About WNC Robotics

WNC Robotics is a 501(c)3 created to provide a simple way for corporate, foundation, and private donors to support FIRST Robotics Competition (FRC) teams in western North Carolina through donations to a 501(c)3 entity. We charge no overhead, so 100% of the donated funds are used to support the FRC teams. Donors may specify a specific team or teams to receive their donation, or we can distribute the funds as needed. The teams with which we are currently working are Glitch 2.0, Greeni3s, Gorillas, and S.M.A.R.T.

While the FRC teams in western North Carolina that we support are generally associated with school districts and receive in-kind activity space, they do not receive direct funding from the school systems. Thus, these Western North Carolina FRC teams can often struggle with self-funding, partially due to the lack of STEM related businesses in the geographical area. The FRC teams supported by WNC Robotics do not charge their students any fees to participate to ensure that any student can join the team without regard to socioeconomic status. For this reason, all funds must be raised from external sources.

WNC Robotics was founded by FRC mentors who have been involved with the FIRST Robotics Competition for several years. We have personally seen hundreds of students thrive in the team-based after school robotics program where students research, fundraise, design, build, program and compete with advanced robots. WNC Robotics raised over $40,000 for FRC teams during the 2024-2025 robotics season.

If you are not familiar with the First Robotics Competition, you can watch the video of one of our teams (Glitch 2.0 Team 8727 on the red alliance) in this video. The first 15 seconds of the match is autonomous - i.e. the robot is running without student control - and then for the rest of the match, students are controlling the robots.

Now more than ever, it is incredibly important that students are encouraged and empowered to study STEM disciplines and become the innovators of tomorrow. WNC Robotics facilitates this by giving FRC teams in WNC a simple and free way to accept donations from anyone who needs or wants to donate through a 501(c)3 entity.

If you would like to support student robotics in Western North Carolina or a specific team, please donate now using the button below or by sending a check to the address below. If you have a specific team you would like to support, be sure to indicate that when you make your donation. And for more information, please contact us using the email below.

And of course, don't forget to attend the competition at UNC Asheville each spring!