[Board] Motion: Support visit to meet with the emerging Vietnam Chapter with funding

[Jeff McKenna]

Hello, comments inline below:

Frank Warmerdam wrote:
> Tyler Mitchell (OSGeo) wrote:
>> Hi Arnulf, a few more questions came to mind regarding this type of
>> motion and related future motions in general.  Geoff's email also
>> mentioned a few things that I think should be addressed.
>>
>> Is the hope to operate this as a one time support or something ongoing
>> for others in the future?
> 
> Tyler,
> 
> This motion was a one time thing.
> 
>> Will the board be putting together a policy that will guide these
>> decisions for future use?  And will the policy apply to others who are
>> not on the board or are only directors entitled to use it?
> 
> It would be desirable to have a policy to guide future spending
> decisions of this sort.

I fully agree that we need a policy for the travel budget (or 
marketing-travel budget).  This same policy would apply to any OSGeo 
member (director, ED, officer) for any desired travel.  I would like to 
see all members following this policy (e.g. steps to formally request to 
use travel budget, including reasoning, benefits to OSGeo, etc).  Board 
members should then be voting on these requests and deciding which are a 
priority for that year.

> 
>> There has historically never been a budget item for this expense, and no
>> director or president has ever requested funding before.  
> 
> I don't think this is strictly true (that there has never been such
> a request before), but I am not aware of OSGeo handling the request
> by a board level motion to provide funding.
> 
>  > If added to
>> the budget, to what amount are you prepared to spend annually on this?
> 
> I personally feel this sort of outreach activity should be treated
> as part of our marketing activity and come out of that budget with
> decisions made by the marketing committee.
> 
>> Do other directors have travel costs in mind?  What other future events
>> are on the radar?
>>
>> Conflicts of personal interest are always important concerning
>> nonprofits and its directors, as noted during the 501c3 application:
>> http://wiki.osgeo.org/wiki/Conflict_Of_Interest_Policy
>> Someone will eventually ask about how you ensure that corporate benefits
>> are not gained by directors when they are supported to travel on OSGeo
>> business - pointing to the existing policy should help.  When directors
>> fund their own travel it is never an issue, but as soon as we send
>> representatives who also have their own companies, I have no doubt it
>> will pop up (either by the community, or from the IRS).  Previously it's
>> been a simple "we don't do it" response.
> 
> Since Jeff is "throwing in" days of his own time, I cannot imagine
> there is a serious question of his taking advantage of OSGeo's support
> in this situation.  However, out of an excess of caution I think it
> would be good for him to declare a potential conflict of interest, and
> to abstain on the motion.

I do have a conflict of interest in this case, so I abstain from this 
motion.


>> Personally, I'm not concerned about the costs of this motion, but see a
>> potential pandora's box without an adequate policy being developed.
> 
> I don't really see it as a Pandora's box, but I would prefer to see
> this addressed via the marketing committee in the future as a promotional
> activity.  They ought to think about how much they are willing to provide
> for this sort of activity.
> 

I see this as a board decision personally.

-jeff