Business Level 1 - Fundamentals

Learning Objective

Develop financial literacy grounded in how a student-run, nonprofit-style team actually operates: basic accounting principles, budgeting, expense tracking, and evaluating the real value of team activities (cost per outreach event, in-kind vs. cash sponsorship), understand outreach and sponsor-facing communication fundamentals including target audience identification, material creation, and effectiveness measurement, and comprehend how fiscal sponsorship works -- the team operates under Rochester Community Robotics (RCR), a third-party regional nonprofit that holds tax-exempt status and provides financial management on the team's behalf -- and how team organizational structures and decision-making work. This level is self-guided and meant to be attainable in a few weeks.

Prerequisites

None

Primary Resources

• Nonprofit Accounting Basics: Accounting 101
• Propel Nonprofits: Nonprofit Finance -- 12 Golden Rules
• Fiscal Sponsorship: Quick-Start Basics
• LYNK Library of Knowledge: Business (branding & outreach)

Tasks

1. Financial Literacy

   • Understand basic accounting principles
   • Create and manage simple budgets
   • Track expenses and revenue
   • Evaluate the real value of team activities (cost per outreach event, value of in-kind vs. cash sponsorship)

2. Outreach & Communication

   • Understand target audience identification (community, sponsors, students)
   • Create basic outreach and sponsor-facing materials
   • Use social media for team promotion
   • Measure outreach effectiveness

3. Organizational Structure

   • Understand different organizational models
   • Map team organizational structure
   • Identify roles and responsibilities
   • Understand how fiscal sponsorship works and how Rochester Community Robotics (RCR) holds the team's tax-exempt status and manages its finances
   • Understand decision-making processes

4. Basic Strategy

   • Conduct a simple SWOT analysis (strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, threats)
   • Identify team strengths and weaknesses
   • Set measurable team objectives
   • Understand resource allocation principles

Level 1 Completion Requirements

• Successfully create and manage a basic team budget
• Develop a simple outreach or sponsor-communication plan
• Present a basic SWOT analysis of the team
• Explain how the team's fiscal-sponsorship arrangement with Rochester Community Robotics works

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