Hi ,

In this week's blast:

⚙️A New Login Experience Coming September 15
⚙️ NASA Team Grant 
⚙️ First Event Registration, First Preference 
⚙️ DonorsChoose funding opportunity for FIRST^® Educators (U.S.) 
⚙️ Qualcomm & FIRST
⚙️ FIRST^® Robotics Competition Blog Updates 
⚙️ Creating a Team Budget Resources 

Program Updates, Deadlines, & Reminders

A New Login Experience Coming September 15: Following unforeseen technical difficulties, we needed to reschedule the launch of the updated FIRST Dashboard login experience. We will relaunch the new login experience Monday, September 15. From the new login page, follow the steps to reset your password.  

Please be aware that due to high traffic, your password reset email may take longer than usual to arrive. Do not attempt to reset your password again before receiving the reset email, as each new request will invalidate the previous request.  

Now Open! NASA Team Grant: The 2025-2026 NASA Team Grant application is now open! The deadline to apply is September 30, 2025 at 11:59pm ET.  Be sure to check out other grant opportunities as well.  

Upcoming! First Event Registration, First Preference: Round 1 of event preferencing begins on Thursday, September 25, at 12:00 p.m. ET. Teams must be “event ready” (no outstanding tasks on your FIRST Dashboard) in order to preference events. Be sure to review our Event Preference User Guide for step-by-step instructions and an FAQ.  

DonorsChoose funding opportunity for FIRST Educators (U.S.): FIRST educators may be able to take advantage of a new DonorsChoose funding opportunity that is part of The Ripple STEM Innovation Challenge. In order to be considered, please review the details about the donation match and how you can submit an idea for a $100,000 DonorsChoose gift code.  

By submitting a project, you may be asked to supply personal data, and this data will be subject to the DonorsChoose privacy policy. You should review the DonorsChoose privacy policy and understand how your data will be used before creating a project. If you have questions about this opportunity, please contact DonorsChoose for support.  

Qualcomm & FIRST: The FIRST^® AGE™ season will mark 20 years of FIRST and Qualcomm working together to inspire you as young innovators. We are so proud to continue that partnership as you set out to make history. Just like iterations of your robots, at Qualcomm, every innovation, invention, and new technology – from 5G to AI, tells a story, guiding us to greater ingenuity.  

FIRST Robotics Competition Blog Updates:   

✏️ Animation Awards for FIRST AGE Season 

Resource of the Week: As teams prepare for the season, be sure to prepare your team budget! Teams can use this Budget Template (file automatically downloads) to create their own team budget. If your team is unsure what costs to include, take a look at our Example Budget which shares things to consider when creating your FIRST Robotics Competition budget as well as the median budgets reported to FIRST broken into different categories as a starting point.  

Upcoming Important Dates:

⚙️ Tuesday, September 23 at 12:00 p.m. ET – Drive Base & Black Tote Opt Out Closes 
⚙️ Thursday, September 25 at 12:00 p.m. ET – Kit and Kickoff Registration Opens 
⚙️ Thursday, September 25 at 12:00 p.m. ET – First Event Registration - Round 1 Preference Opens