Teams find their funding in a variety of ways:

Schools or sponsoring organizations may give teams money to use; and/or they may donate space for the team to use.

Teams may ask each team member to pay a certain amount of money up front to fund projects; team members may be asked for more money if they change their solution several times and more resources are necessary.

Teams may fund-raise to get the money they need. Some schools may cooperate with fundraising.

Items may be purchased at regular stores, at discount stores, at secondhand stores, Goodwill, or they may be found in dumpsters, the attic, closets or the basement. All used items (other than “free” items such as newspaper and cardboard) must be assessed a fair-market garage sale price, no matter the source, even if they have been donated.

For snacks, many teams ask either parents to alternate bringing snacks; or everyone brings snacks at the beginning and then they are stored and used as necessary; or a snack fund may be started and one or more adults buy snacks each meeting.