FTC sponsorship letter template
Most team sponsorship letters fail the same way: three paragraphs about how much the students have learned, and no clear statement of what is being asked for or what the sponsor gets. Businesses give to teams that make the decision easy. This one is built to be short, specific and answerable in a single reply.
Before you copy it: replace every bracketed field, and cut anything you cannot back up. A sponsor who spots one inflated number stops believing the rest.
The letter
[Date] [Contact name] [Business name] [Address] Dear [contact name], I'm [your name], [role] of FIRST Tech Challenge team [number], [team name] — [student count] students from [school or area] who design, build and program a competition robot each year. This season we're competing in [number] events, starting with [first event] in [month]. Running the team costs about $[season budget]: [largest cost] is the biggest line, followed by [second cost] and [third cost]. We've raised $[amount raised] so far. We're asking [business name] for $[specific amount]. At that level we would [specific benefit — e.g. put your logo on the robot and our competition shirts, feature you on our website, and bring the robot to your site for a demo]. Full details are in the table below. Last season the team [one concrete result — an award, a placement, an outreach number]. This year we're [one specific goal]. If a conversation would be easier than a letter, I'm at [email] and [phone], and we can bring the robot to you. Thank you for considering us. [Your name] [Role], FTC Team [number] — [team name] [email] · [website] [If applicable: Donations are tax-deductible through [fiscal sponsor name], EIN [number].]
| Tier | Amount | What the sponsor gets |
|---|---|---|
| Title | $2,500+ | Largest logo on robot and shirts, named in every outreach appearance, site demo, feature on the team website |
| Gold | $1,000 | Logo on robot and shirts, named on the team website and in season updates |
| Silver | $500 | Logo on shirts, named on the team website |
| Bronze | $250 | Named on the team website and in the pit display |
| In-kind | Materials or services | Recognised at the equivalent cash tier |
Set your own numbers. These are typical for a team with a $5,000–8,000 season budget; scale them to yours rather than copying them.
What separates the letters that get answered:
- Name an amount. "Any support helps" moves the decision back onto the sponsor and it stalls there.
- Say what the money is for. A budget line is more persuasive than an adjective.
- Address a person, not a company. A named contact answers; info@ does not.
- Give a concrete result from last season, even a small one.
- Make the reply easy — one email address, one phone number, one offer to visit.
- Follow up once, about ten days later. Most yeses come from the follow-up.
After they say yes:
- Send the receipt or acknowledgement the same week.
- Send one mid-season update with a photo. This is what makes the second year easy.
- Send the end-of-season result, win or lose.
- Put the logo up where you said you would, at the size you said.