About me
As a mentor of an FRC Team, I have had experience as a teacher running the team in a school setting and transitioning to a community team. I helped to establish the 501(c)3 non-profit organization "PIE3" in 2011, and since then have continued supporting FRC Team 2199, and a few dozen other FIRST Teams under the non-profit umbrella. There are many pros and cons to this arrangement. Decisions about how to manage funds, find space and recruit and retain mentors and sponsors depend not only on the school vs. community team structure, but many other factors unique to each team. Sharing some lessons learned can be useful for all sorts of teams, and also can provide some reassurance to struggling team mentors and coahes.
