[Board] meeting prep thread, OSGeo sponsorship and 2018 opportunities

Thu Nov 9 14:34:09 PST 2017

You are correct OSGeo does not manage regional events:

- The cross listing of sponsors and so on is a policy we are doing at OSGeo
to promote sponsor participation in regional events (and sponsors have to
approach us to be cross listed - idea is to treat it as extra value rather
than competition).
- We are trying to set up a travel fund to help regional events, although
it did not take off in 2017.

On Thu, Nov 9, 2017 at 12:33 PM Massimiliano Cannata <
massimiliano.cannata at supsi.ch> wrote:

> Nevertheless, continental and national "foss4g" are not managed by OSGeo
> so I see very difficult to impose "OSGeo sponsors" also there...
> Am I wrong?
>
> Maxi
>
> Il 09 nov 2017 4:42 PM, "Jody Garnett" <jody.garnett at gmail.com> ha
> scritto:
>
> Till we have tried to set it up so there is no conflict, but we need
> foss4g organizers to understand this.
>
> A sponsors $20k sponsorship of foss4g (or any other osgeo event) directly
> applies to their total osgeo sponsosrship. We are not competing for the
> same sponsors, we are trying to give foss4g sponsors an oppertunity to be
> cross-listed. We have left it up to them to ask (for example CARTO is a
> foss4g sponsors who sent an email and was listed on our sponsors page).
>
> --
> Jody Garnett
>
> On 8 November 2017 at 23:36, Till Adams <till.adams at fossgis.de> wrote:
>
>> Dear board,
>>
>> I know that there have been some discussions around this already, but
>> perhaps it's time to think about how to get OSgeo sponsorship and FOSS4G
>> sponsorship under one umbrella?
>>
>> If two independent "groups" request the same potential group of sponsors,
>> this may lead to confusion.
>>
>> My ideas go in this direction: If you sponsor OSGeo (FOSS4G) at a certain
>> level (or with a certain additional charge) you are automaticaly named as
>> sponsor of FOSS4G (OSGeo).
>>
>> In the end the money goes in the same pocket.
>>
>> Just a quick thought, that perhaps is worth to thin about.
>>
>> Till
>>
>> Am 09.11.2017 um 07:18 schrieb Jody Garnett:
>>
>> Jeff you helped set up this current approach
>> <https://wiki.osgeo.org/wiki/2015_Sponsorship_Drive_Working_Group> in
>> 2015, and you make it out to a lot of events, do you have any suggestions
>> for improvement?
>>
>> On Tue, Nov 7, 2017 at 10:11 AM Jody Garnett <jody.garnett at gmail.com>
>> wrote:
>>
>>> Although we did not get to it last meeting, it is on the agenda for next
>>> time - here is the osgeo sponsorship page for 2017:
>>> http://www.osgeo.org/sponsorship
>>>
>>> In addition to raising money the sponsorship program has a secondary
>>> goal of encouraging sponsors to support our projects, local chapters and
>>> events. This helps recognize organizations that consistently support OSGeo
>>> (rather than focus on big sponsors that put all their effort behind one
>>> event). This has a couple of benefits: it allows sponsors some choice in
>>> directing their funds to OSGeo activities they believe in. It also allows
>>> committees, local chapters and projects to raise funds without being in
>>> conflict with the OSGeo foundation. I think this approach is brilliant and
>>> should continue and be promoted.
>>>
>>> The page lists "Sponsorship Opportunities for 2017", if you hear of
>>> anything from our projects or committees we can make a similar section for
>>> 2018. We had some hits (events, travel grant, website reboot, sprints) and
>>> some misses (UN Hackathon).
>>>
>>> How to sponsors (talk to treasurer or use paypal with a note) is working
>>> well.
>>>
>>> The "sponsorship levels" are only working okay, we made a very cheap
>>> sponsorship level at $500 USD ... and my small consulting shop how2map was
>>> the only organization to make use of it. Indeed we had groups from outside
>>> our industry use the low sponsorship level to optimize search results -
>>> something the board put a stop to in 2017.  I would like to give this low
>>> sponsorship level another try, especially since the new website can provide
>>> additional visibility to these organizations; but I would also understand
>>> if we drop it from lack of use/interest.
>>>
>>> I have gotten private feedback, especially after the foss4g sponsorship
>>> levels were published that OSGeo should raise our rates. I am not so sure
>>> (in part because the feedback is private), in part because we are a world
>>> wide organization and comparisons to us and eu organizations are not
>>> appropriate. Mostly I think there is no need to be greedy - our goal is as
>>> much to promote these sponsors and build community as it is to raise funds.
>>>
>>> We have two discounts available (25% for prior sponsors, 25% for Low or
>>> Lower-Middle Income Economies). These discounts are being effective with
>>> prior sponsors, offering getting them just close enough to the next level
>>> that they provide additional funds. Kind of like we planned. The
>>> low-to-lower-middle-income discount is not really being used; I expect we
>>> need to provide more value - or better advertise that local event
>>> sponsorship counts towards foundation sponsorship.
>>>
>>> The "sponsorship benefits" have been passed to us from previous boards,
>>> and we struggled to understand two of them that required direct management
>>> from the board - indeed they were difficult and time consuming to implement:
>>>
>>> *Invitation to Sponsor Information Exchange Event with Board of
>>> Directors following annual OSGeo International Conference *- we turned
>>> this into a sponsorship breakfast with Maria doing the organizing. This was
>>> successful in giving us a chance to meet meet with sponsors and partners. I
>>> think this was really important to see what organizations are working with
>>> us face to face. Sadly the time allowed barely got us passed introductions
>>> - resulting in a breakout meeting and other follow up activities.
>>>
>>> *Invitation to Sponsor Networking Event with OSGeo Board of Directors
>>> and other invited guests following annual OSGeo International Conference. *This
>>> was intended to be a chance to thank partners and sponsors in public,
>>> although the foss4g organizers set us up a stage during the conference
>>> networking event our board members were not in position act. The
>>> opportunity to network and build connections/collaborations/contacts
>>> was a consistent request during the subsequent breakfast meeting - so we
>>> missed an opportunity here.
>>>
>>> *Joint Press Release with OSGeo to announce Sponsorship. *These are a
>>> bit of a bother to do, generally as a shared google document and then
>>> coordinate timing with the sponsors. Not all sponsors (example CARTO) went
>>> ahead with a press release. We also tend to just make a blog post, rather
>>> than issue a press release to news organizations. This is something we
>>> could coordinate (with marketing?) to provide better value to our sponsors
>>> and partners. We may consider bumping the press release up from silver to
>>> gold.
>>>
>>> *Organization name listed in "about osgeo" section of foundation press
>>> releases. *We are doing this, no feedback so far.
>>>
>>> *First Sponsorship Selection for the **Annual OSGeo International
>>> Conference. *This is interesting as we have not always communicated
>>> this to our foss4g organizers, we should confirm with the conference
>>> committee that this benefit is possible before offering it in 2018.
>>>
>>> *Key OSGeo marketing materials feature your organization's logo, At
>>> promotion events, your organization's logo is displayed as part of the
>>> OSGeo Booth - *We are doing this with the marketing committee, no
>>> issues so far. For our usual sponsors they often have their own booth and
>>> do not make use of this perk. Unclear if this applies to local chapters
>>> running a booth?
>>>
>>> *Full-page Promotional Space on a personalized OSGeo Sponsor Page,
>>> Promotional Space on an OSGeo Platinum Sponsor Page - *Our website
>>> design does not work like this, but it could?
>>>
>>> *Right to use OSGeo Sponsor logo and promote named sponsorship level *We
>>> have new logos to roll out to sponsors.
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>> --
>>> Jody Garnett
>>>
>>
>>
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