some are specific to new teams, specific FIRST programs, or teams in specific locations, but others are more open.
New grant opportunities will be posted throughout the year, so check back often. Your Program Delivery Partner is another great resource for potential local grant opportunities.
FIRST maintains a list of grant opportunities on its website. Most are for US teams, but some are also available to teams in Canada.
The FIRST Rookie Team grants for FIRST Tech Challenge and FIRST Robotics Competition teams are available to BC teams. They can be applied to team registration and the kit of parts in the FIRST storefront. NOTE: you must follow the rookie team grant process carefully, for example you may need a temporary team number and screened coaches but you must not check out in the storefront until the grant has been awarded since the grant cannot be applied after you’ve purchased your robot kit. The FTC SIM Argosy rookie grant requires a similar process.
| Program(s) | Grant | Team Status | Start Date | End Date | Details |
| FRC | Best Buy Teen Tech Teams Grants – Materials only | any | 2024-06-28 | Grant Details | |
| any | Vancouver Sun Kids Fund Adopt-A-School | any | 2023-10-15 | Details | |
| FTC/FRC | Actuonix FIRST Robotics Sponsorship Program | any | 2023-10-09 | 2023-10-20 | Acutonix website |
| FRC | FIRST Robotics Competition Rookie Team Grant | rookie | 2023-08-21 | 2023-10-30 | Grant Application |
| FTC | FIRST Tech Challenge Rookie Team Grant | rookie | 2023-06-02 | 2023-11-10 | Grant Application |
| any | Gene Haas Foundation | any | Details | ||
| any | Y.P. Heung Foundation | any | Details | ||
| any | First West Foundation | any | Details | ||
| FTC | FTC SIM Argosy Rookie Team Grant (upcoming) | rookie | May 2024? | Details |
News posts about team fundraising and past grant opportunities can be found at this link.
Fundraising Resources
In addition to Grants, teams can raise funds in other ways like bottle drives or solicit sponsorships from businesses. FIRST Tech Challenge teams should check out the Fundraising Resources page for help you budget and then get ideas for raising funds. FIRST Robotics Competition teams can use the Fundraising Toolkit from FIRST. There is also an FRC oriented Fundraising 101 packet that any team may find useful.