[Board] Re: thoughts on fundraising strategy docs

[Tyler Mitchell (OSGeo)]

+1 on all your points Jo, thanks for sharing.  The doc was meant to be a
 start.  Still lots more tactical stuff to be worked out.

Jo Walsh wrote:
> dear Tyler, Boardlings,
> 
> I read with interest the Fundraising Strategy document,
> http://wiki.osgeo.org/wiki/Fundraising_Strategy
> 
> While it sets out a lot of useful context, I don't think it's quite
> achieving its purpose as a doc meant to bootstrap direct fundraising
> efforts by the OSGeo Board, Committee members etc.
> 
> http://www.osgeo.org/sponsorship talks about cultural reasons why an
> OSGeo sponsorship should be desirable, justifiable for an organisation.
> 
> What I think is missing from both is a discussion of goals and outcomes
> for OSGeo that drive the fundraising effort. When I sponsor, what goals
> will my money be put towards supporting?
> 
> Right, there are the OSGeo Goals set out on this page:
> http://www.osgeo.org/content/foundation/about.html
> 
> There's lots of goals, some of them the foundation may not be working
> very actively on (binary packaging, curriculum dev). The expenditures
> will be time spent maintaining infrastructure, doing inreach and
> outreach, editing teaching and learning material, etc.
> 
> Thinking about outcomes too, because that helps to prioritise spending
> and thus focus on the more winnable or critical goals. Such as a ratio
> of Open Source GIS usage within University courses, or commercial
> training courses, in at least a few countries, or documentation coverage
> at a certain level for all incubating projects, or state-collected
> geographic data available openly for at least N countries...
> 
> Which of the goals can OSGeo influence now? Which are being taken care
> of by other orgs? Are there new goals, some members have talked about
> attempting to influence policy and participate in government projects.
> Is that anathema to the current Board?
> 
> I would also think about publishing a more tactical plan for the next
> year or two - a brief rough outline of where the areas of focus or work
> and resources will be. That would be for sponsors' benefit, also updated
> to match the pace of progress towards goals, each year.
> 
> cheers,
> 
> 
> jo <-- feeling a bit pointy headed, mid-life crisis maybe? :)
> -- 
> 
> 
> 
> 
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