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Business, Operations & Fundraising·Lesson 5 of 49

Sub-Teams and the Org Chart

Map out the common sub-teams on an FRC team and see where business and operations fits in the overall organization.

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Designing the Org Chart

An org chart is simply a diagram of who is responsible for what and who reports to whom. Even a small team benefits from drawing one, because it forces you to name every job that needs doing.

Common Technical Sub-Teams

  • Mechanical / Build — designs and fabricates the chassis, drivetrain, and game-piece mechanisms.
  • Electrical — wiring, the Power Distribution Hub (PDH) or older Power Distribution Panel (PDP), motor controllers, pneumatics, and the control system (roboRIO).
  • Software / Programming — robot code (usually Java, C++, or Python with WPILib), driver controls, and autonomous routines.
  • CAD / Design — models the robot in tools like Onshape or SolidWorks before anything is cut.

The Business & Operations Sub-Team

The business sub-team typically owns several distinct functions, and on larger teams each becomes its own sub-group with a lead:

  • Finance — budgeting, purchase tracking, reimbursements.
  • Sponsorship & Fundraising — sponsor outreach, grant applications, sponsor relations.
  • Outreach & Community — demos, mentoring younger teams, running events.
  • Marketing / Media — website, social media, photography, branding, the team logo and uniforms.
  • Awards & Documentation — the Impact Award submission, the business plan, the team portfolio.
  • Logistics — travel, hotels, food, registration deadlines, and pit organization at events.

This matches how FIRST and veteran teams describe business: managing fundraising and sponsorships, applying for grants, handling order schedules and sub-system budgets, social media and public relations, travel itineraries, competition document submissions, and team uniforms.

Where Business Sits

A frequent misconception is that business is "below" engineering. On healthy teams, business and technical sub-teams are peers under a shared student leadership layer (captains) and mentor layer. Business does not just support engineering; it raises the money that pays for engineering, tells the team's story, and wins the awards that earn championship advancement.

A Sample Structure

Lead Mentors (adults)
        |
  Team Captain(s)  (students)
   /            \
Technical Lead   Business Lead
  |  |  |  |       |   |   |   |
 Mech Elec SW CAD  Fin Spon Out Media

Sizing It to Your Team

A 12-person rookie team may have one person wearing the finance, sponsorship, and media hats. A 60-person team may have a dozen people in business alone. The principle is the same: name every function, assign an owner, and write it down so the role survives the person.

Key takeaways

  • Technical sub-teams (mechanical, electrical, software, CAD) build the robot; business handles money, story, and logistics.
  • Business commonly splits into finance, sponsorship, outreach, media/marketing, awards/documentation, and logistics.
  • Business and technical should be organizational peers, not a hierarchy.
  • Scale the number of roles to your team size, but always assign a named owner to each function.

Go deeper

Lesson quiz

Required

Answer all 3 questions correctly to complete this lesson.

1.Which is a common technical sub-team on a typical FRC team?

2.Which task is primarily the responsibility of the programming sub-team?

3.On most FRC teams, which work typically falls to the business/non-technical side rather than the build sub-teams?

Answer every question to submit.