More progress! We're an official non-profit!

As mentioned in our last update, starting a non profit is a lot of work. In fact, it is made up of many small tasks that require a lot of lead time. Last week we finally received official notice that our Non-Profit 501c3 status was approved by the IRS.

After filing are Articles of Incorporation, editing our Bylaws, holding our first board meeting, opening our bank account - after each small step, we submitted documentation for recognition as a 501c3 back in early April. It was a great day checking our mailbox and finding the official letter.

Back in January, when we decided to start a non-profit, we knew it would take a lot of grit and patience. Harbor Con helped refuel our energy after months of slow progress. Now, again, our spirits are lifted and we're pumped for the journey.

FIRST 2024-2025 Season Reveal

We knew a while back that this season would be water theme. Two weeks ago, FIRST revealed "Dive," this years theme for all their programming. They further break that theme down for each of their main programs. FLL teams will work on "Submerged" while FTC will be working on "Into the Deep".

We're really excited, y'all. This is our year and what better way to introduce our rookie beach town teams than a water theme season. Let's go!

Finding a space

We are in talks with a few property owners for space and we're hoping that we will lock-in a more permanent space for our programming by early July. Maybe sooner but it's looking like July will be our next big milestone.

Once we have space, we can start programming, specifically our FLL Challenge team. We are also in meetings with organizers for local FIRST programs to determine season dates. FLL Challenge is set to start in August but we want to start working with youth to get them up to speed with our robots and the program overall.

FTC season recently ended and likely won't start until September but we're going to try to start early to get kids synced up with the program.

Sponsorships and Donations

Now that we have our official status, we're starting to apply for grants and building out our sponsorship packets. We've been brainstorming on these for quite some time but now that we have our status we can actually take donations. We might still wait until we have our space but we want as much of our packet and documentation ready so we can be agile with getting funds.

Thank you

We have lots more in store over the next month so stay tuned. We're so excited to see momentum start to build. We can't wait to get this going for our community and want to thank everyone for their patience and kindness. ❤️