<div dir="ltr">Hi, all --<div><br></div><div>Good to see discussion of a travel grant / scholarship program for FOSS4G 2017 / Boston. For foss4g2014 (Portland, OR), here's our story of travel grants, prose edition: <a href="http://2014.foss4g.org/travel-grant-epilogue/index.html">http://2014.foss4g.org/travel-grant-epilogue/index.html</a></div><div><br></div><div>In bulletpoint version:</div><div>- We set aside 10k of <i>the conference budget</i> to fund the program and</div><div>- set aside HALF of those resources for people who <i>self-identified</i> as women or a minority (one of the questions on the application)</div><div>- folks applied online (app attached), applications were ranked by four external reviewers, and funds were awarded based on the strength of applications and self-identified need. More than half of our resources supported women and members of minority groups, since the LOC felt strongly that a more diverse community is a stronger (and more effective) community.</div><div><br></div><div>Happy to talk about any of this in further detail and/or potentially help with process crafting / app selection. (I've been involved in a half-dozen of these programs since our 2014 conference; just finished working with the SOTM2017/Japan folks on same.)</div><div><br></div><div>A few months ago, I asked for examples of how other conferences (SOTM, FOSS4G, local, inter/national versions of same) have dealt with these sort of grants. Some answers, attached.</div><div><br></div><div>Thank you for keeping this important work a priority.</div><div><br></div><div>cheers -</div><div>-kristin</div><div><br></div><div><div>(one of four LOC co-chairs, FOSS4G 2014 PDX)</div></div><div><br></div><div><br><div class="gmail_chip gmail_drive_chip" style="width:396px;height:18px;max-height:18px;background-color:#f5f5f5;padding:5px;color:#222;font-family:arial;font-style:normal;font-weight:bold;font-size:13px;border:1px solid #ddd;line-height:1"><a href="https://drive.google.com/a/reed.edu/file/d/0BwlHqOO6YsaSWmo2NGNYMkxINlVSM0VoX1FvV2kxTWdnYVVN/view?usp=drive_web" target="_blank" style="display:inline-block;overflow:hidden;text-overflow:ellipsis;white-space:nowrap;text-decoration:none;padding:1px 0px;border:none;width:100%"><img style="vertical-align: bottom; border: none;" src="https://drive-thirdparty.googleusercontent.com/16/type/application/pdf"> <span dir="ltr" style="color:#15c;text-decoration:none;vertical-align:bottom">RegionalGISConf-Scholarships.pdf</span></a></div><br><div class="gmail_chip gmail_drive_chip" style="width:396px;height:18px;max-height:18px;background-color:#f5f5f5;padding:5px;color:#222;font-family:arial;font-style:normal;font-weight:bold;font-size:13px;border:1px solid #ddd;line-height:1"><a href="https://drive.google.com/a/reed.edu/file/d/0BwlHqOO6YsaSWU9pWE9faEtYTWR2Z1VfX1QtZ05iRWd0OGFV/view?usp=drive_web" target="_blank" style="display:inline-block;overflow:hidden;text-overflow:ellipsis;white-space:nowrap;text-decoration:none;padding:1px 0px;border:none;width:100%"><img style="vertical-align: bottom; border: none;" src="https://drive-thirdparty.googleusercontent.com/16/type/application/pdf"> <span dir="ltr" style="color:#15c;text-decoration:none;vertical-align:bottom">international smaller conf travel and schol.pdf</span></a></div><br><div class="gmail_chip gmail_drive_chip" style="width:396px;height:18px;max-height:18px;background-color:#f5f5f5;padding:5px;color:#222;font-family:arial;font-style:normal;font-weight:bold;font-size:13px;border:1px solid #ddd;line-height:1"><a href="https://drive.google.com/a/reed.edu/file/d/0BwlHqOO6YsaSUUV5LVVaME1BTVViSjg1MUZiOVNOZ3FJRFpF/view?usp=drive_web" target="_blank" style="display:inline-block;overflow:hidden;text-overflow:ellipsis;white-space:nowrap;text-decoration:none;padding:1px 0px;border:none;width:100%"><img style="vertical-align: bottom; border: none;" src="https://drive-thirdparty.googleusercontent.com/16/type/application/pdf"> <span dir="ltr" style="color:#15c;text-decoration:none;vertical-align:bottom">International conference (travel grant + schola...</span></a></div><br></div><div><br></div><div><br></div><div><br></div></div><div class="gmail_extra"><br><div class="gmail_quote">On Wed, May 3, 2017 at 5:56 AM, Till Adams <span dir="ltr"><<a href="mailto:till.adams@fossgis.de" target="_blank">till.adams@fossgis.de</a>></span> wrote:<br><blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="margin:0 0 0 .8ex;border-left:1px #ccc solid;padding-left:1ex">
<div bgcolor="#FFFFFF" text="#000000">
Hi Michael,<br>
<br>
in Bonn we had the same issues. The end of the story was, that OSGeo
granted us for 10k US $, that we could use for travel grants, as we
also were unsure where we will come out at the end of the
conference. <br>
<br>
We restricted the grants to people from 3rd world countries due to
world banks country ranking. We had two kinds of grants:<br>
<br>
1. "regular" attendees: We paid their ticket and accommodation, not
the travel (travel is difficult because of different routes, we were
not sure, whether people really attend, how to book for them or were
anxious transfering money in advance)<br>
<br>
2. our student helpers, that also applied for the tg program. We
paid them 500 € on the conference as their conference ticket was
free anyway (50/50 deal of help/attendance) and their accommodation.<br>
<br>
<br>
All together the budget fitted quite well, I am kind of unsure, I
guess we had between 8-12 people that applied. The application was
by writing a letter of intend "why do I want to attend on F4G?" in
order to assure, that people really wanted to come to this event. <br>
<br>
In total we agreed in a selection process based on "points", so we
gave more points, the poorer the country of origin was rated (on the
wb-list), more points for presenters and so on, but in the end we
could accept everybody that applied in the program. <br>
<br>
I see your sensitives, we had the same ;-) If that helps, I can
support you here with direct support, but would be glad if 2 or 3
other people from ConfComm and/or board would also jump on the
train. Afterwards this group could share their experience and start
the process of an generally established tg program for F4G's.<br>
<br>
<br>
Till<div><div class="h5"><br>
<br>
<br>
<br>
<br>
<br>
<div class="m_2677357395810182791moz-cite-prefix">Am 03.05.2017 um 14:07 schrieb Michael
Terner:<br>
</div>
</div></div><blockquote type="cite"><div><div class="h5">
<div dir="ltr">
<div class="gmail_default" style="font-family:tahoma,sans-serif">As
you all can see we've been very busy assembling our program (<a href="http://2017.foss4g.org/accepted-presentations/" target="_blank">225
accepted talks</a>, out of 423 submitted) and rounding out
the sponsorship for the conference (<a href="http://2017.foss4g.org/sponsor/" target="_blank">>$200k of
commitments</a>). And now, with 2 weeks to go before the
Early Bird expires, registration is starting to pickup with
~200 registrations processed.</div>
<div class="gmail_default" style="font-family:tahoma,sans-serif"><br>
</div>
<div class="gmail_default" style="font-family:tahoma,sans-serif">And,
with registration on people's minds we have started to get the
inevitable requests for financial support (e.g., and accepted
speaker who's company cannot pay; graduate students looking
for support; etc.) and we expect those requests to continue.
The Boston LOC (BLOC) would dearly like to have a "Travel
Grant Program", but as was pointed out in earlier threads (I
believe by both Steven Feldman and Jody Garnett) it is
difficult for the host LOC to run such a program. For
instance:</div>
<div class="gmail_default">
<ol>
<li><font face="tahoma, sans-serif">We do not yet
know our financial condition. With registrations being
notoriously late, we won't know if/how much $'s are
available for such a program for some time.</font></li>
<li><font face="tahoma, sans-serif">Administering such
a program takes time, and our primary focus is on
producing the conference and the workshops.</font></li>
<li><font face="tahoma, sans-serif">Decisions on
criteria for choosing recipients and the amount of
individual grants can be delicate and the
criteria/objectives may differ between the BLOC and
OSGeo</font></li>
</ol>
<div><font face="tahoma, sans-serif">As such,<b> the BLOC
would like to make a formal request that OSGeo establish
and administer a travel grant program for the Boston
2017 event</b>. We would gladly collaborate and help
advertise the program (e.g., on our website and through
referrals), but we would concur that this program should
be established and funded by OSGeo. We have high hopes
that the proceeds from Boston will reimburse OSGeo's
investment in subsidizing attendance from certain
communities. And, we too will be looking to offer other
opportunities for financial support through our volunteer
program, and potentially a "need-based" registration
discount (if our Early Bird registrations give us
increased confidence in our financial success).</font></div>
<div><font face="tahoma, sans-serif"><br>
</font></div>
<div><font face="tahoma, sans-serif">Thank you in advance for
considering this request. Please let us know if you have
any questions.</font></div>
<div><font face="tahoma, sans-serif"><br>
</font></div>
<div><font face="tahoma, sans-serif">Sincerely, MT & the
BLOC</font></div>
</div>
<div>-- <br>
</div>
<div class="m_2677357395810182791gmail_signature" data-smartmail="gmail_signature"><span style="font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif;font-size:10px"><strong>Michael Terner</strong></span><br style="font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif">
<em style="font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif"><span style="font-size:10px">Executive Vice President
<div class="gmail_default" style="font-family:tahoma,sans-serif;display:inline">
& Chair FOSS4G Boston 2017</div>
</span></em><br>
<span style="font-size:9px"><span style="font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif">Applied
Geographics, Inc.</span><br>
<br>
<span style="color:#009933"></span></span></div>
</div>
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