RPI Destination Imagination Global Finals 2019

Hello, we are the Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute (RPI) Destination Imagination Team. This year our team has qualified for the DI Global Finals in Kansas City and we need your support to get there. The entrance fee is $5500 per team and we rely on donations and fundraisers from people like you to keep our club running.


Destination Imagination (DI) is a creative problem solving program where competing teams are given a series of challenges to choose from, and they present their solution to one of these challenges at competitions at the regional, state, and global level. Each challenge has technical components and performing arts components, and teams spend approximately six months working on the solution. At the end of each season, the best teams from across the world compete in the culmination of the DI experience, Global Finals. This competition brings together more than 17,000 attendees from over fifteen countries to demonstrate their challenge solutions in front of a panel of judges and other teams.


The RPI DI club has been actively participating in the DI program for 5 years now. Ever since our club was started by an enthusiastic DI veteran in 2014, we have been participating in events from the local to the global level as much as possible. We volunteer and appraise for regional and state NY-DI tournaments, as well as showcase our solution to some of the lower age divisions. However, as the only University Level team in the state, Global Finals is the only time we can compete against other teams. Since the founding of the club, we have been to Globals twice, placing first and second in our two appearances. We would love to have the opportunity to compete again.


This year, our trip to Global Finals will be a bit more difficult than previous seasons. For the first time in over 10 years, Destination Imagination has shifted the location of Globals, moving it from its long-standing home of Knoxville, Tennessee all the way to Kansas City, Missouri. This increases the burden on our team members for transportation substantially. In addition, costs have skyrocketed across the board for Globals pricing this year. Without diving into the specifics, team registration costs have gone from a $785 registration fee per team member to a flat $5500 dollars per team, a substantial cost increase for our 6-member team. In addition, this cost no longer includes tournament-provided housing or food, further increasing the difficulty for our college team to pay for such a trip.


Thank you so much for taking the time to visit our fundraiser page. Any contribution you could make would be greatly appreciated. We really value your support, as our trip to this competition wouldn’t be possible without your help.