<ins><span style="font-size:medium"><span style="font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif">Where to Start</span></span></ins><br/><span style="font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif"><span id="docs-internal-guid-85fee22b-6ca7-59e8-0468-605c8ac5eb90"><span style="font-size: 16px; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap">When attempting to start a successful student prototyping fund, a good first step is to form a committee. Dedicated faculty and student members are essential to forming a strong committee which will help you reach your goals. Faculty members can be an invaluable resource when forming a prototyping fund. Faculty can help your committee, and therefore your fund, grow if they truly believe in your cause. For example, a faculty member who reaches 100 students daily could offer extra credit points if students attend your meeting. This outreach could vastly grow the awareness and attendance of your meetings and cause. The committee which you form is only as good as the members who make it up and the faculty sponsors who support it. It is through this committee that many essential needs will be fulfilled on the path to forming the prototyping fund. By forming a committee within the university network, many connections will be made and start-up funding may be provided by the university.</span></span></span> =<br/><br/><br/><ins><span style="font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif"><span style="font-size:medium">Analyzing available opportunities</span></span><br/ins><br/><br/><span style="font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif"><span style="font-size: 16px; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline">Much like any research project, it is of particular importance to do a review of the existing projects that have a similar function in whatever one sets out to do. If some of these projects being introduced already exist, outline whether or not the goals have been achieved or what areas can be tackled or improved.</span></span> <span style="font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif"><span style="font-size: 16px; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline">In many educational institutions, there exist a number of organizations that deal with some form of innovation and entrepreneurship. It is important to identify some of these groups and try to partner with those mission statements which are in agreement with the prototype fund being created.</span></span> <span style="font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif"><span style="font-size: 16px; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline">Also, a good campus resource will be the faculty. Most of the federal grants and money allocated to large campuses are given to the faculty advisors who distribute it to various organizations. Maintaining good relations with these advisors not only secures funding for various projects but also enables the faculty advisor to keep track of the accomplishments of the organization and highlight these achievements to the right people. </span></span>
<ins><span style="font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif"><span style="font-size: 16px; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline">Determine your Mission and Values</span></span></ins>
<div><span style="font-size:16px;font-family:Arial;color:#000000;background-color:transparent;font-weight:400;font-style:normal;font-variant:normal;text-decoration:none;vertical-align:baseline;">One of the most important parts about raising funds for your project is determining what your mission is and what values are important to achieving your goals. The mission (used described as a </span>[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mission_statement <span style="font-size:16px;font-family:Arial;color:#1155cc;background-color:transparent;font-weight:400;font-style:normal;font-variant:normal;text-decoration:underline;vertical-align:baseline;">mission statement</span>]<span style="font-size:16px;font-family:Arial;color:#000000;background-color:transparent;font-weight:400;font-style:normal;font-variant:normal;text-decoration:none;vertical-align:baseline;">) is a short one or two sentence statement that encompasses what you aim to do and how you plan to do it. When determining your mission statement for the project, you must have a clear goal of what you are trying to accomplish. The best way to do this would be by determining the value proposition of your project and trying to condense the through process into two sentences. Some of the best companies in the world run their multi-billion dollar operations around a one sentence mission. After your mission is complete you will want to lay out your operating values. The values you determine will act as a code of rules for how the company will be run. The most impactful values for a company may range from a single word to a multi-sentenced idea. Once your values are set, you want to form your actions around them. That being said, values ARE NOT always concrete and will change based on the circumstances. Stay true to your values and work hard to achieve your mission and that will have a direct impact on your success.</span></div><div><br/><br/><br/></div><br/><br/><br/>