[OSGeo-Board] About Sponsorship for local OSGeo Chapters

[Venkatesh Raghavan]

Can I request Tyler or someone else to incorporate (mashup) the
points raised by Frank into the summary of that I
made before. Some of the text in brackets in my summary
need to be answered too, I think. I will send the corrected
summary about sponsorship solicited by local chapter to
Mori and Noda after getting the new version.

Kind regards

Venka

---My summary based on Inputs from Tyler and Arnulf----------

1) Kind of sponsors
    See OSGeo ED's blog http://spatialguru.com/sponsorship_dec06
    (perhaps that could be put on the OSGeo site too.

2) Status of sponsors
    See OSGeo ED's blog http://spatialguru.com/sponsorship_dec06
    (perhaps that could be put on the OSGeo site too.

3) When the sponsor logos will appear on the OSGeo website, wiki etc
    Sometime in Jan 2007

4) Is the local sponsorship scheme same as OSGeo.org sponsorship ?
    OSGeo ED Tyler will serve as a helper to those who are doing
    international solicitation for sponsors.  In case of language
    barriers for communication with ED some the local chapter
    representative or OSGeo member/officer familiar with the
    local language can at as translator for smooth communication.
    After the kind of sponsorship, sponsor level etc. are agreed
    up and approved by the OSGeo board (*I do not know is Board approval
    is necessary, I personally think, it is*), appropriate invoice can be
    issued by OSGeo. In case the invoice is needed in local country,
    OSGeo can request the Local Chapter Representative to issue invoice
    on OSGeo behalf (*need comments on that too*)
    In case of local chapter sponsors the preferred approach would be
    that someone form the local chapter connects with the main
    organisation while  also providing support/services to make the
    process easier.
    (Think I am acting as the "local" connector as a Board Member of
     OSGeo and also board Member of the Japan OSGeo Chapter)

5)  Will OSGeo sponsors be invited to next FOSS4G Conference ?
    Every sponsor > associate level receives an invite to join
    the board and other speakers at a sponsors-only event following
    the conference.  details need to be worked out See.
    https://www.osgeo.org/content/sponsorship/
    (My question. How do we differentiate between "Conference Sponsor"
     for example people who pay money for the conference events like
     FOSS4G2007? Do Associate level above sponsor not pay sponsorship
     for FOSS4G Conference Event but are still considered as sponsors?
     Invitation to FOSS4G with certain number of free registration
     passes? Or discount for registration fee for participants from
     sponsoring organization?)

6) Can the sponsor specify the purpose for which the sponsorship
    fee can be used?
    Yes, then it would not be the "Foundation-" but the "Project
    Sponsorship program". (*Question* What if the sponsor asks that
    his contribution to be used by some Local Chapter only? Is
    "Local Chapter Sponsorship" treated same as "Project
    Sponsorship"?)

    I could see where some donors may be interested in giving
    $x (or x Japanese Yen) - with half going to a project and half
    going to the foundation (*Question* Does it have to be half?
    OSGeo can charge 10-20% (whatever) for accepting, processing
    etc. of sponsorship and give back remaining to the "Project"
    or "Local Chapter" requested by the sponsor).
    For example if someone wants to donate and say that they want
    part of their donation to go into education development
   (or Local Chapter) - we could split it for them so half ((*Question*
    Does it have to be half? OSGeo can charge 10-20% (whatever) for
    accepting, processing etc. of sponsorship and give back remaining
    to the "Project" or "Local Chapter" requested by the sponsor).
    Overhead goes to Edu project and the remainder to foundation.
    (Is this OK?).

---Franks comments on e-mail prior to my making the summary-----

Frank Warmerdam wrote:
> On 12/13/06, venka.osgeo <venka.osgeo at gmail.com> wrote:
>> 1  Will OSGeo Japan Chapter call for Japan domestic sponsor separately
>> as a part of OSGeo.org sponsorship ?
> 
> Venka,
> 
> I think the OSGeo Japan Chapter *could* solicit domestic sponsors
> for the local chapter if they wanted to, but if the sponsorship stays
> with the local chapter then I *think* that the sponsor would be
> considered a local sponsor, to be appropriately appreciated on the
> local chapter web site.
> 
>> 2  Is the local sponsorship scheme same as OSGeo.org sponsorship ?
> 
> If the sponsorship stays with the local chapter, then I don't think
> it would be the same as the sponsorship program described on the
> web site.  What has been known as "Foundation Sponsorship".
> 
>> 3  When OSGeo sponsor page will be available on the web site ?
> 
> Good question!  We (the fundraising and/or web committees) need to
> get on this immediately as we now have at least one paid up sponsorship
> in addition to the support of Autodesk which will presumably be treated
> as a sponsorship.
> 
>> 4  Will OSGeo sponsors be invited to next FOSS4G Conference ?
> 
> The sponsorship page indicates that Sustaining and Principle
> sponsors will special rights to sponsorship selection for the
> conference.   Neverthless, I'm pretty sure that there will be sponsorship
> opportunities for the conference for any organization interested in doing
> so.
> 
> Actually, I would turn the question around and ask "invited in what
> capacity"?  I think the conference is open to any individuals that
> wish to register, and I don't think it is particularly hard to qualify for
> exhibit space for vendors willing to pay for it.
> 
>> 5 Can the sponsor specify the purpose for which the sponsorship
>> fee can be used?
> 
> Generally no, not through the foundation sponsorship program,
> though some advice might be well received.   There is also a
> concept of "project sponsorship" in which case sponsorship
> can be applied to a specific project, but only if a project is
> participating in the project sponsorship program.  The only
> project I am aware of that is participating is the GDAL/OGR project.
> 
>> Advice for the board and Tyler and support for local sponsors is
>> highly appreciated.
> 
> If the potential sponsor is primarily interested in supporting
> efforts in Japan then I'd suggest the Japan Chapter consider
> establishing some guidelines for local sponsorship and solicit
> the funds for local use.
> 
> If that approach is considered inadvisable, then I'd encourage
> soliciting the support as a general foundation sponsorship and
> perhaps the foundation could make some special effort to fund
> VisCom activities in Japan if that is the desire of the sponsor.
> 
>> Additional information that the proposed sponsors have provided is
>> as below
>>
>> > They want to modify / source code of MapGuide Open Source to support 
>> PNG8
>> > compressed image data as well as current PNG24 for the mobile 
>> devices as a
>> > MGOS client. They have already proposed their idea to mobile
>> > telecommunication provider and their customer welcomed. Thus, they 
>> want to
>> > start the development and make an appeal their activities and 
>> contribution
>> > to FOSS4G to public to get more business and make their customer 
>> confident.
> 
> Note that sponsorship does not provide any guarantee that particular
> technical suggestions will be accepted.  The above contributions should
> be taken to the MapGuide PSC, though it certainly sounds like a very
> positive development.
> 
> I would like to stress that all the above is not the "final word" of
> the foundation, but rather an opinion of one director of how the
> current sponsorship program should be interpreted and a
> few suggestions.
> 
> Best regards,