[Board] Fwd: {OL3: Funding} Re: Marketing/sponsors/...

Fri Jan 4 11:47:15 PST 2013

Cédric,

Thank you for this summary. How to raise money for Open Source projects, 
or for agencies to sponsor projects in a meaningful way is a common 
question with very few people with evidence based answers, as you have here.

One other factor that I noticed was that in your initial call for 
collective funds, there was a specific goal:

"We have secured XXX funds, which will only be made available if it can 
be matched by other agencies".

I would strongly urge that you, or someone from the OpenLayers community 
tells the full story about your fund raising exercise. Start with a bit 
of history about Openlayers, and why it needed to move to version 3, 
then talk about how your approached agencies, and then what factors 
helped the agencies commit to the sponsorship.  You may also want to 
cover other approaches which you tried or considered which didn't work 
and why.

As an example of the style of writing you might consider, you might want 
to look at my description of the success story for the OSGeo-Live 
project: 
http://cameronshorter.blogspot.com.au/2011/06/memoirs-of-cat-herder-coordinating.html

If you are looking for an early review, I'd be happy to offer my 
services in that regard, as I think it is a great story wanting to be told.

On 4/01/2013 6:33 AM, Frank Warmerdam wrote:
> ---------- Forwarded message ----------
> From: Cédric MOULLET <cedric.moullet at gmail.com>
> Date: Thu, Jan 3, 2013 at 11:19 AM
> Subject: Fwd: {OL3: Funding} Re: [Board] Marketing/sponsors/...
> To: board-owner at lists.osgeo.org
>
>
> Since my mail was rejected, I send it to you
>
> ---------- Forwarded message ----------
> From: Cédric MOULLET <cedric.moullet at gmail.com>
> Date: Thu, Jan 3, 2013 at 8:17 PM
> Subject: Re: {OL3: Funding} Re: [Board] Marketing/sponsors/...
> To: "ol3-funding at googlegroups.com" <ol3-funding at googlegroups.com>
> Cc: board at lists.osgeo.org, marketing <marketing at lists.osgeo.org>
>
>
> Hi,
> Regarding the OL3 funding effort, I sent a status email that you can
> find here: http://osgeo-org.1560.n6.nabble.com/OpenLayers-3-Funding-effort-status-tt5024314.html
> If needed, I can provide the name of the majority of the 119 funders
> (OSGB, BRGM, Canton of Zürich and Neuchâtel, Orkney, Survey office
> Brandenburg, Bayern and Danmark, swisstopo etc, etc...).  We decided
> not to diffuse the amount of the contributions, but only the global
> amount.
> Here are my observations made during this effort (it it can be of any help...):
> 1.In order to find an an important amount, it's key to collect money
> by administrations and to use personal contacts in order to reach the
> persons who decide. Private or company funders will help, but with
> less important amounts. Having said that, it's also very important to
> have these less important amounts, since they show the willingness of
> the community to participate to the effort.
> 2. It's important to develop something new and to clearly state the
> goal. I don't believe that it's possible to find (a lot of) money only
> for maintenance, minor evolutions or bugfixing work. For minor
> evolutions, the best is to make bilateral contracts on a case by case
> basis.
> 3. The main issue that we encounter was legal. The problem is that the
> jurisdiction of the countries don't take in account the way OpenSource
> Communities are working. And, in addition, an OpenSource community is
> not a legal entity, like the Project Steering Commitee is not a legal
> entity. All the administrations need a clear, contractual partner.
> It's not easy (from a legal perspective) to simply make a donation.
> One way to solve that is to use "research contracts".
> 4. In the past 2 or 3 years, we invested a lot of time in working with
> other administrations (mainly in Switzerland with cities and cantons)
> in order to explain them the benefits of working together in
> OpenSource communities. This preparation work is crucial and the
> result is that a part of the OpenLayers 3 funds is coming from these
> entities.
> Hope this helps,
> Best regards,
> Cédric
>
>
> On Thu, Jan 3, 2013 at 7:23 PM, Seven (aka Arnulf) <seven at arnulf.us> wrote:
>> -----BEGIN PGP SIGNED MESSAGE-----
>> Hash: SHA1
>>
>> The "OL3 funding group" (for lack of a better name) did a really good
>> job of promoting OL3 development and sponsorship, maybe they can
>> include Japanese reps into their activities and share results. Added
>> in CC for further follow-ups.
>>
>> There is really good support for OL3 from SwissTopo, OSGB and I
>> believe also IGN France (in the order of 350k+) but not sure how
>> official all of this is, so cannot really say much else. The best
>> place to learn more about the OL3 sponsorship activities so far is
>> that group with reps from terrestris, OpenGeo and camptocamp.
>>
>> Cheers,
>> Arnulf
>>
>> On 03.01.2013 17:25, Jo Cook wrote:
>>> Dear All,
>>>
>>> What about the Ordnance Survey in the UK? They use OpenLayers as
>>> part of their "OpenSpace" mapping API
>>> (http://www.ordnancesurvey.co.uk/oswebsite/web-services/os-openspace/api/index.html)
>>>
>>>
>> so in theory are probably contributing to OL2 if not OL3. Arnulf might
>>> have a better idea about this, in his new role with them.
>>>
>>> Jo
>>>
>>>
>>> On Thu, Jan 3, 2013 at 4:21 PM, Yves Jacolin <yjacolin at free.fr
>>> <mailto:yjacolin at free.fr>> wrote:
>>>
>>> Hello Jeff,
>>>
>>> Thanks sharing this, this is indeed important as we want to do the
>>> same here in France: find support from official and governmental
>>> organism.
>>>
>>> I will try to find some examples in my side.
>>>
>>> Y.
>>>
>>>
>>> Le jeudi 3 janvier 2013 12:14:18 Jeff McKenna a écrit :
>>>> Hello Board and community,
>>>>
>>>> I did debate which mailing list to send this to
>>>> (board/discuss/marketing), but let's start here.
>>>>
>>>> I received a message from one of the OSGeo-Japan leaders
>>>> (Hayashi-san) pointing to an important recent blog entry from
>>>> another OSGeo-Japan leader (Mori-san, CEO of Orkney):
>>>> http://blog.goo.ne.jp/jg2tkh/e/b4e04c4da1f141c66f48b3bd5142c733
>>>>
>>>> I will try my best to summarize:
>>>>
>>>> - Orkney is a long-time contributor and sponsor for FOSS4G
>>>> projects - Mori-san is concerned that only his company is willing
>>>> to contribute to OpenLayers3 ("OL3") development in Japan, even
>>>> though many organizations will use OL3 - a large federal org
>>>> (Geospatial Information Authority, GSI, of
>>> Japan)
>>>> uses OpenLayers2 , but is so far not committed to helping OL3
>>> development
>>>> - Hayashi-san thinks sharing examples of other
>>> organizations/governments
>>>> who support FOSS4G/OSGeo Projects will help OSGeo-JP attract
>>>> contributions from local orgs like GSI
>>>>
>>>> Do we have such a page to point to?  (yes this is a marketing
>>>> issue) e.g. case studies of organizations helping OSGeo Projects
>>>> grow
>>>>
>>>> (note that this is needed on my own website, so I don't pretend
>>>> to be the marketing expert, but I do realize it is SUPER
>>>> important)
>>>>
>>>> Thoughts?
>>>>
>>>> -jeff
>>>>
>>>>
>>>>
>>>>
>>>>
>>>> _______________________________________________ Board mailing
>>>> list Board at lists.osgeo.org <mailto:Board at lists.osgeo.org>
>>>> http://lists.osgeo.org/mailman/listinfo/board
>>> -- Yves Jacolin _______________________________________________
>>> Board mailing list Board at lists.osgeo.org
>>> <mailto:Board at lists.osgeo.org>
>>> http://lists.osgeo.org/mailman/listinfo/board
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>> -- ***Jo Cook* Astun Technology Ltd, The Coach House, 17 West
>>> Street, Epsom, Surrey, KT18 7RL, UK t:+44 750 095 8167 iShare -
>>> Data integration and publishing platform
>>> <http://www.isharemaps.com/>
>>>
>>> *****************************************
>>>
>>> Company registration no. 5410695. Registered in England and Wales.
>>> Registered office: 120 Manor Green Road, Epsom, Surrey, KT19 8LN
>>> VAT no. 864201149.
>>>
>>>
>>> _______________________________________________ Board mailing list
>>> Board at lists.osgeo.org
>>> http://lists.osgeo.org/mailman/listinfo/board
>>>
>>
>> - --
>> Exploring Space, Time and Mind
>> http://arnulf.us
>> -----BEGIN PGP SIGNATURE-----
>> Version: GnuPG v1.4.11 (GNU/Linux)
>> Comment: Using GnuPG with Mozilla - http://www.enigmail.net/
>>
>> iEYEARECAAYFAlDlzIQACgkQXmFKW+BJ1b2ASQCeM/fHbRawf2pQ+uVAgUpeG+qE
>> +mAAn1KyzGTleGtVeQ/5dNvIT5VyqOYa
>> =Fli0
>> -----END PGP SIGNATURE-----
>>
>> --
>>
>>
>
>
> --
> Political blog: http://cedricmoullet.blogspot.com/
> Welcome to my world: http://www.cedricmoullet.com/
> My Linked In profile: http://www.linkedin.com/in/cedricmoullet
> Twitter: http://twitter.com/cedricmoullet
> Home sweet home:
> http://map.geo.admin.ch/?crosshair=bowl&zoom=11&X=185241.24219&Y=561288.90625&bgOpacity=0&selectedNode=node_ch.swisstopo.fixpunkte-lage1
>
>
>
> --
> Political blog: http://cedricmoullet.blogspot.com/
> Welcome to my world: http://www.cedricmoullet.com/
> My Linked In profile: http://www.linkedin.com/in/cedricmoullet
> Twitter: http://twitter.com/cedricmoullet
> Home sweet home:
> http://map.geo.admin.ch/?crosshair=bowl&zoom=11&X=185241.24219&Y=561288.90625&bgOpacity=0&selectedNode=node_ch.swisstopo.fixpunkte-lage1
>
>
> On Thu, Jan 3, 2013 at 8:17 PM, Cédric MOULLET <cedric.moullet at gmail.com> wrote:
>> Hi,
>> Regarding the OL3 funding effort, I sent a status email that you can find here: http://osgeo-org.1560.n6.nabble.com/OpenLayers-3-Funding-effort-status-tt5024314.html
>> If needed, I can provide the name of the majority of the 119 funders (OSGB, BRGM, Canton of Zürich and Neuchâtel, Orkney, Survey office Brandenburg, Bayern and Danmark, swisstopo etc, etc...).  We decided not to diffuse the amount of the contributions, but only the global amount.
>> Here are my observations made during this effort (it it can be of any help...):
>> 1.In order to find an an important amount, it's key to collect money by administrations and to use personal contacts in order to reach the persons who decide. Private or company funders will help, but with less important amounts. Having said that, it's also very important to have these less important amounts, since they show the willingness of the community to participate to the effort.
>> 2. It's important to develop something new and to clearly state the goal. I don't believe that it's possible to find (a lot of) money only for maintenance, minor evolutions or bugfixing work. For minor evolutions, the best is to make bilateral contracts on a case by case basis.
>> 3. The main issue that we encounter was legal. The problem is that the jurisdiction of the countries don't take in account the way OpenSource Communities are working. And, in addition, an OpenSource community is not a legal entity, like the Project Steering Commitee is not a legal entity. All the administrations need a clear, contractual partner. It's not easy (from a legal perspective) to simply make a donation. One way to solve that is to use "research contracts".
>> 4. In the past 2 or 3 years, we invested a lot of time in working with other administrations (mainly in Switzerland with cities and cantons) in order to explain them the benefits of working together in OpenSource communities. This preparation work is crucial and the result is that a part of the OpenLayers 3 funds is coming from these entities.
>> Hope this helps,
>> Best regards,
>> Cédric
>>
>>
>> On Thu, Jan 3, 2013 at 7:23 PM, Seven (aka Arnulf) <seven at arnulf.us> wrote:
>>> -----BEGIN PGP SIGNED MESSAGE-----
>>> Hash: SHA1
>>>
>>> The "OL3 funding group" (for lack of a better name) did a really good
>>> job of promoting OL3 development and sponsorship, maybe they can
>>> include Japanese reps into their activities and share results. Added
>>> in CC for further follow-ups.
>>>
>>> There is really good support for OL3 from SwissTopo, OSGB and I
>>> believe also IGN France (in the order of 350k+) but not sure how
>>> official all of this is, so cannot really say much else. The best
>>> place to learn more about the OL3 sponsorship activities so far is
>>> that group with reps from terrestris, OpenGeo and camptocamp.
>>>
>>> Cheers,
>>> Arnulf
>>>
>>> On 03.01.2013 17:25, Jo Cook wrote:
>>>> Dear All,
>>>>
>>>> What about the Ordnance Survey in the UK? They use OpenLayers as
>>>> part of their "OpenSpace" mapping API
>>>> (http://www.ordnancesurvey.co.uk/oswebsite/web-services/os-openspace/api/index.html)
>>>>
>>>>
>>> so in theory are probably contributing to OL2 if not OL3. Arnulf might
>>>> have a better idea about this, in his new role with them.
>>>>
>>>> Jo
>>>>
>>>>
>>>> On Thu, Jan 3, 2013 at 4:21 PM, Yves Jacolin <yjacolin at free.fr
>>>> <mailto:yjacolin at free.fr>> wrote:
>>>>
>>>> Hello Jeff,
>>>>
>>>> Thanks sharing this, this is indeed important as we want to do the
>>>> same here in France: find support from official and governmental
>>>> organism.
>>>>
>>>> I will try to find some examples in my side.
>>>>
>>>> Y.
>>>>
>>>>
>>>> Le jeudi 3 janvier 2013 12:14:18 Jeff McKenna a écrit :
>>>>> Hello Board and community,
>>>>>
>>>>> I did debate which mailing list to send this to
>>>>> (board/discuss/marketing), but let's start here.
>>>>>
>>>>> I received a message from one of the OSGeo-Japan leaders
>>>>> (Hayashi-san) pointing to an important recent blog entry from
>>>>> another OSGeo-Japan leader (Mori-san, CEO of Orkney):
>>>>> http://blog.goo.ne.jp/jg2tkh/e/b4e04c4da1f141c66f48b3bd5142c733
>>>>>
>>>>> I will try my best to summarize:
>>>>>
>>>>> - Orkney is a long-time contributor and sponsor for FOSS4G
>>>>> projects - Mori-san is concerned that only his company is willing
>>>>> to contribute to OpenLayers3 ("OL3") development in Japan, even
>>>>> though many organizations will use OL3 - a large federal org
>>>>> (Geospatial Information Authority, GSI, of
>>>> Japan)
>>>>> uses OpenLayers2 , but is so far not committed to helping OL3
>>>> development
>>>>> - Hayashi-san thinks sharing examples of other
>>>> organizations/governments
>>>>> who support FOSS4G/OSGeo Projects will help OSGeo-JP attract
>>>>> contributions from local orgs like GSI
>>>>>
>>>>> Do we have such a page to point to?  (yes this is a marketing
>>>>> issue) e.g. case studies of organizations helping OSGeo Projects
>>>>> grow
>>>>>
>>>>> (note that this is needed on my own website, so I don't pretend
>>>>> to be the marketing expert, but I do realize it is SUPER
>>>>> important)
>>>>>
>>>>> Thoughts?
>>>>>
>>>>> -jeff
>>>>>
>>>>>
>>>>>
>>>>>
>>>>>
>>>>> _______________________________________________ Board mailing
>>>>> list Board at lists.osgeo.org <mailto:Board at lists.osgeo.org>
>>>>> http://lists.osgeo.org/mailman/listinfo/board
>>>> -- Yves Jacolin _______________________________________________
>>>> Board mailing list Board at lists.osgeo.org
>>>> <mailto:Board at lists.osgeo.org>
>>>> http://lists.osgeo.org/mailman/listinfo/board
>>>>
>>>>
>>>>
>>>>
>>>> -- ***Jo Cook* Astun Technology Ltd, The Coach House, 17 West
>>>> Street, Epsom, Surrey, KT18 7RL, UK t:+44 750 095 8167 iShare -
>>>> Data integration and publishing platform
>>>> <http://www.isharemaps.com/>
>>>>
>>>> *****************************************
>>>>
>>>> Company registration no. 5410695. Registered in England and Wales.
>>>> Registered office: 120 Manor Green Road, Epsom, Surrey, KT19 8LN
>>>> VAT no. 864201149.
>>>>
>>>>
>>>> _______________________________________________ Board mailing list
>>>> Board at lists.osgeo.org
>>>> http://lists.osgeo.org/mailman/listinfo/board
>>>>
>>>
>>> - --
>>> Exploring Space, Time and Mind
>>> http://arnulf.us
>>> -----BEGIN PGP SIGNATURE-----
>>> Version: GnuPG v1.4.11 (GNU/Linux)
>>> Comment: Using GnuPG with Mozilla - http://www.enigmail.net/
>>>
>>> iEYEARECAAYFAlDlzIQACgkQXmFKW+BJ1b2ASQCeM/fHbRawf2pQ+uVAgUpeG+qE
>>> +mAAn1KyzGTleGtVeQ/5dNvIT5VyqOYa
>>> =Fli0
>>> -----END PGP SIGNATURE-----
>>>
>>> --
>>>
>>>
>>
>>
>> --
>> Political blog: http://cedricmoullet.blogspot.com/
>> Welcome to my world: http://www.cedricmoullet.com/
>> My Linked In profile: http://www.linkedin.com/in/cedricmoullet
>> Twitter: http://twitter.com/cedricmoullet
>> Home sweet home: http://map.geo.admin.ch/?crosshair=bowl&zoom=11&X=185241.24219&Y=561288.90625&bgOpacity=0&selectedNode=node_ch.swisstopo.fixpunkte-lage1
>
>
>
> --
> Political blog: http://cedricmoullet.blogspot.com/
> Welcome to my world: http://www.cedricmoullet.com/
> My Linked In profile: http://www.linkedin.com/in/cedricmoullet
> Twitter: http://twitter.com/cedricmoullet
> Home sweet home:
> http://map.geo.admin.ch/?crosshair=bowl&zoom=11&X=185241.24219&Y=561288.90625&bgOpacity=0&selectedNode=node_ch.swisstopo.fixpunkte-lage1
>
>
> --
> ---------------------------------------+--------------------------------------
> 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    | Geospatial Software Developer
> _______________________________________________
> Board mailing list
> Board at lists.osgeo.org
> http://lists.osgeo.org/mailman/listinfo/board

-- 
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Geospatial Solutions Manager
Tel: +61 (0)2 8570 5050
Mob: +61 (0)419 142 254

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