BASIS
Advisor: Mr. Woolley
On-Site
Advisor: James Contes
For
my Senior Research Project, I will be working with the Baja Team at ASU
Polytechnic. I will be helping the team by raising money for supplies as well
as help them in the presentation aspect of their competition.
The
competition is divided into two parts: how well the car performs and how well
they are able to “sell”/present their car to the judges. Last year, the team
received 3rd place for the performance of the car, but their
placement went down as a result of their presentation. The purpose of including
me into the team is to raise the team’s placement by helping them improve upon
their sales pitch of the car.
The
ASU Baja team acquired a small amount of debt last year as a result from over
spending and borrowing money that they could not pay back. My main task of the
project is to find ways to raise money and gain sponsorships for the team in
order to lower their debts as well as give them funds to buy new parts for
their Baja car this year. My research will be focused on online fund raising.
Although I will be looking for domestic/local sponsorships, I will also look at
how effective online fundraisers can be. I will use various websites such as
Indigogo and Boosters to learn what methods work and don't work when it comes
to raising money and advertising online.
My goal is to raise enough money to allow the team to complete their new
car in order to place in the top ten again this year.
My
interest in the research project stems from the fact that I have always had a
passion for cars, and have always wanted to try to merge business and
technology into one entity. Taking up this project is a way for me to follow my
interests and gain useful experience in the business sector.
Online
fund raising has recently become a fast and easy way for small businesses to
raise money. I would like to see exactly how effective this can be and whether
or not it can be successful for a college team.
My on-location advisor gave me the task of raising as much money as
possible for the team so that they can start to pay off their debts; which
means that every dollar raised counts. Without money, the team won’t be as
successful and will have to re-use parts due to a lack of funding, which can
significantly lower their placement in this year’s competition.
My
research method will be heavily based on how well I can raise money for the team,
and whether or not online funding is better than finding local sponsors. I will
also look at similar scenarios that may be relevant to online fund raising and
its effectiveness.
I
do anticipate the problem of not being able to raise enough funding in order to
generate an accurate conclusion on online fund raising effectiveness. I do not
have any prior experiences in raising money, so I hope to be able to help the
ASU Baja team as much as possible. I am very eager to start working with them.
It will be a great and useful experience and opportunity.
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