[Board] new Sponsors page draft
Jeff McKenna
jmckenna at gatewaygeomatics.com
Fri Oct 16 11:43:13 PDT 2015
Thanks Jody. It's also a good time to review the actual sponsorship
packages for each level (what sponsors actually get in return). I am
referring to the "Sponsorship Benefits" listed on the bottom of
http://www.osgeo.org/sponsorship Venka and I had a good long chat on
that today. One which we think is missing in our levels is registration
passes for the annual FOSS4G (or discounts, depending on the level). We
also discussed other possible benefits:
- discounted booth at FOSS4G
- guaranteed workshop at FOSS4G
- short introduction slot at opening plenary of FOSS4G
- support for hosting demos on OSGeo infrastructure
- including logo in OSGeo-Live distributions
- direct contact with the OSGeo Board, including face-to-face meetings
I am sure we spoke of others, but this should help when you and Mike sit
down to discuss this.
-jeff
On 2015-10-16 3:26 PM, Jody Garnett wrote:
> Yep, this is a case of wait and then hurry up. I would like to take a
> moment with Mike Smith to adjust sponsorship levels (to encourage
> greater participation) before sending out invoices.
>
> Jody
>
> --
> Jody Garnett
>
> On 16 October 2015 at 07:14, Michael Smith <michael.smith.erdc at gmail.com
> <mailto:michael.smith.erdc at gmail.com>> wrote:
>
> I can certainly provide either you or Jody invoicing abilities (via
> quickbooks) (or both).
>
> I'm very pleased that Jody has offered to work on this and I can
> certainly
> work on this together with Jody (or you but I think you have too much on
> your plate already).
>
> Mike
>
> On 10/16/15, 10:03 AM, "Board on behalf of Jeff McKenna"
> <board-bounces at lists.osgeo.org
> <mailto:board-bounces at lists.osgeo.org> on behalf of
> jmckenna at gatewaygeomatics.com <mailto:jmckenna at gatewaygeomatics.com>>
> wrote:
>
> >Hi Daniel,
> >
> >The board did have a good discussion on this yesterday. It is indeed
> >unfortunate that OSGeo sponsors haven't been invoiced since 2012,
> but I
> >feel it is good to be open with this now and keep an uptodate
> record of
> >this on the public page (note that if you check the logs of the
> meeting
> >this wasn't my idea at all, however I do agree with it). I can commit
> >my time to working with past sponsors as well as building new
> >relationships, and it is really great that Jody is championing this.
> >Can I and/or Jody be given powers to invoice? I would like to start
> >this today, no sense in waiting any more, especially as 2016 is
> >approaching.
> >
> >-jeff
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >On 2015-10-16 10:23 AM, Daniel Morissette wrote:
> >> Hi Board,
> >>
> >> I was surprised to read this morning that all sponsors had been
> removed
> >> right away with no effort to contact them. After all this has
> been on
> >> hold for about a year (since the IRS saga resolution), so there
> was no
> >> urgency to remove anyone from the website right away. It is our
> (OSGeo)
> >> problem if they were not invoiced, none of them are in fault for not
> >> paying their sponsorship invoice since they didn't receive one.
> >>
> >> I think it would have been polite to contact each sponsor and
> give them
> >> a few weeks to confirm their intention to stay or not before
> removing
> >> them from the page. My personal apologies to Jeroen/GeoCat and other
> >> past sponsors for not addressing this situation and following up
> with
> >> invoices last fall before leaving the treasurer seat.
> >>
> >> How about putting them all back online for now and removing only
> those
> >> who fail to confirm their intention to renew their sponsorship
> after a
> >> reasonable (few weeks) notice? Those who have already expressed
> their
> >> intention to NOT renew (I'm aware of at least one) should be removed
> >> right away of course.
> >>
> >> With respect to the situation of sponsors billing vs IRS, etc,
> the "free
> >> ride" mentioned in this thread was only discussed offlist as a
> potential
> >> solution and never formally approved, but the overall situation was
> >> mentioned publicly in my treasurer report last year at the AGM
> and on
> >> the mailing list here, so this is not news and the whole
> community was
> >> aware of it:
> >>
> >> https://lists.osgeo.org/pipermail/board/2014-September/012066.html
> >>
> >> """
> >> Short term actions:
> >> -------------------
> >>
> >> ...
> >>
> >> - Invoice sponsors for 2013-14. We have not invoiced sponsors
> while we
> >> were waiting on resolution of our non-profit status from IRS
> since it
> >> was not clear at the time if their contribution would be
> taxable, so I
> >> preferred to wait. Now that the non-profit status is confirmed
> it's time
> >> to get back on track with our sponsors.
> >> """
> >>
> >> All that being said, thanks a lot to the new board for grabbing
> the ball
> >> and addressing the sponsors situation, something that I/we
> should have
> >> done a year ago after the IRS situation got resolved.
> >>
> >>
> >> Daniel
> >>
> >>
> >> On 2015-10-16 8:47 AM, Jeff McKenna wrote:
> >>> Hi Jeroen,
> >>>
> >>> As Jody mentioned, I am sorry for this confusion. I will try to
> >>> summarize the situation here, and OSGeo treasurers can correct
> me, but
> >>>I
> >>> think it is important that we speak of this openly (I don't
> think this
> >>> has ever been publicly spoken of, since I've been on the board
> since
> >>> 2009).
> >>>
> >>> I believe OSGeo's long battle to resolve the non-profit tax status
> >>> (thank you Tyler and Daniel for resolving) affected our
> invoicing of
> >>> sponsors in 2013. We are now of course 501(c)(4) exempt, but
> that came
> >>> in late 2013, and even then I remember there were some
> complications
> >>>and
> >>> further steps needed to clear up.
> >>>
> >>> It was then decided that existing sponsors would not be
> invoiced for
> >>> 2013 to 2014 (a "free ride" so to speak). The same I believe
> happened
> >>> for 2014 (no new invoices were sent out to existing sponsors).
> >>>
> >>> So as far as I am aware, that brings us to 2015-2016.
> >>>
> >>> Yesterday during the OSGeo Board meeting, sponsors were discussed
> >>> (search for "sponsor" text in the logs at
> >>> http://irclogs.geoapt.com/osgeo/%23osgeo.2015-10-15.log) and
> the OSGeo
> >>> board decided to update the sponsors page listing the current
> sponsor
> >>> thinkWhere, and then list all past sponsors below that. Then, late
> >>>last
> >>> night I updated the sponsors page as we agreed in that meeting.
> >>>
> >>> I believe we/OSGeo must now contact all past sponsors and possibly
> >>> invoice. Thankfully Jody is interested in championing this and
> will
> >>> work with the current OSGeo treasurer Mike Smith.
> >>>
> >>> I hope this clarifies what has been happening through the
> years, and I
> >>> am sure others will speak up now and correct me where I made
> improper
> >>> assumptions, but it is good to speak about this publicly, and
> improve
> >>>on
> >>> it for 2015-2016.
> >>>
> >>> Jeroen I too don't like not seeing the GeoCat logo there.
> Maybe we can
> >>> fast-track all this and you can phone me today and we can work
> through
> >>> this together?
> >>>
> >>> -jeff
> >>>
> >>>
> >>>
> >>>
> >>>
> >>> On 2015-10-16 2:55 AM, Jeroen Ticheler wrote:
> >>>> Hi Jeff,
> >>>>
> >>>> I'm confused... GeoCat has always been a sponsor and to the
> best of my
> >>>> knowledge still is. If this is not the case according to OSGeo
> it is
> >>>> because no recurring invoice was send to us. We may not be the
> only
> >>>> sponsor dropping off the list if this is the case. Can you put
> GeoCat
> >>>> back on instead of on a list of previous sponsors? We've been
> sponsor
> >>>> since GeoCat was founded in 2007 and will likely continue to
> do so in
> >>>> the future.
> >>>>
> >>>> It would be nice to see a new plan where company size is taken
> into
> >>>> account indeed.
> >>>> Thanks,
> >>>> Jeroen
> >>>>
> >>>>
> >>>> GeoCat Bridge for ArcGIS allows instant publishing of data and
> >>>> metadata on GeoServer, MapServer, PostGIS and GeoNetwork. Visit
> >>>> http://geocat.net for details.
> >>>> _________________________
> >>>> Jeroen Ticheler
> >>>> GeoCat bv
> >>>> Veenderweg 13
> >>>> 6721 WD Bennekom
> >>>> Tel: +31 (0)6 81286572 <tel:%2B31%20%280%296%2081286572>
> >>>> http://geocat.net
> >>>>
> >>>>> Op 16 okt. 2015 om 01:43 heeft Jeff McKenna
> >>>>> <jmckenna at gatewaygeomatics.com
> <mailto:jmckenna at gatewaygeomatics.com>> het volgende geschreven:
> >>>>>
> >>>>> Hi Board, all,
> >>>>>
> >>>>> As discussed in today's Board meeting, I've updated the
> Sponsors page
> >>>>> to list our current sponsor (thinkWhere) and list all of the
> previous
> >>>>> sponsors: http://www.osgeo.org/content/sponsorship/sponsors.html
> >>>>>
> >>>>> This would have to be verified by the Treasurer. I tried
> very hard
> >>>>> to list all past OSGeo sponsors, I went through many old
> documents,
> >>>>> as far back as 2006. Please let me know if I made any mistakes.
> >>>>>
> >>>>> I'd like to thank Alan Moore of thinkWhere
> >>>>> (http://www.thinkwhere.com/) for their current sponsorship,
> and each
> >>>>> and every past sponsor of OSGeo:
> >>>>>
> >>>>> 1Spatial
> >>>>> 2ndQuadrant
> >>>>> ASTUN Technology
> >>>>> Autodesk
> >>>>> Boreal-Information Strategies (Borealis)
> >>>>> Camptocamp
> >>>>> First Base Solutions Inc.
> >>>>> GeoCat
> >>>>> INGRES
> >>>>> Institut Geographique National (IGN) France
> >>>>> Instituto Nacional de Pesquisas Espaciais (INPE) Brazil
> >>>>> Karttakeskus
> >>>>> LizardTech, A Celartem Company
> >>>>> Metaspatial
> >>>>> Ordnance Survey
> >>>>> PCI Geomatics
> >>>>> WhereGroup
> >>>>>
> >>>>> -jeff
> >>>>>
>
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