[Board] Motion to sponsor FOSS4G 2018 at the highest level

Fri Jun 22 21:53:57 PDT 2018

Hi all,

FOSS4G Global happening in Africa this year is a unique opportunity for us to do our best to reach out and empower the local students and communities there.

It is thanks to the work of OSGeo volunteers globally that we now are making geoeducation opportunities available for all. Students from economically poor backgrounds esp. in developing countries rarely get opportunities to attend important conferences like FOSS4G and learn the latest developments. So when we have an opportunity now with FOSS4G Global in Africa  and a great LOC Team willing to support the organising and expanding the successful Travel Grant Program,  I request the Board to kindly think of ways of how we can enable this .  It will be many of these students who will go on in future to expand OSGeo ideas in their countries. Africa will be one of the largest users and contributors of OSGeo in the near future and we need to take steps to make this happen.

I thank OSGeo volunteers and sponsors for making the Travel Grant Program possible. It is a great way for widening participation for economically poor students. OSGeo should be an inclusive and welcoming community for everyone.  It is not every year we get this opportunity to host FOSS4G Global in Africa, so please let us make this happen.

Best wishes,

Suchith

________________________________
From: Board <board-bounces at lists.osgeo.org> on behalf of Mark Iliffe <markiliffe at gmail.com>
Sent: 22 June 2018 19:53
To: Jody Garnett
Cc: osgeo-board List; alyssa wright
Subject: Re: [Board] Motion to sponsor FOSS4G 2018 at the highest level

Dear Board,

This is all very encouraging, as you progress with this motion, I'd like to reiterate our commitment to furthering the Travel Grant Program and the archiving of key talks at Dar's FOSS4G. We recognise that this is not free money and there are clear desires from the board and community for this. In effect, as a LOC, we are listening and ready to bear the responsibility.

I feel it's a moot point. Right now, we're focusing on bringing the OSGeo agenda to as wide an audience as possible. We've conducted one round of the Travel Grant Program (which has selected 55+ candidates) and we are in the stages of gearing up for a second round focused exclusively on female candidates from economically disadvantages situations. The more fuel we can add to this fire, the bigger it will grow!

Best,

Mark

On 22 June 2018 at 14:36, Jody Garnett <jody.garnett at gmail.com<mailto:jody.garnett at gmail.com>> wrote:
Yep, this is why I think keeping our sponsorship (it is fine to sponsor as that is the way to obtain a booth, yes I know we are hosting) and then adding to the TGP (which is something future boards can do if budget permits) is a good approach.

Jeff your loomio motion<https://www.loomio.org/p/DI8cUGku/motion-to-sponsor-foss4g-2018-at-the-highest-sponsorship-level-tanzanite-30-000usd-> was made on its own without a thread. I have started a thread<https://www.loomio.org/d/wdRXmuSL/increase-foss4g-2018-sponsorship-to-tanzanite-level> but I cannot figure out a way to link the two.
--
Jody Garnett

On Fri, 22 Jun 2018 at 11:23, Massimiliano Cannata <massimiliano.cannata at supsi.ch<mailto:massimiliano.cannata at supsi.ch>> wrote:
I agree,
no reason to be sponsor.
OSGeo is the host not the sponsor.
If the board decide to give that money just donate it, still this that is something different from the past I see need discussion at broader level (community) and not o my board to have consensus.

Every decision like this is putting a new case that others will have the right to ask for in the future.

My 0.2 cents

Maxi

Il ven 22 giu 2018, 19:38 Jody Garnett <jody.garnett at gmail.com<mailto:jody.garnett at gmail.com>> ha scritto:
To make this a reality, and indeed to follow up on our previous motion, here is where our budget sits:

https://wiki.osgeo.org/wiki/OSGeo_Budget_2018

* Admin: 3,000
* Travel: 15,000
* Partners and Sponsors: 2,000
* Code Sprints: 20,500

While I am not sure how much is left, I think we will need to adjust our plan for the remainder of the year. Previously the board had an "outreach" budget - this was moved out to committees (example conference committee, marketing committee) in 2017 and we have kept that plan for 2018.

Our initial goal in obtaining a gold sponsorship ($8,000) was to have an OSGeo booth, the absence of a local chapter the board is taking on this responsibility. We could of also asked the marketing committee to do so but we did not.

* Marketing: 21,500

I think we could ask the marketing committee if they are okay adjust the budget since we obtain a booth. One of the goals for such a large budget was to increase presence at parter events. DLOC is a good partner.

Other options:

a) TGP for regional events has not worked out, we could cancel it due to lack of volunteers and reallocate 10k. We have 3k from last year that could be added for 13k.

b) increase our partners and sponsors budget to cover the difference

Doing all these things would look like:

- 8k from marketing budget for booth, representing a gold sponsorship
- 13k from canceling regional TGP
- 9k from increasing board "partners and sponsors" budget to explicitly reach tansinite sponsorship goal

My reservation remains in effect, as host we have plenty of visibility and do not need to pay more to increase our visible presence at the event. This also puts us in competition with sponsors who are paying for visibility (and uneven competition since profits from foss4g are sometimes returned to OSGeo).

As such I would recommend we work with marketing committee on the booth presence, and ask the conference committee if they would be willing to cancel the regional TGP this year (if it is not being used by our regional events thus far it is probably not happening in 2018. This brings us to the "Diamond" level, and provides DLOC with the freedom to best decide how the additional finical support can be effective.

--
Jody Garnett

On Thu, 21 Jun 2018 at 06:31, Jeff McKenna <jmckenna at gatewaygeomatics.com<mailto:jmckenna at gatewaygeomatics.com>> wrote:
Hi Helena,

Yes this motion is to increase the sponsorship level to Tanzanite (the
highest level), in order to show our strong support for the Dar team,
and to promote OSGeo at its own event.  -jeff

On 2018-06-21 10:24 AM, Helena Mitasova wrote:
> Jeff, board members,
>
> does this motion mean that we should vote about upgrading our
> sponsorship from Platinum to Tanzanite or are we settled on the
> Platinum? I don't feel I have enough information about the current
> status of our contributions to FOSS4G 2018 and its relation
> to the annual and long term budget to vote.
>
> Thank you, Helena
>
> Helena Mitasova
> Professor, Department of Marine, Earth and Atmospheric Sciences
> Faculty Fellow, Center for Geospatial Analytics
> North Carolina State University
> Raleigh, NC 27695-8208
> http://www4.ncsu.edu/~hmitaso/
> http://geospatial.ncsu.edu/osgeorel/publications.html
>
> email: hmitaso at ncsu.edu<mailto:hmitaso at ncsu.edu> <mailto:hmitaso at ncsu.edu<mailto:hmitaso at ncsu.edu>>
> ph: 919-513-1327 (no voicemail)
> fax 919 515-7802
>
> On Wed, Jun 20, 2018 at 10:04 AM, Jeff McKenna
> <jmckenna at gatewaygeomatics.com<mailto:jmckenna at gatewaygeomatics.com> <mailto:jmckenna at gatewaygeomatics.com<mailto:jmckenna at gatewaygeomatics.com>>>
> wrote:
>
>     Dear fellow Board members,
>
>     I have started a vote on Loomio at:
>     https://www.loomio.org/p/DI8cUGku/motion-to-sponsor-foss4g-2018-at-the-highest-sponsorship-level-tanzanite-30-000usd-
>     <https://www.loomio.org/p/DI8cUGku/motion-to-sponsor-foss4g-2018-at-the-highest-sponsorship-level-tanzanite-30-000usd->
>
>     As described there, this motion is to increase OSGeo's sponsorship
>     of the FOSS4G 2018 event, to the highest level of sponsorship. The
>     funding can be used by the local committee at their discretion, and
>     ensures top visibility for OSGeo at its own conference.
>
>     FOSS4G 2018 is a unique situation, and I believe the OSGeo Board
>     must show its utmost support to the organizers.
>
>     I will start with my +1
>
>     Thanks,
>
>     -jeff
>
>
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