FLL BIOGLOW Blog: Volume 4

by Jacque Grimm | Sep 1, 2026 | FLL, FLL Challenge, FLL Explore, Newsletter

In this weeks Blog

Grants!

Make sure you read the entire blog!

Boeing Team Grants are open!

You can find more information on the firstinspires website here: https://www.firstinspires.org/programs/team-grant-opportunities Be sure to check it regularly for new team grant opportunities.

If you have a Boeing mentor, reach out to them to ensure that they apply asap. Funds will be available until they run out.

FIRST Washington Grant will open 9-14

As we said in communications over the summer, FIRST Washington Grants will be handled a bit differently this year. Here are the important changes to note:

You will have to fill out a grant application to be considered for any funding that FIRST Washington manages

The grant form will need to be filled out for each team you would like to be considered for funding

Grants will no longer be deducted from your FIRST Washington registration, they will be issued separately based on the info you submit in the grant application as well as your school requirements (if you are a school based team)

The grant will open 9-14 and will close 10-5. As stated above, if you want your team to be considered for any funding that FIRST Washington handles, you will need to fill out this application.

We will post the application link and information on the application on the FIRST Washington website once the grant is open as well as send that information out in the blog on 9-15.

First Coaches Chat of the Season!

Our first coaches chat of the season will be Wednesday September 16th at 7pm! Click here to join

Important Dates & Deadlines

Now: FIRST Washington Registration is Open

9-14: FIRST Washington Grant opens

9-16: Coaches Chat

10-5: FIRST Washington Grant closes

In this weeks Blog

Fundraising Ideas!

Make sure you read the entire blog!

Season Info

Hello FLL Teams!

With the new challenge and materials launched on August 4th, I am sure many of your teams are working through the question of… so how do we finance the season?

With an average budget of $1,500-$2,500 per FLL Challenge Team- there are a number of questions to ask first:

Do any of our student’s parents work at companies with Volunteer Matching Programs and/or have internal small grant application processes?
- This is a quick starting point that many teams use to support their teams
- Employee Match Programs – Charity Navigator
For school based teams, is the school and/or ASB providing any funding to support the program?
If we have donors from last year, have we asked them this season, or have we shared how we did last season with them?

After asking these questions, the next step is to assess what other avenues are the easiest for your team to run a fundraising campaign

A quick run through Co-Pilot with a few questions about raising funds for FLL programs will unearth a number of ideas, including:

For FLL (FIRST LEGO League) teams, the best fundraising programs are usually the ones that are repeatable, community-based, and
easy for parents and coaches to execute.

Quick Wins ($250-$5,000)

1. Walmart Spark Good Grants

Apply to every local Walmart and Sam’s Club.
Request funding for:

Team registration fees
LEGO kits
Competition travel
Scholarships for underserved students

Grants typically range from $250-$5,000. [walmart.org], [walmart.org]

2. Rotary Clubs

Most Rotary Clubs fund:

Youth leadership
STEM education
Community service

Typical ask:

$500-$2,500 per team

3. Kiwanis and Lions Clubs

Many local clubs sponsor youth programs.

Typical ask:

$250-$1,000

4. Local Community Foundations

Examples:

Greater Everett Community Foundation
Seattle Foundation
Community Foundation of Snohomish County

Many have education mini-grants.

Community Fundraisers

LEGO Build Night

Charge:

$10-$20 per child

Activities:

LEGO challenges
Robot demos
Parent STEM presentations

Robot Demonstrations

Presentation at:

Libraries
Farmers markets
Community festivals
Chamber of Commerce events

Pass a donation bucket and distribute sponsorship information.

Restaurant Nights

Examples:

MOD Pizza
Chipotle
Panda Express
Red Robin

Typically return:

10%-25% of sales.

School-Based Fundraising

STEM Sponsor-a-Student

Ask:

“Sponsor one student’s robotics season for $250.”

Many grandparents and local businesses respond well to direct sponsorship of students.

Principal’s Challenge

Create a goal:

“Help us raise $5,000 to send our team to the regional championship.”

Schools often promote these campaigns through newsletters and social media.

These are just a few ideas to get teams started.

Be sure to regularly check the official firstinspires site for new grants that pop up! https://www.firstinspires.org/programs/team-grant-opportunities

For more ideas, collateral materials, templates and to view our fundraising teams meetings, go to: https://firstwa.org/fundraising/

For questions on fundraising and grants, contact Lila Cohen lilam@firstwa.org

First Coaches Chat of the Season!

Our first coaches chat of the season will be in September! Date and agenda coming soon!

Important Dates & Deadlines

In this weeks Blog

FIRST Washington registration is now open!

Welcome to the new season!

Make sure you read the entire blog!

Season Info

FIRST Washington Registration

The FIRST Washington registration form is now open!!

One thing to note for FLL Challenge teams: You can no longer request grant funding on the FIRST Washington registration form. A separate grant form is being created with a target opening mid-September. To be considered for any funding that FIRST Washington allocates, you will need to fill out that form. If you do not need funding from FIRST Washington, there is no need to fill out the form.

Challenge (Founders), Explore and Future Edition teams- you can register with FIRST Washington here: https://firstwa.org/fll-registration/

Welcome to BIOGLOW!

The season officially starts today! I’m excited, are you?

Here is the welcome video from FIRST Inspires and LEGO Education!

Founders Edition mission video

Future Edition mission video

Explore set video

Season Event Info

Hello FLL Teams! I have some season event info for you! No venue details yet unfortunately, those will come out in the fall!

Founders Edition:

Challenge-

Events will run just like in past seasons, the first 2 (possibly 3) weekends in December. Teams are assigned an event closest to them, and there will be a process to request a change.

Western Washington teams that advance from their Qualifier to a Semifinal event in January and then to the Western Wahington State Championship in February. This season we will not be at Amazon due to scheduling issues, but stay tuned for details! This season Western Washington State may be 2 days!

Eastern Washington teams that advance from their Qualifier will advance to the Eastern Washington State Championship. Historically this has been in January, but I do not know dates yet.

Explore-

Events will run just like in past seasons, the first 2 (possibly 3) weekends in December, strong possibility of one in mid January, and then some weekends in March. Teams will sign up for their choice of 3 and placed in 1, usually their first choice.

Future Edition-

We had said we would not be holding events for Future Edition, that is no longer the case! I have had multiple inquiries about Future Edition and want to give those who would like to participate in an event the option to do so.

We will host 1 Future Edition event in mid January in Western Washington if there is enough interest. Enough interest means at least 12-15 registered teams.

As always, no teams will be confirmed in their events until all registrations are completed and all payments are made.

Founders Edition-

For Challenge this is registering your team with FIRST Inspires and paying their fee, registering with FIRST Washington and paying our fee ($350).

For Explore this is registering your team with FIRST Inspires and paying their fee, registering with FIRST Washington and paying our fee ($50) AND filling out the event registration with FIRST Washington.

Future Edition-

This is registering your team with FIRST Inspires and paying their fee, registering with FIRST Washington and paying our fee (TBD).

Important Dates & Deadlines

More From FLL

FLL BIOGLOW Blog: Volume 4

Sep 1, 2026

Grants!

FLL BIOGLOW Blog: Volume 3

Aug 18, 2026

Fundraising info!

FLL BIOGLOW Blog: Volume 2

Aug 4, 2026

FIRST Washington Registration is now open!

FLL Blog: Important information

by Jacque Grimm | Jul 10, 2026 | FLL, FLL Challenge, FLL Explore

Important information, please read entire communication

Please note: This communication was posted in the June 11 blog. In an effort to make sure all coaches are aware of the change, we are resending it as an email with some updates:

You will find a link in this email to the first Office Hours session that Fred has set up the end of July (based on attendance, we will decide if more sessions are needed/helpful)
Collateral materials will be posted on the FIRST Washington Website and the link will be sent out in the blog the week of July 20.

Hello FIRST Washington Robotics Teams!

What an incredible FIRST AGE season!

As another chapter closes and we head into summer, FIRST Washington is preparing for the upcoming CANOPY season. We are also finalizing our budget for the next fiscal year starting July 1, 2026, and wanted to share some important updates.

As many of you are experiencing, funding continues to be a major pressure point for programs like FIRST Robotics. Last season, FIRST Washington was able to support our community by granting nearly $1.4 million in discounts and team support funding.

When planning last season’s budget, we were optimistic we could replenish those reserves through foundation grants, renewal of OSPI, individual donors, and increased corporate support. To that end we set a large fundraising goal of over $1.5 million for the year.

Unfortunately, our success in securing replacement funding fell short by around $700,000. We were unable to secure all the grants we needed, and the State Budget did not restore any funding for FIRST Washington this year.

We have adjusted our fundraising strategy moving forward and are continuing to work as hard as we can to fill this funding gap.

At this time though, we are unable to guarantee registration discounts that teams have become accustomed to over the years.

From now until the start of the next season, we are asking your Teams to work in direct partnership with us to ensure the FIRST Washington ecosystem of nearly 1,000 total teams have the resources and support needed for another successful season for all our FLL, FTC, and FRC programs in the Pacific Northwest.

What we need you to do:

Develop a fundraising plan for the summer and fall that includes the payment of full registration fees for the upcoming season
Work in partnership with FIRST WA Development and Volunteer management staff to engage new mentors and volunteers to support your team- both with time and matching funds from their companies

What FIRST Washington will do:

Host fundraising strategy sessions and office hours for coaches, mentors, and business managers in July and August
- FLL Office Hours: July 30, 12-1pm. Click here to join
Provide clean fundraising collateral for teams to use
- Links to these materials will be posted in the blog the week of 7-20.
Work directly with companies who currently provide volunteers and mentors with matching funds available to set new engagement goals – ultimately increasing the number of volunteers and mentors on each team whose participation hours are matched with cash from their employer
Activate a team support funding campaign, in addition to our standard fundraising goals for operations, with a target goal of $500K to allocate out to teams on an “as needed for sustainability and stability” basis
Every challenge is a turning point. Every turning point is an opportunity.

In the middle of difficulty lies opportunity- Albert Einstein

Working together, we can stabilize funding for the FIRST WA ecosystem over the next two to three years- getting us all to a place where the question isn’t “how do we fund this?” but instead “what do we fund next that makes the student experience even better?”

We know this represents a shift, and we are committed to working alongside you through it. Our focus remains the same: ensuring that every team has a path forward and that our community continues to grow and succeed. Thank you for your continued dedication, resilience, and partnership—we will navigate this next season together.

Regards,

Fred

Fred Krug

President

FIRST Washington

Important Dates & Deadlines

July 30: 12-1pm- FLL Office Hours

In this weeks Blog

Season event info

Help out new teams!

FIRST Washington registration update

Make sure you read the entire blog!

Season Info

Season Event Info

Hello FLL Teams! I have some season event info for you! No venue details yet unfortunately, those will come out in the fall!

Founders Edition:

Challenge-

Events will run just like in past seasons, the first 2 (possibly 3) weekends in December. Teams are assigned an event closest to them, and there will be a process to request a change.

Western Washington teams that advance from their Qualifier to a Semifinal event in January and then to the Western Wahington State Championship in either late January or Early to mid February.

Eastern Washington teams that advance from their Qualifier will advance to the Eastern Washington State Championship. Historically this has been in January, but I do not know dates yet.

Explore-

Future Edition-

We had said we would not be holding events for Future Edition, that is no longer the case! I have had multiple inquries about Future Edition and want to give those who would like to participate in an event the option to do so.

We will host 1 Future Edition event in mid January in Western Washington if there is enough interest.

As always, no teams will be confirmed in their events until all registrations are completed and all payments are made.

Founders Edition-

For Challenge this is registering your team with FIRST Inspires and paying their fee, registering with FIRST Washington and paying our fee ($350).

Future Edition-

This is registering your team with FIRST Inspires and paying their fee, registering with FIRST Washington and paying our fee (TBD).

Help out new teams!

Hello coaches and former coaches!

With the change in FLL coming next season and the retirement of the SPIKE platform, there are no new Spike Prime or Spike Essential kits available anywhere.

If you have or know of any Spike Prime or Spike Essential kits you would be willing to donate to new teams starting this season they would appreciate it and it would help sustain our growth in Washington!

If you have any questions or want to help- you can email me at jacqueg@firstwa.org

FIRST Washington Registration

The FIRST Washington registration form will open August 1. We are working on revamping it so that it is not quite so long and is easier to fill out.

We will post in the blog when it is “officially” open but our target is to have it ready for sign ups on August 1st!