A California 501(c)(3) public charity advancing STEM through competitive
youth robotics on the San Francisco Peninsula.
Our mission
Some of the best STEM learning happens when students get a real problem, real tools,
and the chance to build something together.
Colma Robotics Foundation creates community-based opportunities for
Peninsula students to learn engineering through competitive robotics, regardless of
which school they attend. Students design, build, program, test, fail, improve, and
then put what they built on a competition field. The failing and improving in the
middle is where most of the learning happens.
Opportunities like this usually depend on whether a student's own school happens to
offer them. A community-based organization is another way in — not a replacement for
school teams, but an additional path for students who don't have one. Building and
sustaining those programs is the foundation's job.
Our first program
Team 11976 — Gold Rush
Gold Rush is a community-based high school
FIRST Robotics Competition team serving the San Francisco Peninsula,
and the first program the foundation operates. Students work alongside mentors to
design, manufacture, wire, program, test, and compete with a full-size robot.
No prior robotics experience is required — a willingness to learn, contribute, and
build alongside the team matters more.
The distinction between the two names matters. Colma Robotics Foundation is the nonprofit: it holds the 501(c)(3) status, governs the programs, and receives
contributions. Gold Rush is the student team it supports — the first
of what we intend to be more.
Our programs are built for Peninsula students who want to learn by doing. Previous
robotics or engineering experience isn't required; curiosity, commitment, and a
willingness to work as part of a team matter a great deal more.
Because we're community-based rather than tied to a single campus, our programs are
open to students regardless of school affiliation, and are designed to bring students
together beyond the boundaries of an individual school.
Adults who want to mentor belong here too. Most of what a student learns on a
robotics team, they learn from someone standing next to them.
How we make it possible
A competitive robotics program needs more than students and a good idea. The foundation
carries the parts that would otherwise land on students and families, so their time
goes into building.
Mentors
Recruiting engineers, programmers, machinists, and other people who do this work
and can teach it.
Workspace and tools
Finding a place where students can build and test safely, and equipping it with the
fabrication, electronics, and computing gear the work needs.
Funding and partnerships
Raising money for robot parts, registration, equipment, and travel, and building
relationships with local businesses, organizations, and institutions.
Most of that comes from people who offer something. There are
ways to support the foundation, and
ways to partner if you have space, equipment, expertise, or
an introduction to someone who can help.
Organization
For parents, sponsors, and grantmakers doing their due diligence:
California nonprofit corporation,
formed July 9, 2026
EIN 42-3757637
Tax-exempt 501(c)(3) public charity under IRC Section
509(a)(2),
effective July 9, 2026
