A Request

[groundpointsix]

Hello all:

I post this on the behalf of the flight team at my university. We are in need of somewhere between 8 and 10 thousand dollars in order to compete at the NIFA national championships this coming May. Unfortunately we are not as fortunate as some teams in that we do not recieve funding from the university. We are on our own to raise the money. Efforts are being made to secure future funding from the school, however this will almost certainly not happen in time for this year's competition. We have written letters to several companies and alumni in an attempt to raise money, however we are still well short of our goal. If any member of this board would be kind enough to point me towards companies or organizations that might possibly be inclined to make a donation as well as a contact name/address I would be most greatful. Thank you in advance.

-Groundpointsix

PS: I have intentionally left the name of the school out of this posting in order to comply with university regulations, though the name would be included in any direct contact that was made with a potential donor/sponser.

 

[jethro]

Get a job

nt

 

[buckdanny]

Hey,

When I was a member of the flight team at the first university I attended, we used to do a bunch of fundraising events. We also managed to get a lot of money from the university itself. Also, the team paid only for the event itself, and the pilots had to pay themselves for training flights. Our case was special in a way that the team was part of the school's aeroclub, so we got money from the club itself (dues and fundraising events). Something you might want to look into, is to have the team considered a campus orginization, just like the others! That means anyone can join, but you can obviously set up some selections to get those who will participate at the events. Heck, we did selections among ourselves too, after all you want the best to compete! Anyway, if the team is a campus organization, you will get money from the school. Also, among the aviation department staff there should be a person who knows about the organizations who give away scolarships. They should know how a campus organization could get money like that. Also, there are lots of fundraisers you could do. Car wash, plane wash (pays well), etc. We used to get money washing the aeroclub's planes. We had to work hard, but in the end we did kick UND's a$$ at some regional events! I hope that helped, and that you will be able to raise enough money for this year events. Good luck!

 

[GuppyPuppy]

This is an ongoing problem with some of the schools attending a SAFECON. I competed for 3 years on San Jose State's team and never received a dime from the school. I've been coaching the team on and off over the past 12 years and we still haven't gotten anything from the school (great to "represent" a school that couldn't give a cr@p about you).

Every team member pays for all of their own flying and are responsible for getting themselves to and from competition. Each year the team conducts different fundraising events that pay for entry fees, BBQ & banquet tickets, hotel rooms and rental cars. Some years we fall a little short and ask for money (upfront) from each team member (this year it is $100 for our regionals in two weeks).

How do we get the money for this? Today we had a about 50 people show up for a "support the flight team" lunch at a local restaurant. Each person paid $20 for an all-you-can-eat buffet. The restaurant was going to keep $3/person, but liked our team so much that they let us keep the entire $20/person....that was $1,000 that the team made today! We also sold T-shirts for $17, pint glasses (big seller this year) for $5(beer not included), and polo shirts for $30. Basically, anything you could put your team's logo on might sell.

We are also lucky enough to get some donations from local FBO's at San Jose and Reid-Hillview airports, and each March the local chapter of the 99's holds a dinner and huge raffle for the team (last year we got about $1,000 from the dinner). We solicit donations from alumni, especially the "rich airline pilots" and former team members. We have also had donations from local pilot groups and airport associations.

In the past we have been able to conduct 10 cent/pound airplane rides ($2,000 in one weekend), poker flights, spot landing & flour bomb contests, selling hamburgers at the Aviation department, selling nachos at local aviation gatherings, curb painting, car washing, airplane washing, etc...

It almost made me sick when, a few years back, I found out that ERAU-D had a budget of $90,000/yr. ERAU-P was about half that at the time (around 1994). They can offer free flight time as an incentive to be on the team. For ours, and maybe yours, basically whoever shows up is on the team. We may not be competitive for a first place team finish, but we sure do have fun along the way!

I hope this has given you some help. Oh, BTW, we tried to solicit donations from national corporations to no avail. These companies would make a donation to NIFA, but not individual teams.

See you in Grand Forks....we'll be the loudmouth crazy-a$$ team listening to AC/DC's "We've Got Big Balls"!

Visit our website at:

www.geocities.com/sjsuflightteam

Cheers!

GP

 

[groundpointsix]

Thanks for your suggestions. We have done some of the same things your teams did, but there are some things on there that we hadn't thought of yet. (I like the $.10/lb flight and the restaurant partnership idea-- i'll certainly pass that along) I agree, it really does suck when you're representing a school that doesn't support you. (Heck, when we placed third at the regional competition we got a letter saying from the administration saying "it's too bad you didn't win but third place is ok too") I suppose if we were given $70,000 like the other teams in our region we might have been able to afford the flight time to practice. I suppose that it might come down to asking team members to pay their own way, though we'd obviously like to avoid that. Thanks for your help! See you in Grand Forks! (We'll be the team getting our van stuck in the mud...over and over again)

-Groundpointsix

 

[GuppyPuppy]

Be careful about the $0.10/lb rides. The money must go to a charitable organization according to the FAR's, otherwise it would be a commercial operation. Can't remember which FAR, but I think you should find it under part 61 or 91.

Good luck and hope to see you in GFK! Top 3 teams will represent our region this year. Probably ERAU-P, Mt. San Antonio JC, and San Jose State. Our regionals are 2/14-16.

Cheers!

GP

 

[groundpointsix]

Couldn't you operate the flights as a commercial sightseeing flight according to part 119.1 as long as you stay within 25nm? That way you could operate under part 91 and wouldn't have to worry about declaring yourself a charitable organization. Of course, we'd have to make sure only our commercial pilots fly the flights, but we've got enough of those. Is there something else I'd be missing?

 

[alimaui]

Be careful about the $0.10/lb rides. The money must go to a charitable organization according to the FAR's, otherwise it would be a commercial operation. Can't remember which FAR, but I think you should find it under part 61 or 91.

Good luck and hope to see you in GFK! Top 3 teams will represent our region this year. Probably ERAU-P, Mt. San Antonio JC, and San Jose State. Our regionals are 2/14-16.

Cheers!

GP

I know that private universities (and university sponsored ~in spirit, when not with cash~ clubs and activities) are non-profit organizations, and the term flight charges could be exchanged for "suggested donation" to alleviate that pesky little FAR. A visit to your Student activies office (with special visit to the student activities financial director) would help to take care of the necessary paperwork. I am not sure how this would work with state funded schools (even though none of them are really non-profit), and they are all run by money grubbing b@$tards.

 

[GuppyPuppy]

If you do it as a commercial operation, the aircraft and crew need to fall under regulations pertaining to a commercial operation. It's been awhile since I've flown GA, but I think if you use an aircraft in a commercial operation it is subject to more stringent regulations pertaining to maintenance (somebody please chime in on this one).

The way we worked it was we asked local pilots to donate as many 15-20 minute rides as they could. They provided the airplane, pilot and fuel. We provided coffee and pastries in the morning and Togo sandwiches and soda for lunch for all the pilots. We also secured a fuel discount for the participating pilots. We required that each aircraft owner provide his/her pilot and medical certificate, certificate of insurance for the aircraft, logbook showing pilot currency and aircraft logbooks. The team collected the money (officially donations) and matched the passengers with an aircraft and pilot. We also capped the "fee" at $10 (1994), so anyone under 100 lbs would pay less than $10. We coordinated this with the FSDO (they got involved in 1990 after a huge political debate between the county board of supervisors and the flight team). Of course, an inspector showed up to "help" by ramping many of the pilot volunteers. The donations went into our flying club's account and was then transferred back to the team...not sure if that was legal, but I think the statute of limitations has run out!!! We haven't done the rides since 1994.

I found the regulation. It is covered under 61.113(d). The kicker is that the charitable organization is recognized by the U.S. Treasury Department. FAR 119.1(e)2 says that par 119 does not apply to the sightseeing flights with 25nm radius. So, what does apply??? I need a CFI to help me out on this one.

Sorry I can't help you anymore on this one. I stopped flight instructing almost 9 years ago. I can't remember things that happened yesterday, much less almost a decade ago!!!

Good luck!

One bourbon, one scotch, one beer!

Cheers!

GP

 

[groundpointsix]

Pretty sure that the only mx required for a commercial flight would be the 100hr inspection required to be operated for hire. Since the school uses the airplanes for instruction, they already receive the necesarry inspection.
My understanding is that part 119 only dictates what section of the FARs certain operations fall under. The operations listed under 119.1 as exemptions fall under part 91. I'm going to put in a call to the FSDO to confirm this, as it seems to be more on the up and up (and less paperwork intensive) than the non-profit organization deal. But I'll look into that too.

Thanks!
-Groundpointsix