[Board] Funding for OSGeo President to attend global FOSS4G

[Anne Ghisla]

On Wed, 31 Jul 2013 13:06:20 -0300
Jeff McKenna <jmckenna at gatewaygeomatics.com> wrote:

> Still awaiting responses on this from Mark and Anne.

Uh, sorry Jeff for delay!

I'm +1 to funding OSGeo President's travel to FOSS4G, as proposed by
Peter.

The observations that you all made are relevant, and deserve to be
written in a part of our wiki that I am presently unable to find.

Best!
Anne

> -jeff
> 
> 
> 
> 
> On 2013-07-14 4:55 PM, Peter Batty wrote:
> > Dear Board,
> > 
> > I (and the Nottingham LOC) just recently found out that Jeff was not
> > going to be able to make it to FOSS4G Nottingham because of lack of
> > funding. Steven and the LOC would really like to have Jeff there,
> > and I would too. While I support the growth of regional events, I
> > think there's something special about the global event and I think
> > it's important for OSGeo that our President is there. 
> > 
> > We have talked to Jeff and he has indicated that he will be able to
> > attend if his expenses are covered. The LOC has budget for funding
> > keynote speakers as needed, and could just go ahead and fund Jeff's
> > attendance from that, which is a fallback option.
> > 
> > However, I'm raising this with the board as I think we should
> > establish a principle that OSGeo should pay the President's
> > expenses to go to the annual global conference every year (unless
> > he or she is in a position to fund travel by other means). I think
> > this is a very reasonable thing to do - like I said, I really think
> > it's important for the Foundation that the President should be
> > there each year. But it's not reasonable to expect whoever is
> > President to fund that from their own pocket. I was opposed to
> > automatically funding the whole board to go, just because that
> > becomes a significantly larger expense for OSGeo and quite a number
> > of board members, myself included, work for larger companies who
> > are willing to fund them to attend. And while it's good to have a
> > reasonable number of board members there, I don't think it's
> > critical to the event to have all board members in attendance. But
> > I do think it's really important for the President to be there.
> > 
> > Financially of course, it would ultimately amount to the same thing
> > for OSGeo whether the LOC just approves the expense or whether the
> > board approves this. But I think we should agree to do it on an
> > ongoing basis.
> > 
> > Procedurally I don't know if I should propose this as a motion at
> > the next board meeting, or whether we can just have a vote via
> > email. Just in case, I propose a tentative motion:
> > 
> > OSGeo will refund reasonable travel and living expenses for the
> > OSGeo President to attend the global FOSS4G conference each year.
> > The President has the option of declining this funding if he or she
> > can obtain funding from another source.
> > 
> > Please let me know what you think.
> > 
> > Cheers,
> >     Peter.
> > 
> > 
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