realworlddesignchallenge.orgrealworlddesignchallenge.org/resources/RWDC Fund Raising... · Web viewRWDC © 2017 RWDC Fund Raising Proposal Development for Teams Introduction (This

Real World Design ChallengeRWDC © 2017

RWDC Fund Raising Proposal Development for Teams

Introduction (This section should NOT be included in the proposal. It is for explanation of what should be done.)

The following is material RWDC teams may use to develop proposals to potential funders who may provide all or part of the registration fee for teams. Registration fees will cover all costs involved in going to and staying at the RWDC National Championship at the National Youth and 4-H Center in Chevy Chase Maryland. The cost per team is $5,000 for three students and one teacher/coach. Each additional student is $1,000 for a team of up to seven students. All donations (provided for the RWDC Registration fee) go the Real World Design Challenge (RWDC) described below. Frequently funders will want a proposal. The following information is provided so that RWDC teams may use the information in proposals to potential funders. Funding may come from one or more sources. Each source will require a separate proposal.

Proposals to large organizations

Each proposal to large corporations, foundations or other large organizations will require (1) a narrative with a description of the program; (2) information on the organization (RWDC) that the funds will be sent to; (3) a budget with the requested amount and explanation of what the funds will be used for; and (4) the date when the funds will be needed.

Proposals to small or local organizations

Proposals to small or local businesses such as Home Depot, dry cleaners, food markets, etc. will require a letter proposal of one or two pages. The letter proposal should include (1) purpose of the request; (2) amount requested; (3) explanation of what the funds will be used for; (4) the date when the funds are needed.

The sections below may be used for the body of a proposal to a large organization. An example of a letter proposal to a small organization is included in the RWDC fundraising packet. There is also a sample cover letter to go with the proposal to large organizations.

(The following is information to be included in a proposal to a large organization. The order, and specific details may be modified based on the requirements of the particular funding organization.)

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Real World Design Challenge

Sample Cover Page Information

Proposal to (Organization name the proposal submitted to)Date submittedName, organization (school) address, phone number & email of the submitter

RWDC Payment/Donation Instructions

Teams may choose to gather funds to cover their registrations prior to sending them in or a team may choose to have organizations/people contribute directly to the RWDC on their behalf.The instructions for sending in donations are listed below. You may either pay electronically to the RWDC PayPal account or via checks. If you are having individual donations made directly to RWDC on your behalf electronically please make sure each transaction a minimum of 10$. Electronic contributions towards your team of less than 10$ will not be counted towards your registration. Teams will be notified of all contributions towards their registration as soon as they are received. There is no minimum for registration contributions done via mail.

Funds submitted to RWDC by PayPal must be submitted using the following link:

https://www.paypal.com/cgi-bin/webscr?cmd=_s-xclick&hosted_button_id=4XV9T9AHS5RXU

Step 1: Click the link below


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Real World Design ChallengeStep 2: Fill out the donation amount and all of the billing information. Select “Add special instruction to the seller” circled in red below. Type in the State, School, and Team the donor is giving to in that order under special instructions.

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Step 3: Fill out remaining order instructions and click submit.

Funds submitted by check must be:

Checks should be made out to:Real World Design Challenge, Inc. (RWDC)c/o Mr. Jeffrey Coppola, Deputy DirectorReal World Design Challenge (RWDC)1116 Moorefield Creek Rd Vienna, VA 22180Phone: 703-965-2870Email: [email protected]


The Real World Design Challenge (RWDC) was created to help build the US STEM workforce in a scalable manner with a focus on aerospace. The Challenge is an annual high school competition run by a public-private partnership. Teams of 3-7 students design a plane and compete in State and National Competitions. For the FY16 Real World Design Challenges students are working on an Unmanned Aerial System. Each teacher gets $1 million in professional engineering software and teams get access to professional mentors. Thirty-nine governors have supported the “Governor’s Challenge” at the state level. However students from all fifty states and territories are eligible to participate. Each student on the National Winning Team gets a $50K scholarship to Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University.

The RWDC programmatic goal is to build the STEM workforce with a focus on aerospace. The Challenge has three operational goals: (1) Properly preparing students for the 21st Century workforce, (2) Reaching enough students to fill the needed STEM jobs, and (3) Making the STEM workforce sustainable.

The RWDC is identifying and preparing some of the best STEM talent in the United States. This will build pools of talent in those service areas, which will support the STEM workforce pipeline. The RWDC is building a pipeline of the “best and brightest” students that will become STEM professionals. To reach this goal, we have created a STEM education program that uses professional tools and is scalable to students nationally and now internationally.

The RWDC works with over 50 partners from industry, government and academia to make this happen.

RWDC Results

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Results: The RWDC FY13 National Champion Team is from The Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands and is an almost all girl team with one boy. All are Pacific Islanders an underrepresented group in STEM. The first National Champion Team was an all-girl team from Hawaii. The RWDC is going into its seventh year of operation. To date 2,674 teams with nearly 19,000 students have participated in the Challenge. Most recent data analysis showed that 42.2% of RWDC students self-reported as being a member of a minority group. When RWDC Students were asked how they like STEM subjects; 80% found science fascinating; 65% found math fascinating; 82% found engineering fascinating; and 83% found technology fascinating. When asked about a career in STEM 77% found a career in STEM fascinating; 79% said it was appealing; 79% said it was exciting; 80% said it means a lot; and 81% said it was interesting. To date 98% of the State Champions have gone on to university study. Most have gone into aeronautical engineering or other STEM fields. Many have gone to top universities like Stanford, Princeton and MIT.

Based on feedback from the RWDC Blue Ribbon Judges, who are executives from industry, government and academia such as The Honorable Zachary Lemnios, Assistant Secretary for Research & Engineering, Department of Defense and other dignitaries such as Dr. John Holdren, President Obama’s Science and Technology Advisor; they found that the RWDC students were performing at graduate student level in engineering. This was accomplished with 18 weeks of involvement in the Challenge. Many teams were motivated to work as many as 60 hours per week beyond class time on the Challenge.

Description of the population served, incl. total number and other important characteristics

The RWDC is a National Program with students participating from all 50 states and some territories. We target women and minority students in recruitment but the program is open to all students. The program process involves large numbers of students in the State Challenge. Through a rigorous process of judging, the best and brightest are identified and prepared for the aerospace workforce. To date, almost 19,000 students have participated in the program over six years of implementation. Students have participated from all 50 states. The first year the National Champion Team from Hawaii was an all-girl team and the 2014 National Champion Team from the Common Wealth of the Northern Mariana Islands was an almost all girl team (there was one boy). The whole team was composed of Pacific Islanders. It was the first time anyone from the Islands won a National STEM Competition. The following is a one-year snap shot of the program demographics from the program evaluation.

Demographics: n=225; representing 17 states %=% of total sampleMale Female

150 (66.7%) 68 (30.2%)

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Real World Design ChallengeGrade 9 Grade10 Grade 11 Grade12

41 (18.2%) 32 (14.2% ) 53 (23.6%) 92 (40.9)

Urban/City Suburbs Rural68 (30.2%) 93 (41.3%) 56 (24.9)

African American Hispanic Native American/Pacific

Islander

Other Minority

8 (3.6%) 10 (4.4%) 9 (4.0%) 68 (30.2%)

Total number of paid staff, with qualifications of key employees especially regarding this project, total number of volunteers

There are three paid staff: Dr. Ralph K. Coppola, Founder & Executive Director of the RWDC and Mr. Jeffrey Coppola, Deputy Director RWDC. The volunteers include: 30 State Coordinators; 110 State judges; 61 Mentors; 35 Challenge Judges; 17 Technical Judges; 21 Blue Ribbon Judges; and 16 National Event personnel, 12 Technical Development Committee, 7 Administrative Committee. The total personnel, paid and volunteer, is 312.

Key StaffDr. Ralph K. Coppola, Founder & Executive Director Real World Design Challenge, President RKC InternationalHis strengths include design of innovative education activities involving science and engineering education organizations, other countries and governments and establishing relationships with senior leaders in government, industry and education. RKC International provides advice on the development of educational programs K-16 with the aim of enhancing learning, developing funding, evaluation planning and building the STEM workforce. He is the Founder of the Real World Design Challenge, an annual high school competition, run by a public-private partnership with the goal of increasing the STEM workforce. Thirty-nine governors have supported the “Governor’s Challenge” at the state level and the National Lt. Governors Association and the Aerospace States Association unanimously voted to endorse the Real World Design Challenge. Dr. Coppola served as Senior Director of Government & Strategic Education Programs at Parametric Technology Corporation (PTC). He identified and implemented strategic educational opportunities. Dr. Coppola founded the PTC-MIT Consortium representing 80 organizations committed to working together, leveraging interests and investments to ensure a robust and reliable STEM pipeline that helps secure America’s continued competitiveness, innovation and national security. During his tenure as Chief Educator, at The GLOBE Program, he was on assignment to the Executive Office of the President of the United States and served as faculty at the College of William and Mary, worked at the National Science Foundation and the University Corporation for

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Real World Design ChallengeAtmospheric Research, where he provided overall direction of all education activities associated with the development of the GLOBE program, including the long and short range planning and oversight of the program implementation, both domestically and internationally, and the coordination of all education related activities that were carried out by individual Federal agencies, including NSF, NASA, NOAA and the EPA. He coordinated all of the education related activities of The GLOBE Program that involved national and international science education organizations, as well as activities of other countries and their governments.

Jeffrey Coppola, RWDC Deputy DirectorMr. Jeffrey Coppola has been working to advance STEM education in the United States with the Real World Design Challenge since 2009. He received his Masters in Business Administration in 2012 from the University of Mary Washington. As an MBA, Mr. Coppola has developed strategies to improve the return on investment for companies investing in STEM education. Working on the Real World Design Challenge, he has used his business experience to create budgets and manage the resources available to the program to maximize its ongoing success.

Outcomes

The RWDC is going into its seventh year of operation. To date 2,674 teams with nearly 19,000 students have participated in the Challenge. Most recent data analysis showed that 42.2% of RWDC students self-reported as being a member of a minority group. When RWDC Students were asked how they like STEM subjects; 80% found science fascinating; 65% found math fascinating; 82% found engineering fascinating; and 83% found technology fascinating. When asked about a career in STEM 77% found a career in STEM fascinating; 79% said it was appealing; 79% said it was exciting; 80% said it means a lot; and 81% said it was interesting. To date 98% of the State Champions have gone on to university study. Many have chosen aeronautical engineering as a focus of study.

STEM and Business Skills

Teams of 3-7 students learn how to design a plane using the latest professional engineering software. They apply science, technology, engineering and mathematics skills learned in school while employing the engineering design process. Teams develop technical writing skills by documenting their work in an 80-page engineering design notebook, which is evaluated by professional engineers. With training and support by mentors, students learn the technical elements of plane design such as: team composition, division of labor and engagement; system design; mission planning & capabilities; conceptual, preliminary, and detailed design; aerodynamic characterization; selection of system components; aircraft geometric design and details; system operational considerations; components of complete flight such as vehicle weight and balance; maneuver analysis; and the development and testing of CAD models. They also learn to make a business case for their system

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Real World Design Challengesuch as: amortizing system costs; market assessment; cost benefit analysis and justification; and identification of alternative commercial applications. Each team is required to do multiple presentations to panels of judges. They learn to do presentations that are scored on: organization; presentation skills; design process; technical understanding; effective use of mentors; design viability; and business case development.

Objectives & Outcomes

RWDC Objectives and Action Plan: There is a need to have more students STEM literate and fluent to enter the STEM education/workforce pipeline. We have identified a number of issues that impact national scalability. A Meta problem impacting scalability is geography as a barrier to access to the best minds in the classroom. The RWDC Action Plan includes: (a) providing real problems; (b) professional tools; (c) having students take on real roles; (d) access to professional mentors (in a geographically distributed virtual environment); (e) access to resources from partners; (f) political support; (g) institutionalization at state level. The expected impact will lead to students’ higher academic motivation, increased performance, and higher level of achievement sooner.

A PTC-MIT led focus group showed industry felt confident that given the right conditions, students can get the necessary real world experience in school. We have tailored the Challenge to give students the experience they need, taking full advantage of their time in school.

We take advantage of this time in school by keeping industry involved in the development and implementation of the program. The Challenge topic is recommended by industry, and has students solving a real industry defined problem. The landscape is full of aviation programs, and any program that can put more engineers into the workforce is important. The Real World Design Challenge, however, is the only one with a problem designed to address “real” industry needs by involving industry in the design of the solution.

The Challenge is focused on bringing a real work environment into the classroom. The program is tailored to real industry standards. The students have real tools, play real roles, work on a real problem, and make a real contribution.

Studies have shown that the majority of engineers have had an engineer as a close relation. By providing mentors, we can give students, without engineers in their families, a connection to an engineer. But the mentoring in the Challenge will go beyond just that. Mentors provide a connection to industry in a way that no educational program has ever had.

We use software and technology to break down geographic barriers, and for the first time ever, to connect students to professionals in industry, government and

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Real World Design Challengeacademia on a national scale. Up till now, geographic boundaries have resulted in such mentoring programs being only local or regional.

In addition to mentors showing students how they can achieve and spreading their expertise, judges help to identify the best and brightest students. The rigorous multi-tiered judging process also helps to identify the best and brightest students. As a result, companies can then recruit the best students. With their own engineers working with students on a real project, as mentors and judges, companies can get a far better idea of students’ abilities than they could ever get from a simple job interview. Companies also have the ability to make sure training is tailored to their needs and that academia/education does not diverge from industry.

Just training better engineers cannot solve the workforce need. By providing seven to ten years of real world training in the classroom, we can effectively add as much as a decade to each engineer’s career. If we assume a thirty-year career, every three engineers trained with real world training have the lifespan of four engineers trained with traditional methods.

But even this expansion is not enough. We need to get a large number of engineers trained. This means dramatically increasing the number of students going into engineering and effectively seeing them through to the completion of their education. And for us, this means effectively managing the project to scale it to be as large as possible.

We need to get a large number of students involved in STEM. Our strategy for preparing enough students to fill the jobs focuses on: (1) offering a free State Level program that is scalable and sustainable; (2) Having a top down model: partnerships with Governors, Lt. Governors & Commissioners of Education; (3) Having a bottom up model: Partnerships with educational organizations with reach into communities; and (4) Reaching teachers and institutionalizing the Challenge (through marketing & curriculum). .Community Need

Nationally there is a need for more students to go into STEM fields, particularly engineering. The first step to getting a large number of engineers trained is getting a large number of students to begin the educational process. There are roughly 16,000,000 high school students in the United States. Now only 7.5% of baccalaureate students go into engineering and only 50% of those students graduate. We need to tap those 16,000,000 high school students and get them on the path to an engineering education early. We also need to funnel students into aeronautical engineering and related aviation fields to address the workforce needs of industry, government and academia.

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Administration and Implementation of the Program : RWDC Administrative Structure

Administrative Committee

The Administrative committee is a counsel consisting of key people, from government, industry and education, who support the Real World Design Challenge. The committee manages the strategic, policy and logistical and implementation issues surrounding the Challenge’s administration. They also develop and administer the RWDC website and all marketing and materials development as well as recruitment of students, teachers, mentors, judges, partner organizations, states, and countries. This committee also manages the fundraising and fiscal issues.

Technical Challenge Development Committee

The Technical Challenge Development Committees is made up of engineers and educators and business people from a variety of organizations that support the Challenge. This committee is the group that designs the new Challenge each year and the collateral academic material. Webinars focused on teacher and student training are also developed and implemented by this group. They develop the judging strategy, plan and administer the implementation. This group oversees the formative and summative program evaluations. Faculty from Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University lead this Committee.

RWDC State & Country Coordinators

RWDC State Coordinators serve as the Point of Contact (POC) for teachers and state officials to address questions. They also serve as POC for the Real World Design Challenge Teams to obtain information and provide input on how to improve the program to meet the needs of the teachers and students in the state. This is done through regular teleconferences. They help establish state RWDC websites and RWDC presence and identity in the states. Coordinators recruit teachers and students. They direct teachers to the webinars for free on-line teacher and student training or work with the RWDC management to help districts set up instructor led training. They organize a State Challenge Judging Committee to evaluate the states’ RWDC Teams’ solutions. The State Challenge Judging Committee is usually composed of representatives of government, industry and higher education. Coordinators attend and help to organize the Governor’s RWDC State Award Ceremony. All participating teams in the state are invited and the State Winner is announced. Coordinators attend the National Challenge Event in Washington, DC with the winning state team. Country Coordinators play the same roles for their countries. They also establish State or Province Level Coordinators. The Country Coordinators accompany their National Champion Teams to Washington, DC for the RWDC International Championship.

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Real World Design ChallengeRWDC Mentors

One RWDC goal is to infuse some of the best minds in the country into high school classes. A scalable model developed by the RWDC uses Windchill, a web-based collaboration and data management tool, for collaboration. Using this approach, mentor support is not limited by geography or times and schedule issues. Mentors from industry, government and higher education provide support to the RWDC teams. Mentors are professional scientists and engineers and mathematicians who will help with the Challenge. Each team may recruit a maximum of five mentors with expertise in science, mathematics, engineering, aviation design, and business.

The Mentor is the subject matter expert and provides advice on science, math, engineering principles, aviation design, and business and is a content resource for the RWDC team. Mentors should present STEM concepts to the team in a fun and exciting way. The Mentor is also the Teacher/Coach's advisor, assisting with content knowledge. Mentors sign up and their contact information is placed on a list in a secure part of the RWDC website. Registered teams get access to the list of mentors. They then choose mentors from the list to add content expertise to their team.

RWDC Judges

RWDC Teams go through a rigorous process of judging with the goals of evaluating academic performance and identifying the best and brightest students with the highest levels of achievement. Judges are volunteers from government, industry and higher education. The judging process has two major tiers. There is State Level Judging and National Level Judging. All teams are judged at the State Level to determine the State Champions. State Champions are invited to compete in the National Championship where a National Champion is chosen. This year there will be an International Championship, which will follow the US National Championship, and an International Champion Team will be chosen.

State Judges read and score the State Challenge Engineering Design Notebooks (80 pages). Judges use the RWDC Scoring Rubric to evaluate the teams’ Engineering Design Notebooks (the team’s solutions). The judging is done virtually. The State Coordinators determine the State Champion based on the scores and input from the State Judges.

National Technical Judges read and score the National Challenge Engineering Design Notebooks (80 pages) two weeks before the National Championship judging begins. Judges use the RWDC Scoring Rubric to evaluate the teams’ Engineering Design Notebooks (the team’s solutions).

National Challenge Judges view team presentations at the National Championship and question the teams on their work. They also facilitate deliberation, scoring and ranking. They meet to share results and determine the top three teams and Merit Award Winners.

National Blue Ribbon Judges view the top three teams’ presentations and determine the National Champion.

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Real World Design Challenge International Judges View the presentation by the National Champions and

determine the International Champion.

Who and how many will be served, and why are you serving them?

Each year we involve, on the average, 445 high school teams with a total of 3115 students per year. The students come from all 50 states. Students from public, private, charter, and home schools are eligible to participate, as are students involved in clubs and extra-curricular activities such as Science & Technology Clubs, Boy & Girl Scouts, etc. Students must be enrolled in a high school program and be in grades 9-12. We have chosen to focus on the high school level since the RWDC provides rigorous academic preparation in engineering. Students need to have at a minimum a background in Algebra. We put special emphasis on recruiting minorities and women since our goal is to build the STEM workforce and we need students from groups underrepresented in STEM to get the numbers nationally to address the STEM workforce need.

Plans to reach the population you plan to serve and how they are involved in the design and implementation of the project/program

The Real World Design Challenge uses an inclusive model involving large numbers of students in the State Challenge and then through a rigorous judging process identifies the best and brightest to compete in the National Challenge. We want to involve as many students as possible. We begin targeting the biggest numbers of students in the Nation’s public high schools. Then we also go after the additional million students in charter schools and private schools. Finally, we plan to expand the grades involved to include middle school and undergraduate students. The middle school expansion will not be as math intensive and focus more on plane design and use of CAD. RWDC State Coordinators, most of whom, work at state departments of education, help to recruit teachers and students using regular outreach marketing that exists in every state. Partners in government, industry and education also help with marketing. Partnerships with organizations that serve minority and underserved populations also help with recruitment of those targeted populations.

Our business plan has the costs per student go down as the program grows to scale in each state. The State Challenge is implemented with very little cost. Most of the expenses are addressed by in-kind contributions of software and the volunteer time of State Coordinators and other local officials. The National Challenge costs are fixed since only one State Champion is invited to compete in the National Challenge. When the number of students expands at the State Challenge the overall cost per student goes down and the impact increases.

Geographic area target

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The RWDC is a national program. Students from all fifty states and territories are eligible to participate. This year the RWDC will be expanding internationally.

Include linkages or collaboration with other organizations and how they will help to achieve outcomes

RWDC Partners from government, industry and education help to administer design and implement the program. The ASA serves as the RWDC fiscal agent. ASA signed MOUs with the FAA and Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University (ERAU) with each agreeing to provide RWDC program support. ERAU faculty lead the RWDC Technical Development Committee and help to design a new Challenge each year. ERAU also provides a $50k Scholarship to each student on the National Champion Team each year. The FAA provides Judges and Mentors as well as administrative support and helps with marketing. The US Department of Education, the US Department of Transportation and the US Department of Labor Secretaries signed an MOU agreeing to collaborate on STEM education. The RWDC was the stimulus for that partnership. The ASA and the National Lt. Governor’s Association each passed unanimous resolutions agreeing to promote the RWDC. The Departments of Defense and Homeland Security provide judges and mentors, as do partners from industry. Rockwell Collins has provided Judges for the State and National Challenges, a State Coordinator and financial support. About 80 percent of the State Coordinators are from State Departments of Education, with the remaining coming from NASA, universities, and State Departments of Transportation. State Coordinators are the point of contact for all activities in the states. They organize the State Challenges, state judging, recruit teams, help with the National Challenge and provide advice on the design and implementation of the RWDC.

Budget (This section should NOT be included in the proposal as is. It is an explanation of how to construct a budget for your proposals.)

Step 1: Research the amount of money the organization typically provides. Look at the amounts they gave to other organizations the previous year. This research can be done online or by going to a college or university foundation center. They have materials on the giving histories of all organizations with assets over $1 million.

Step 2: Prepare a budget based on what the funder has provided previously. If they funded proposals at $9,000 or more then submit a proposal for $9,000 ($5,000 for the first three team members and the teacher/coach and four additional team members at $1,000 per person x 4 people = $4,000, for a total of $9,000). If the organization typically provides $1,000 then submit a request for $1,000 with an explanation indicating that your total budget need is $5,000 for three team members and a teacher/coach and the remaining funds will be raised from other organizations. Indicate that the funds are to be used for the RWDC National Championship Registration Fee.

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RWDC Registration Fees based on the number of team members going

Number of team members going Budget

3 $5,000.00 4 $6,000.00 5 $7,000.00 6 $8,000.00 7 $9,000.00

Example Budgets (Choose which budget best fits your team’s needs based on the number of team members you plan on sending to the RWDC National Championship.)

Example Budget 1

Budget Request for the RWDC Registration Fee

Item Amount requested Amount Requested from other organizations

Total Budget

RWDC Registration Fee for 3 team members plus a teacher/coach to go to the RWDC National Championship

$1,000 $1,000

Amount requested from other organizations

$4,000 $4,000

Total Budget $1,000 $4,000 $5,000

Example Budget 2:

Budget Request for the RWDC Registration Fee for three team member plus the teacher/coach

Item Amount requestedRWDC Registration Fee for 3 team members plus a teacher/coach to go to the RWDC National Championship

$5,000

Total Request $5,000

Example Budget 3:

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Real World Design ChallengeBudget Request for the RWDC Registration Fee for three team member plus the teacher/coach and one additional team member


$5,000

One additional team member $1,000Total Request $6,000

Example Budget 4:

Budget Request for the RWDC Registration Fee for three team member plus the teacher/coach and two additional team member


$5,000

Two additional team member $2,000Total Request $7,000

Example Budget 5:

Budget Request for the RWDC Registration Fee for three team member plus the teacher/coach and three additional team member


$5,000

Three additional team member $3,000Total Request $8,000

Example Budget 6:

Budget Request for the RWDC Registration Fee for three team member plus the teacher/coach and four additional team member

Item Amount requestedRWDC Registration Fee for 3 team $5,000

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Real World Design Challengemembers plus a teacher/coach to go to the RWDC National ChampionshipFour additional team member $4,000Total Request $9,000

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realworlddesignchallenge.orgrealworlddesignchallenge.org/resources/RWDC Fund Raising... · Web viewRWDC © 2017 RWDC Fund Raising Proposal Development for Teams Introduction (This