Funding

From 2006.igem.org

Contents 1 Basics 2 Potential sources of funding 2.1 At your institution 2.2 From companies 2.3 From a grant 3 Materials 4 Examples from other schools 5 Expenses

Basics

Some basics of fundraising:

• It starts by crafting a compelling message. Why is iGEM important to your team and why should others support you? There is no shortage of these with iGEM. A few: It promotes collaborative interaction on a near-global scale; the open sharing of biological parts and data; provides a rich, unparalleled educational experience for students; pushes the limits of synthetic biology. Each team is going to bring a slightly different perspective to this.

• Let your team's excitement and commitment be clearly seen. Don't be afraid to show some enthusiasm for participating. It's hard to refuse giving some support to people that are eager and keen and giving up their summer to do something worthwhile.

• Underscore why the supervisors are choosing to be involved and what they are putting into the program. People are more likely to support your team if they see that the leaders are heavily invested.

• More than just participation, project goals that are clearly understandable (even if the technical details are not) will help. Even if the project is relatively simple, where might it lead in a few years? Today's bacterial thermometer could be tomorrow's natural biosensor for environmental toxins.

• There should be a sense of urgency, that the funds are needed now. How the funds are to be used is important. People like to know where money is going. Is it to pay stipends, buy equipment or reagents, or support travel? Clearly show where there are sponsorship opportunities and for what amounts.

• Utilize a broad range of fundraisign methods. Personally approaching and soliciting prospects, be they individuals or organizations, is by far the most successful. This may be a meeting with your team with a person or group, or by inviting sponsors to attend a formal presentation where the team makes a case for their needs. This may require leveraging personal or professional contacts, talking with other fundraising groups at your school (alumni and business development groups have a lot of experience with this sort of thing), telephone calls, or other legwork.

• Use the media. If your team is being featured in a school newspaper, local newspaper, etc., make a part of the message about how people interested in supporting your team can do so. Do they need to contact a certain person? The department office? Go to a web site?

• Take the time to thank and recognize people for the suppport they provide to your school or team.

Potential sources of funding

At your institution

• Biology, bioengineering and engineering departments or colleges
  • Submit a proposal to the department head or dean
• Undergraduate research office
  • Students can apply for summer research funding
• Establish yourself as a student club and get money from your student activities association

From companies

• Contact alumni from your institution who work at biotechnology or pharmaceutical companies. They can often refer you to the person who has the authority to make donations.

From a grant

• Apply for a research or educational grant to support your team.

Materials

Generally to obtain funding, you will need some sort of handout, brochure or PDF to send to various people to support your request for funds. The nature of this document will vary depending on your target audience.

Some potential items to include (especially for documents sent to companies)

1. Information and statistics on iGEM - number of schools/students etc.
2. Context of competition: its history and growth
3. Future and vision of the competition
4. Short biographies of the team
5. Attach media items regarding the competition

Proposals submitted to your department or college at your institution may need to include more project details than those submitted to companies.

Examples from other schools

• [http://www.synbio.co.uk/griffin/Images/iGEMbrochure.pdf University of Cambridge's 2005 brochure]
• [http://openwetware.org/wiki/IGEM:MIT/Sponsorship MIT's 2006 memo]

Expenses

• Student stipends (generally at the standard undergraduate research assistant level for your university)
• Travel costs
  • For instructors to attend the Teach the Teachers conference in Spring
  • For students to attend the Jamboree in November
• DNA synthesis (~$1.40 per bp synthesized)
• Materials costs for the team