[Board] Questions about "Local Chapter Sponsor"

[Frank Warmerdam]

Venkatesh Raghavan wrote:
> Please read below.
> 
> Frank Warmerdam wrote:
> ...
>> I misread your above point the first time, and thought you were asking
>> to have local sponsors listed on the osgeo sponsor page.  There is a
>> page on the web site where we try to list all sponsorship opportunities
>> related to OSGeo and I think it would be a great idea to offer links to
>> local chapter sponsorship opportunities from there too as long as local
>> chapters have established some sort of organized program.  This page 
>> is at:
>>
>>   http://www.osgeo.org/sponsorship/opportunities
> 
> Can we think of a "Local Chapter Sponsorship" opportunities, and also to 
> let "Local Chapter Sponsors" what they can expect from OSGeo and what 
> they cannot. Maybe this will give them some idea whether it is
> beneficial "Local Chapter Sponsors" or "OSGeo Sponsor"

Venka,

We should absolutely list local chapter opportunities on this page
when local chapters have some sort of sponsorship program in place.

>> Currently it is hard to find, but I believe Tyler is going to make it 
>> more
>> prominent.
> 
> Maybe the missing local chapter domains china.osgeo.org, 
> india.osgeo.org, japan.osgeo.org etc could also be made
> more prominent. Lot of local promotion material already
> include these domain names which do not lead to local
> chapter pages.

Tyler?  Will you be following up with Shawn on this point?

I have no control over dns or web redirects so I can't fix
this.  I do agree that these should point to the appropriate
chapter pages (wiki, web site, etc).

> I hope I am not being mistaken for wanting to promote
> "Local Chapter Sponsors" as against "OSGeo Sponsorship".
> To me any kind of sponsorship which serves the goals
> and objectives of OSGeo is "OSGeo Sponsorship" be it local
> or global.

I think if local chapters can solicit sponsorship and turn that into
promotional and educational efforts in that local chapters area that
is fantastic.  But I do think that this needs to be driven to a
substantial extent by the local chapter.

For instance, the ottawa chapter has no such ambitions at this time.

It might be appropriate to invite the local chapter representatives
of declared chapters, and chapters-in-formation to discuss the
"local chapter sponsorship" issue somewhere - perhaps the international
discuss list?  This would give us a chance to see how many local
chapters are interested, and what degree of involvement and
interference from the foundation seems appropriate.

On the other side, the worldwide foundation has substantial direct
expenses, and if we are to meet these we need to collect funds that
are not tied to a specific project, local chapter or conference.

Best regards,
-- 
---------------------------------------+--------------------------------------
I set the clouds in motion - turn up   | Frank Warmerdam, warmerdam at pobox.com
light and sound - activate the windows | http://pobox.com/~warmerdam
and watch the world go round - Rush    | President OSGeo, http://osgeo.org