New Teams

On September 10, 2024, a new coaches meeting was held for the 2024 - 2025 season. See resources from this session below:

• Recording

• Slides

• Transcript

If you have made the decision to start a Science Olympiad team, congratulations!  A dedicated Head Coach has a great influence on the success of the team, and coaching can be a rewarding way to watch students develop a passion for science.

 In broad terms, these are the topics and tasks that you will need to manage:

• Recruiting students and the help of others

• Registering your team with Michigan SO and the appropriate regional organization

• Assigning students to specific competitive events

• Locating information, material resources and training opportunities

• Setting a budget and arranging financing for your team

• Communicating with your team and creating accountability

• Identifying opportunities for team recognition and building team identity

• Maintaining year-to-year continuity

Local Foundations

Many local communities have established a foundation to improve the quality of their community.  Your team is part of that quality!  This list of community foundations is a good place to start your search.

There are additional family foundations and businesses in your local community that will be interested to support education initiatives, and might support your Science Olympiad team.  For instance, some Walmart / Sam’s Club stores support Education as a priority, and have been known to give up to $500.  Including a sponsor logo on your team shirt is an inexpensive way to recognize their support.

The common thread is that all of these organizations want to support important causes in their own community.  Your challenge is to find one that is a good match for supporting a Science Olympiad team.

Fundraising Ideas

There are many, many ways to raise money for your team, and each team seems to have it’s own preference for the type of fundraising that makes sense to them. This list of “50 Successful School Fundraising Ideas“, is a good place to start considering the possibilities. It is not comprehensive list, by any means.

For instance, one of the most important fundraising activities that one local High School uses to fund its Science Olympiad team is a can & bottle drive. They do it “on steroids” and raise over $1000, mostly in one day. It is a load of work, but it is over quickly. Other teams prefer to sell products and get a % of the price (e.g., pizza kits). Whatever approach you choose, have a good understanding of both the time commitment and payoff. Also it is best to get your team’s fundraising started right away in the fall, so that you can focus attention on science as the season progresses.

Applying for Funding

Many organizations will have their own application instructions.  Don’t be put off if the rules are written to specify the information they expect from a large non-profit organization.  You may not need all parts.  For instance, you won’t have an audited financial statement.  That said, many organizations are not interested to support a group as small as single team.  You are trying to find a good match.

For less-structured situations, there are 3 components  to organizing a solicitation package.  You can tweak and reuse it for many audiences.

1. One-page (or less) summary of Science Olympiad and your team

   1. The simple version of your team budget

2. Instructions for how they can sign up