How robotics teams get auction items donated

For letter structure and follow-up, see how to get silent auction donations and the donation request letter template.

Ask every family one question

Does your employer run a matching gift or volunteer grant programme? Robotics families skew heavily toward engineering and technology employers, which is exactly where those programmes exist — and most teams have never asked.

It costs one line in a start-of-season form, and an employer match arrives without any procurement work at all.

The order

1. Engineering firms and machine shops

Manufacturers, fabricators, machine shops, electrical and controls firms, software companies, engineering consultancies. Ask for mentors and a site visit alongside materials, machining time and money: corporate STEM sponsors.

2. Team families and their employers

Professional services, matching gifts, and introductions into their own companies. A robotics parent roster is an engineering directory.

3. Alumni

For an established team, alumni are working in the industry within a few years. They donate, they mentor, and they open doors at their employers. Start recording contacts at graduation — most teams lose them immediately.

4. Suppliers and distributors

Tool suppliers, electronics distributors, fastener and metal stockists. Surplus, end-of-line and slightly-wrong stock is easy for them to donate and useful to you.

5. Maker spaces and hobbyist groups

Maker spaces, amateur radio clubs, model engineering societies, drone groups. Aligned audiences with items and members, and almost never approached.

6. The school and community

Staff, other programmes, local restaurants and retail. Filler, and last.

Ask for the right currency

Firms in this sector frequently find cash harder to release than materials, shop time or surplus stock, which come out of a different budget or none at all. Ask for all three explicitly rather than making the company translate a cash request.

Send students, and have them follow up

Pairs, rehearsed once, with a one-page leave-behind and an adult who drives and stays quiet. Then handwritten thank-you notes from the students, which is why these donors come back.

Timing

• Spring, for the following season — corporate sponsorship, while budgets are being set
• Late summer — machine shops, suppliers, alumni
• Early autumn — families, maker spaces, community
• Before registration — catalogue closed and bidding open
• Never during build season — nobody is available and everybody is tired

General information, not legal or tax advice for your team. Whether funds run through a school activity account, a parent booster organization or an independent nonprofit changes what a donor may claim — check with your school and your own adviser.

Committee structure: committee and volunteer roles.