[Board] Financial limit on advances and guarantees to FOSS4Gs

[Steven Feldman]

Board

You are aware that Till has requested an advance and a guarantee for FOSS4G 2016 to protect the LOC and the German Chapter from liabilities (apologies if my very short summary is inaccurate).

The Conference Committee are trying to draft a standard process for financial support to FOSS4G events, a straw man will be available on the wiki shortly. Regardless of the detail of that process there will be a need for the OSGeo Board, presumably via the Treasurer, to set a financial limit on the reserves available to support advances and guarantees. Could the Board schedule a discussion at their next meeting to consider what % of their funds they are willing to set aside to fund FOSS4G events. Given that we will be making commitments to the 2016 event before we know the financial outcome of the 2015 event (etc etc) prudence would suggest reserves might need to cover 2 years advances and guarantees. If events are successful and remit a significant proportion of their surplus back to OSGeo, the proportion of reserves needed for advances and guarantees should decline over time.


Cheers
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Steven