<div dir="ltr"><div>I asked recently about financial support for hubs. I was told [1]:</div><div style="margin-left:40px"><pre>I think when it comes to financial management, that this really needs to be
managed by the conference committee as a conference budget concern that is
approved by the Board. Requests to the board from each hub will just get
chaotic.</pre></div><div>I'm asking for OSGeo Oceania to give the conference committee the ability to do this.</div><div><br></div><div>I see that the budget has only earmarked $1000 out of the $8800 fund for this year's conference, but it's commented "<i>Reduce expenditure as online 2020 conference</i>". As it's no longer an online-only event, I remain hopeful that the full amount will be made available. This is now a large event, with ~10 hubs, and a huge opportunity to make a big impact across our region. <br></div><div><br></div><div>The Good Mojo fund is made up of contributions from people and orgs over the last couple of years, in good faith, with the expectation it would be used to enhance the event's diversity and sustainability. I encourage the board to decide promptly to enable this to happen.</div><div><br></div><div><br></div><div>[1] <a href="https://lists.osgeo.org/pipermail/foss4g-oceania/2020-September/001480.html">https://lists.osgeo.org/pipermail/foss4g-oceania/2020-September/001480.html</a></div></div><br><div class="gmail_quote"><div dir="ltr" class="gmail_attr">On Wed, 23 Sep 2020 at 11:03, Alex Leith <<a href="mailto:alexgleith@gmail.com">alexgleith@gmail.com</a>> wrote:<br></div><blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="margin:0px 0px 0px 0.8ex;border-left:1px solid rgb(204,204,204);padding-left:1ex"><div dir="ltr">Hey John<br><div><br></div><div>I won't speak for Jonah, who can represent the Conference Committee.</div><div><br></div><div>But for OSGeo Oceania, we have a public budget, here: <a href="https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1cbd3Rt5R688qrZ3eTCHxpRZ8HbII358_1UARf3m5qBs/edit#" target="_blank">https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1cbd3Rt5R688qrZ3eTCHxpRZ8HbII358_1UARf3m5qBs/edit#</a></div><div><br></div><div>This does have money earmarked for Good Mojo, which you are welcome to put in an application to spend. And, although it hasn't been communicated, there are budget lines for microgrants and community support and outreach, which could be allocated towards conference-related activities. But I'm pretty aware that we live in uncertain times, and I would like our organisation to exist long into the future and I don't think that there's a guarantee that we'll have an in-person conference next year still, which means our expected income may not happen. So I don't want to go spending our whole budget too actively, </div><div><br></div><div>Anyhow, your original question is 'can we access Good Mojo funds' and the answer is 'yes', it just needs to be justified.</div><div><br></div><div>Cheers,</div></div><br><div class="gmail_quote"><div dir="ltr" class="gmail_attr">On Wed, 23 Sep 2020 at 11:45, John Bryant <<a href="mailto:johnwbryant@gmail.com" target="_blank">johnwbryant@gmail.com</a>> wrote:<br></div><blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="margin:0px 0px 0px 0.8ex;border-left:1px solid rgb(204,204,204);padding-left:1ex"><div dir="ltr"><div>I propose that OSGeo Oceania empower the conference committee to use the Good Mojo fund as it sees fit, with minimal criteria: facilitating diversity and inclusion at the conference, and basic financial oversight.<br></div><div><br></div><div>The conference committee can then put specific initiatives in place, by approving specific requests from hubs and taking suggestions from the community.</div><div><br></div><div>I think Martin's suggestions are good ones, and the LOC and hubs are best positioned to decide if it's the best way to include people in their local communities.<br></div></div><br><div class="gmail_quote"><div dir="ltr" class="gmail_attr">On Wed, 23 Sep 2020 at 07:57, Martin Tomko <<a href="mailto:tomkom@unimelb.edu.au" target="_blank">tomkom@unimelb.edu.au</a>> wrote:<br></div><blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="margin:0px 0px 0px 0.8ex;border-left:1px solid rgb(204,204,204);padding-left:1ex">
<div lang="EN-AU">
<div>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-GB">My thoughts would be to facilitate remote participation to those who can demonstrate that they have a sub-par internet connection, on top of some support for any fees levied by local hubs to those that can not afford
it. <u></u><u></u></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-GB">I think that there is a significant disparity in internet access quality in the region, and sometimes this can be lifted by paying for a better connection. So this sponsorship could help to get a better access to people
in regional areas, possibly ( such as reimbousing a month of faster internet, or a sim card).<u></u><u></u></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-GB"><u></u> <u></u></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-GB">My 2c,<u></u><u></u></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-GB">Martin<u></u><u></u></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-GB"><u></u> <u></u></span></p>
<div style="border-color:rgb(181,196,223) currentcolor currentcolor;border-style:solid none none;border-width:1pt medium medium;padding:3pt 0cm 0cm">
<p class="MsoNormal"><b><span style="font-size:12pt;color:black">From: </span></b><span style="font-size:12pt;color:black">Oceania <<a href="mailto:oceania-bounces@lists.osgeo.org" target="_blank">oceania-bounces@lists.osgeo.org</a>> on behalf of John Bryant <<a href="mailto:johnwbryant@gmail.com" target="_blank">johnwbryant@gmail.com</a>><br>
<b>Date: </b>Wednesday, 23 September 2020 at 12:13 am<br>
<b>To: </b>Alex Leith <<a href="mailto:alexgleith@gmail.com" target="_blank">alexgleith@gmail.com</a>><br>
<b>Cc: </b>"<a href="mailto:oceania@lists.osgeo.org" target="_blank">oceania@lists.osgeo.org</a>" <<a href="mailto:oceania@lists.osgeo.org" target="_blank">oceania@lists.osgeo.org</a>>, foss4g-oceania <<a href="mailto:foss4g-oceania@lists.osgeo.org" target="_blank">foss4g-oceania@lists.osgeo.org</a>><br>
<b>Subject: </b>Re: [OSGeo Oceania] [FOSS4G-Oceania] Good Mojo funds<u></u><u></u></span></p>
</div>
<div>
<p class="MsoNormal"><u></u> <u></u></p>
</div>
<div>
<div>
<p class="MsoNormal">There's no need to restrict the use of the fund to travel, and with less than 10 weeks to go, t<span style="font-family:Arial,sans-serif">here is not enough time to mobilise a single region wide travel grant program in time for the event.</span><u></u><u></u></p>
</div>
<div>
<p class="MsoNormal"><u></u> <u></u></p>
</div>
<div>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family:Arial,sans-serif">There are quite a few potential activities that fit under the purposes of the program, I've already mentioned a few. I think hub managers should be encouraged to be creative and act locally. </span><u></u><u></u></p>
</div>
<div>
<p class="MsoNormal"><u></u> <u></u></p>
</div>
<div>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family:Arial,sans-serif">Re: whether travel should be encouraged, let's not dismiss it as a possibility in some areas. For example, here in WA we are fortunate to have a very low COVID case load, and the WA government
is heavily promoting regional travel. Helping someone out with a few bucks for fuel to drive to Perth doesn't present any higher risk than what we're already doing: bringing people together, which is something we don't take lightly. In both cases we'll be
guided by health authorities and our own best judgement.</span><u></u><u></u></p>
</div>
<div>
<p class="MsoNormal"><u></u> <u></u></p>
</div>
<div>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family:Arial,sans-serif">I believe there was something like $8800 in the Good Mojo fund last time I checked. Time is short, and we need lead time to make sure we're making such investments wisely, clearly stating our
aims and ensuring we are helping the right people. The sooner we know if it's possible, the more likely it will be to happen.</span><u></u><u></u></p>
</div>
<div>
<p class="MsoNormal"><u></u> <u></u></p>
</div>
<div>
<p class="MsoNormal">Thanks<u></u><u></u></p>
</div>
<div>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:12pt"><u></u> <u></u></p>
<div>
<div>
<p class="MsoNormal">On Tue, 22 Sep 2020, 7:00 pm Alex Leith, <<a href="mailto:alexgleith@gmail.com" target="_blank">alexgleith@gmail.com</a>> wrote:<u></u><u></u></p>
</div>
<blockquote style="border-color:currentcolor currentcolor currentcolor rgb(204,204,204);border-style:none none none solid;border-width:medium medium medium 1pt;padding:0cm 0cm 0cm 6pt;margin-left:4.8pt;margin-right:0cm">
<div>
<p class="MsoNormal">Hey folks<u></u><u></u></p>
</div>
<div>
<p class="MsoNormal"><u></u> <u></u></p>
</div>
<div>
<p class="MsoNormal">I think this is a complex topic, because there’s a serious question in my mind about the ethics of encouraging travel in this time of global pandemic.<u></u><u></u></p>
</div>
<div>
<p class="MsoNormal"><u></u> <u></u></p>
</div>
<div>
<p class="MsoNormal">I wholeheartedly encourage the purpose of the travel grant program, which is to encourage diversity and inclusion, but we do need to think carefully about it.<u></u><u></u></p>
</div>
<div>
<p class="MsoNormal"><u></u> <u></u></p>
</div>
<div>
<p class="MsoNormal">Financially, there’s funds there and the parent organisation, OSGeo, has been very supportive of our requests for support in the past too.<u></u><u></u></p>
</div>
<div>
<p class="MsoNormal"><u></u> <u></u></p>
</div>
<div>
<p class="MsoNormal">Plus there’s the implementation of the grants process, so that we can try to be balanced across Oceania, if we do proceed with a program.<u></u><u></u></p>
</div>
<div>
<p class="MsoNormal"><u></u> <u></u></p>
</div>
<div>
<p class="MsoNormal">I think we should carefully address the question of whether we should be encouraging travel first. And after that, if we choose to proceed, we can talk about how we implement it.<u></u><u></u></p>
</div>
<div>
<p class="MsoNormal"><u></u> <u></u></p>
</div>
<div>
<p class="MsoNormal">Cheers,<u></u><u></u></p>
</div>
<div>
<p class="MsoNormal"><u></u> <u></u></p>
</div>
<div>
<p class="MsoNormal">Alex <u></u><u></u></p>
</div>
<div>
<p class="MsoNormal"><u></u> <u></u></p>
<div>
<div>
<p class="MsoNormal">On Tue, 22 Sep 2020 at 8:10 pm, Jonah Sullivan <<a href="mailto:jonahsullivan79@gmail.com" target="_blank">jonahsullivan79@gmail.com</a>> wrote:<u></u><u></u></p>
</div>
<blockquote style="border-color:currentcolor currentcolor currentcolor rgb(204,204,204);border-style:none none none solid;border-width:medium medium medium 1pt;padding:0cm 0cm 0cm 6pt;margin-left:4.8pt;margin-right:0cm">
<div>
<div>
<p class="MsoNormal">Thanks for bringing this up John.<u></u><u></u></p>
</div>
<div>
<p class="MsoNormal"><u></u> <u></u></p>
</div>
<div>
<p class="MsoNormal">I agree, the Good Mojo fund is meant to make the conference more accessible and more representative of our region.<u></u><u></u></p>
</div>
<div>
<p class="MsoNormal"><u></u> <u></u></p>
</div>
<div>
<p class="MsoNormal">In the past two years 20 people were enabled to attend the conference and side-events:<u></u><u></u></p>
</div>
<div>
<p class="MsoNormal"><a href="https://wiki.osgeo.org/wiki/FOSS4G_SotM_Oceania_2019#Good_Mojo" target="_blank">In 2019</a>, 13 people
<u></u><u></u></p>
</div>
<div>
<p class="MsoNormal"><a href="https://wiki.osgeo.org/wiki/FOSS4G_SotM_Oceania_2018#Good_Mojo" target="_blank">In 2018</a>, 7 people<u></u><u></u></p>
</div>
<div>
<p class="MsoNormal"><u></u> <u></u></p>
</div>
<div>
<p class="MsoNormal">The Good Mojo program is related to the <a href="https://www.osgeo.org/initiatives/foss4g-travel-grant-program/" target="_blank">
OSGeo Travel Grant Program</a>, which has similar aims: "to facilitate accessibility and diversity at our global and regional FOSS4G events".<u></u><u></u></p>
</div>
<div>
<p class="MsoNormal"><u></u> <u></u></p>
</div>
<div>
<p class="MsoNormal">I think these traditions should continue, and I'm sure our parent organisation (OSGeo) would endorse this position as well.<u></u><u></u></p>
</div>
<div>
<p class="MsoNormal"><u></u> <u></u></p>
</div>
<div>
<p class="MsoNormal">I request the OSGeo Oceania board to consider how to use Good Mojo funds to support this event and the broader community.<u></u><u></u></p>
</div>
</div>
<p class="MsoNormal"><u></u> <u></u></p>
<div>
<div>
<p class="MsoNormal">On Mon, 21 Sep 2020 at 17:39, John Bryant <<a href="mailto:johnwbryant@gmail.com" target="_blank">johnwbryant@gmail.com</a>> wrote:<u></u><u></u></p>
</div>
<blockquote style="border-color:currentcolor currentcolor currentcolor rgb(204,204,204);border-style:none none none solid;border-width:medium medium medium 1pt;padding:0cm 0cm 0cm 6pt;margin-left:4.8pt;margin-right:0cm">
<div>
<div>
<p class="MsoNormal">Hi, I think there are substantial funds left in the Good Mojo fund from the last 2 conferences. The funds were contributed by sponsors & attendees for use in community goodwill activities related to the conference, like travel grants, women's
breakfast, childcare, etc.<u></u><u></u></p>
</div>
<div>
<p class="MsoNormal"><u></u> <u></u></p>
</div>
<div>
<p class="MsoNormal">Can we access these funds for Good Mojo activities at the hub events? I'm thinking of some free registrations, maybe a bit of travel assistance, a breakfast, maybe some extra environmental initiatives, stuff like that.<u></u><u></u></p>
</div>
<div>
<p class="MsoNormal"><u></u> <u></u></p>
</div>
<div>
<p class="MsoNormal">I guess this is ultimately a question for OSGeo Oceania as the holder of the Good Mojo fund. But I think we're meant to ask Jonah first.<u></u><u></u></p>
</div>
<div>
<p class="MsoNormal"><u></u> <u></u></p>
</div>
<div>
<p class="MsoNormal">So, Jonah? What do you think?<u></u><u></u></p>
</div>
<div>
<p class="MsoNormal"><u></u> <u></u></p>
</div>
<div>
<p class="MsoNormal">Cheers<u></u><u></u></p>
</div>
<div>
<p class="MsoNormal">John<u></u><u></u></p>
</div>
</div>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:12pt"><br>
<br>
_______________________________________________<br>
<br>
<br>
FOSS4G-Oceania mailing list<br>
<br>
<br>
<a href="mailto:FOSS4G-Oceania@lists.osgeo.org" target="_blank">FOSS4G-Oceania@lists.osgeo.org</a><br>
<br>
<br>
<a href="https://lists.osgeo.org/mailman/listinfo/foss4g-oceania" target="_blank">https://lists.osgeo.org/mailman/listinfo/foss4g-oceania</a><br>
<br>
<u></u><u></u></p>
</blockquote>
</div>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:12pt"><br>
<br>
_______________________________________________<br>
<br>
FOSS4G-Oceania mailing list<br>
<br>
<a href="mailto:FOSS4G-Oceania@lists.osgeo.org" target="_blank">FOSS4G-Oceania@lists.osgeo.org</a><br>
<br>
<a href="https://lists.osgeo.org/mailman/listinfo/foss4g-oceania" target="_blank">https://lists.osgeo.org/mailman/listinfo/foss4g-oceania</a><u></u><u></u></p>
</blockquote>
</div>
</div>
<p class="MsoNormal">-- <u></u><u></u></p>
<div>
<div>
<div>
<p class="MsoNormal">Alex Leith<u></u><u></u></p>
</div>
<p class="MsoNormal">m: 0419189050<u></u><u></u></p>
</div>
</div>
</blockquote>
</div>
</div>
</div>
</div>
</div>
</blockquote></div>
_______________________________________________<br>
Oceania mailing list<br>
<a href="mailto:Oceania@lists.osgeo.org" target="_blank">Oceania@lists.osgeo.org</a><br>
<a href="https://lists.osgeo.org/mailman/listinfo/oceania" rel="noreferrer" target="_blank">https://lists.osgeo.org/mailman/listinfo/oceania</a><br>
</blockquote></div><br clear="all"><div><br></div>-- <br><div dir="ltr"><div dir="ltr"><div>Alex Leith<br></div>m: 0419189050</div></div>
</blockquote></div>