[Board] Recognizing monetary contributions by Local Chapters

Tue Dec 15 18:02:51 PST 2015

I am all for giving thanks - could we make a new category for this one to
avoid making sponsorship more complicated?

Remember the original goal here is to recognize more organizations and
ongoing commitment. This is getting a bit lost by considering the role
events play in raising funds.
On Tue, Dec 15, 2015 at 5:56 PM Sanghee Shin <shshin at gaia3d.com> wrote:

> Hi all,
>
> It’s very interesting to see that recognising local chapters efforts that
> run past FOSS4Gs can be seen as taxation. I just thought of Venka’s idea as
> giving Medal of Honour to local chapters that run past FOSS4Gs for their
> contribution and efforts. Taxes are imposed to everyone/every organisations
> not selected ones. It’s just about whether OSGeo will give Medal of Honour
> to local chapters that run **PAST** FOSS4Gs for their great contribution
> and efforts. Money itself is not so important issue, I think.
>
> And we should admit that main revenue source for running OSGeo are/were
> profit shares from global FOSS4Gs. So listing the local chapters that run
> past FOSS4Gs as lifetime silver level are so absurd.
>
> Anyway I feel that Venka’s suggestion should be changed to “Recognising
> FOSS4G LOC’s contribution by listing them as lifetime silver level
> sponsors.” to avoid confusions around **money** itself.
>
> Personally to say, not as past FOSS4G Seoul conference chair, I don’t care
> much about whether Korean chapter should be listed as lifetime sponsors or
> not. However if OSGeo Foundation recognise local chapter/LOC’s efforts for
> the FOSS4G organising, somebody might be pleased or happy about that, at
> least in Korea where recognising is important part of culture.
>
> Kind regards,
>
> 신상희
> ---
> Shin, Sanghee
> Gaia3D, Inc. - The GeoSpatial Company
> http://www.gaia3d.com
>
> 2015. 12. 15., 오후 6:41, Cameron Shorter <cameron.shorter at gmail.com> 작성:
>
>
> Hi all,
> A few points on this thread:
> * Yes, it is important to recognise local chapters. We can do this by
> listing local chapters, potentially including descriptions about what they
> do.
>
> * But do we want to be encouraging local chapters to raise money for the
> global OSGeo? I don't think so. Giving one local chapter greater
> recognition because they earn money for the global organisation implies we
> are incentivizing local chapters to make money for the global OSGeo. (Mike
> called it taxing local communities). I postulate that asking open source
> developers to raise money is a quick way to turn away our core community.
>
> * Following on from Jody's observations that sponsors often sponsor their
> local chapters, this aligns with my observations that Open Source favours
> local business models - where services around
> installing/integrating/supporting open source are done locally with a
> personal touch. As such, it makes sense to help businesses sponsor locally,
> and allow sponsors to direct their sponsorship to be applied locally.
> To achieve this, OSGeo global could offer to collate sponsor lists from
> local chapters into a global list.
> Or alternatively, OSGeo global could collect sponsorship and allow the
> sponsor to direct that it be allocated locally. (This could be used for
> local chapters which haven't legally incorporated).
>
> Listing local sponsors in a global page would address two things:
> * Increase exposure of sponsor - leading to greater local chapter
> sponsorship
> * Increase OSGeo's list of sponsors, which shows a healthy community of
> sponsors (as identified as a goal by Venka)
>
> Warm regards, Cameron
>
> On 15/12/2015 12:09 pm, Venkatesh Raghavan wrote:
>
> On 12/14/2015 5:53 PM, Massimiliano Cannata wrote:
>
> I don't have clear idea on this and I feel I need more discussion and
> toughs.
>
> a spur of the moment comment:
> - I like the option to recognize particularly active local chapter (but not
> limiting it to monetary contribution)
>
> Yes, not limiting to monetary contribution. I mentioned monetary
> contribution because
> OSGeo Sponsorship entails monetary contribution [1] and some Local
> Chapters, apart
> from their very active role in promoting/strengthening OSGeo Global
> Foundation, have
> also made a sizable monetary contribution.
>
> Since these chapters fulfill the sponsorship criteria, there could be some
> "official"
> recognition thereof.
>
> - I don't like the idea of funding local chapter without a specific "goal"
> or "mission" (then a specific request to the board)
>
> +1 to that. In the earlier case above, the "goal/mission" was the
> successful
> conduct of the OSGeo hosted FOSS4G Global Conference.
>
> Anyway, this topic could be discussed further at the f2f in Jan. 2016, I
> think.
>
> Best
> Venka
>
> [1] http://www.osgeo.org/sponsorship
>
>
> Maxi
>
> 2015-12-14 9:17 GMT+01:00 Jody Garnett <jody.garnett at gmail.com> <jody.garnett at gmail.com>:
>
>
> Let add them to an amazing page for local chapters!
>
> (See goal of involving external organizations with OSGeo - sponsorship is
> just one idea)
>
> --
> Jody Garnett
>
> On 14 December 2015 at 00:14, Sanghee Shin <shshin at gaia3d.com> <shshin at gaia3d.com> wrote:
>
>
> 2015. 12. 14., 오후 5:03, Jody Garnett <jody.garnett at gmail.com> <jody.garnett at gmail.com> 작성:
>
>
> I would hate to have any organizing committee feel bad if their
> conference did not return a profit - the primary goal of FOSS4g is outreach
> rather than fundraising.
>
>
> Great point Jody!!
>
> However we can add local chapters which run previous FOSS4G to the
> lifetime sponsors list, not because of their monetary contribution to OSGeo
> but because of their volunteering great work!
>
>
> To make this very real, recognizing the Korean local chapter with
> "lifetime silver sponsorship" based on FOSS4G profit would do a bit of
> injustice in skipping over acknowledging organizations that sponsored the
> event directly, or I suppose those who paid conference fees to attend. Such
> events are on a different scale then sponsorship, and would be discouraging
> for a small consulting shop (like how2map.com) that could never register
> against the dollar amounts involved.
>
> Still I suspect that Venka's would like to provide greater recognition to
> Korea and others that have done such amazing work. Perhaps after revamping
> our sponsors page we could work onhttp://www.osgeo.org/content/chapters/index.html to better showcase
> local chapters (think logos, events, accomplishments) to better illustrate
> participation in our diverse community.
>
> I know Cameron has often asked me (whenever we have an email thread about
> sponsorship) what kind of foundation we are expecting to build. I would
> like to remain focused on our low cost organization structure, but be in
> position to use any resources made available to us as a multiplier on our
> volunteer labour.
> --
> Jody
>
> On 13 December 2015 at 21:24, Sanghee Shin <shshin at gaia3d.com> <shshin at gaia3d.com> wrote:
>
>
> Hi all,
>
> I think both Venka’s & Jody’s idea make sense. Venka’s idea could give
> OSGeo Foundation another opportunity to acknowledge and honour local
> chapter for its efforts and contribution for the FOSS4G officially.
>
> Kind regards,
>
> 신상희
> ---
> Shin, Sanghee
> Gaia3D, Inc. - The GeoSpatial Companyhttp://www.gaia3d.com
>
> 2015. 12. 14., 오전 8:30, Venkatesh Raghavan <
>
> raghavan at media.osaka-cu.ac.jp> 작성:
>
> My  suggestion is not about sponsoring local chapters (they can
> find their own sponsors).
>
> The suggestions was about OSGeo Foundation recognizing of some
> Local Chapters as sponsors of the OSGeo (global) Foundation.
>
> By "some" chapters, I mean the chapters that are "official" and that
>
> have made
>
> monetary contribution to the OSGeo Foundation (just as
> the Koeran Local Chapter recently did as well as other
> Local Chapters did before through contribution of profits
> from the FOSS4G (Global) conferences).
>
> Venka
>
> On 2015/12/14 7:28, Michael Smith wrote:
>
> I like this approach a lot more personally. I think we should do all
>
> that we can to support local chapters.
>
> As for the finance part, we have no financial connection to local
>
> chapters. We don't manage any finances except for the main foundation.
>
>
> Michael Smith
>
>
>
> On Dec 13, 2015, at 5:15 PM, Jody Garnett <jody.garnett at gmail.com> <jody.garnett at gmail.com>
>
> wrote:
>
> I like the way you are thinking - thank you for starting the
>
> discussion.I have an alternate suggestion...
>
> I would not mind flipping this the other direction, if you check our
>
> updated how to sponsor OSGeo page, you can see incentives for prior
> sponsors and sporing OSGeo events. If we want we can add "sponsoring local
> chapters" to the list.
>
> Where does this ideas come from? One item of feedback I got when
>
> reaching out to sponsors was that they were already sponsoring local
> chapters and it would be nice if this could also be recognized as
> contributing to OSGeo.
>
> Before everyone agrees this makes sense / is obvious / etc... there
>
> is a reason why I was shaky in answering. Although sponsoring a local
> chapter is in keeping with our mandate - it does not interact directly with
> the Foundation's back account the same way sponsoring a local/global event
> does.
>
> As such it is a matter to discuss on the board list here... and
>
> perhaps ask our treasure how finances for local chapters are managed?
>
> So the alternate suggestion is to highlight local chapters as a
>
> prime example of *participation*, and set up policies so that sponsors are
> recognized for engaging with local chapters. Note this policy change steers
> OSGeo in a more decentralized, and should be considered a strategic
> direction by the board - rather than just in isolation.
>
> (As a board member I like this strategy, but would like to see
>
> consensus before pursuing it. I also want to recognize the caution Micheal
> Smith expressed in the IRC meeting)
>
> --
> Jody
>
>
> On Sat, Dec 12, 2015 at 5:42 PM Venkatesh Raghavan <
>
> raghavan at media.osaka-cu.ac.jp> wrote:
>
> Dear All,
>
> I brought up the topic of *requesting* Sponsorship from "official"
>
> Local
>
> Chapters at the last Board meeting. While it may be difficult to
>
> make such
>
> sponsorship mandatory, it would be good to recognize monetary
>
> sponsorship
>
> for Local Chapters as equivalent to sponsoring OSGeo foundation at
> appropriate
> level.
>
> I would like to propose that the recent contribution (profits for
>
> FOSS4G
>
> 2015)
> by the Korean Local Chapter be recognized as equivalent to life time
> sponsorship
> at Silver Leval [1]. Earlier contributions of other local chapters
>
> (e.g
>
> PDX etc.) could
> be similarly recognized.
>
> Doing so could serve two purposes. Firstly, we will see the
>
> sponsorship
>
> page more
> densely populated. Secondly, it may prompt other local chapters to
>
> make
>
> voluntary
> contributions to keep our Foundation running.
>
> Best
>
> Venka
>
>
>
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> 신상희
> ---
> Shin, Sanghee
> Gaia3D, Inc. - The GeoSpatial Companyhttp://www.gaia3d.com
>
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> --
> Cameron Shorter,
> Software and Data Solutions Manager
> LISAsoft
> Suite 112, Jones Bay Wharf,
> 26 - 32 Pirrama Rd, Pyrmont NSW 2009
>
> P +61 2 9009 5000,  W www.lisasoft.com,  F +61 2 9009 5099
>
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-- 
--
Jody Garnett
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