From gcpp.kalxas at gmail.com Mon Mar 10 06:27:05 2025 From: gcpp.kalxas at gmail.com (Angelos Tzotsos) Date: Mon, 10 Mar 2025 15:27:05 +0200 Subject: [Board] Board meeting 2025-02-25 In-Reply-To: <6a0090b0-81f2-4030-b17b-fcfd3be3ecce@gmail.com> References: <6a0090b0-81f2-4030-b17b-fcfd3be3ecce@gmail.com> Message-ID: <44b10f61-24db-46fa-8602-8c7a64cabb2d@gmail.com> Hi all, Meeting minutes are now available. Best, Angelos On 2/6/25 11:52, Angelos Tzotsos wrote: > Hi all, > > This is the next meeting agenda, please add your topics: > https://wiki.osgeo.org/wiki/Board_Meeting_2025-02-25 > > Best, > Angelos > -- Angelos Tzotsos, PhD President, Board of Directors Open Source Geospatial Foundation https://www.osgeo.org/member/angelos-tzotsos/ From gcpp.kalxas at gmail.com Mon Mar 10 06:27:56 2025 From: gcpp.kalxas at gmail.com (Angelos Tzotsos) Date: Mon, 10 Mar 2025 15:27:56 +0200 Subject: [Board] Board meeting 2025-03-25 Message-ID: Hi all, This is the next meeting agenda, please add your topics: https://wiki.osgeo.org/wiki/Board_Meeting_2025-03-25 Best, Angelos -- Angelos Tzotsos, PhD President, Board of Directors Open Source Geospatial Foundation https://www.osgeo.org/member/angelos-tzotsos/ From gcpp.kalxas at gmail.com Mon Mar 10 06:33:55 2025 From: gcpp.kalxas at gmail.com (Angelos Tzotsos) Date: Mon, 10 Mar 2025 15:33:55 +0200 Subject: [Board] [OSGeo-Discuss] OSGeo finances Message-ID: <06beff48-160a-4b2a-9d9f-59b716c8213f@gmail.com> Dear OSGeo community, In February 2026, OSGeo will celebrate its 20 year anniversary. In these two decades it has seen incredible growth, from the number of incubated projects, to the proliferation of Local Chapters, to the number FOSS4G conferences around the world, as well as the constant increase in the number of participants to these conferences. Without a doubt, the community has significantly expanded and, in many aspects, it has become successful. However, the current situations brings compelling challenges that the Foundation must address, one of which is clearly the financial aspect. The 2025 budget has been discussed and was recently approved (https://wiki.osgeo.org/wiki/OSGeo_Budget_2025 / https://www.loomio.com/d/W2qoQdbB/osgeo-budget-2025/1) and it brought important cuts almost everywhere. To SAC, to OSGeo projects, to the marketing committee and others. Furthermore, it is not the first year that the requested amounts could only be partially approved, delayed or even denied and every time, the decisions were not easily taken. Thus, it is safe and sad to say that today, the OSGeo Foundation is under-funded and without fundamental changes, the risk of collapse due to its own success is real. It has become more obvious after the COVID pandemic: the combination of almost complete dependency on the financial success of the yearly global conference, coupled with the lack of structure and agreements between the OSGeo Foundation, Local Chapters and local and regional FOSS4G conferences is having dangerous consequences on the budget. Even more, given that the Foundation relies solely on volunteers (except for a very limited amount of consulting fees for SAC) and that it has no professional staff, is a significant hindrance when it comes to attracting and retaining sponsors. We want to assure the community that addressing this situation is a top priority for the OSGeo board and we have started to work on drafting potential changes on the current structure, financial setup and status that would curve the current trajectory and would allow the Foundation to serve its community on the long run. In the near future, the board is planning a dedicated meeting for which your participation, as well as your suggestions are more than welcomed. On behalf of the OSGeo Board, Angelos -- Angelos Tzotsos, PhD President, Board of Directors Open Source Geospatial Foundation https://www.osgeo.org/member/angelos-tzotsos/ From gcpp.kalxas at gmail.com Mon Mar 10 06:35:49 2025 From: gcpp.kalxas at gmail.com (Angelos Tzotsos) Date: Mon, 10 Mar 2025 15:35:49 +0200 Subject: [Board] Two questions from the FOSS4G Auckland LOC In-Reply-To: References: Message-ID: Dear Alex, Shall we arrange a dedicated meeting time for the FOSS4G update? Best regards, Angelos On 2/6/25 01:40, Alex Leith wrote: > Apologies, but that meeting time was early in the morning for us and we > couldn't make it. > > How did we go with the funding request for travel grants? I can't see > minutes on the wiki yet. > > On Fri, 24 Jan 2025 at 21:47, Angelos Tzotsos wrote: > >> Dear Alex, >> >> We have added your request to the next meeting agenda. >> https://wiki.osgeo.org/wiki/Board_Meeting_2025-01-28 >> Please join us if you are available, or we can set another meeting if >> needed. >> >> Regarding your budget issue, it is also to be discussed during the same >> meeting, the overall budget has not yet been approved. >> >> Best, >> Angelos >> >> On 1/23/25 10:11, Alex Leith via Board wrote: >>> Hey OSGeo Board >>> >>> We requested travel grant support, and I think it was to be discussed >> last >>> week. Can we please get an update on this? >>> >>> Additionally, we?d like to meet with representatives of the Board to >>> discuss the relationship between the committee and the OSGeo Foundation, >>> especially with respect to decision making and visibility. >>> >>> Can you please respond regarding these two items? >>> >>> Kind regards, >>> >>> *Alex Leith* >>> m: +61 419 189 050 >>> https://auspatious.com >>> >>> >>> _______________________________________________ >>> Board mailing list >>> Board at lists.osgeo.org >>> https://lists.osgeo.org/mailman/listinfo/board >> >> -- >> Angelos Tzotsos, PhD >> President, Board of Directors >> Open Source Geospatial Foundation >> https://www.osgeo.org/member/angelos-tzotsos/ >> >> -- Angelos Tzotsos, PhD President, Board of Directors Open Source Geospatial Foundation https://www.osgeo.org/member/angelos-tzotsos/ From gcpp.kalxas at gmail.com Mon Mar 10 06:51:56 2025 From: gcpp.kalxas at gmail.com (Angelos Tzotsos) Date: Mon, 10 Mar 2025 15:51:56 +0200 Subject: [Board] Request for an event SOTM LATAM 2025 In-Reply-To: References: Message-ID: <3fa47b17-f848-4a79-88b1-fab2bab89d40@gmail.com> Dear Ariel, The board has decided to provide access to affiliated conferences, so yes, you can use Pretax. https://www.loomio.com/d/FVa0k3fx/approve-pretalx-use-for-small-and-affiliated-conferences/1 Best regards, Angelos On 2/22/25 18:36, Ariel Anthieni via Board wrote: > Dear all committee, > I hope this is very good, I am writing to ask for the possibility of using > the OSGeo Pretax for the SOTM LATAM 2025 event for the management of the > call for papers for the event. > I would be responsible for the event and setting it up together with the > academic committee, but I wanted to ask for authorization. > > Many thanks > > Best regards > > > ------ > Chair UN Committee OSGeo > President Geolibres Argentina > Member the UN-GGIM Geospatial Societies > > > _______________________________________________ > Board mailing list > Board at lists.osgeo.org > https://lists.osgeo.org/mailman/listinfo/board -- Angelos Tzotsos, PhD President, Board of Directors Open Source Geospatial Foundation https://www.osgeo.org/member/angelos-tzotsos/ From even.rouault at spatialys.com Mon Mar 10 08:40:00 2025 From: even.rouault at spatialys.com (Even Rouault) Date: Mon, 10 Mar 2025 16:40:00 +0100 Subject: [Board] [OSGeo-Discuss] OSGeo finances In-Reply-To: <06beff48-160a-4b2a-9d9f-59b716c8213f@gmail.com> References: <06beff48-160a-4b2a-9d9f-59b716c8213f@gmail.com> Message-ID: <14097b99-8eaa-4094-86e4-d4a12ebf768e@spatialys.com> Hi Angelos, thanks for the honest update on the situation. What is missing probably for community members to fully appreciate the situation is the income part of the budget (planned 2024, actual 2024, planned 2025). I can't find it in OSGeo_Budget_2025) Even Le 10/03/2025 ? 14:33, Angelos Tzotsos via Discuss a ?crit?: > Dear OSGeo community, > > In February 2026, OSGeo will celebrate its 20 year anniversary. In > these two decades it has seen incredible growth, from the number of > incubated projects, to the proliferation of Local Chapters, to the > number FOSS4G conferences around the world, as well as the constant > increase in the number of participants to these conferences. Without a > doubt, the community has significantly expanded and, in many aspects, > it has become successful. However, the current situations brings > compelling challenges that the Foundation must address, one of which > is clearly the financial aspect. > > The 2025 budget has been discussed and was recently approved > (https://wiki.osgeo.org/wiki/OSGeo_Budget_2025 / > https://www.loomio.com/d/W2qoQdbB/osgeo-budget-2025/1) and it brought > important cuts almost everywhere. To SAC, to OSGeo projects, to the > marketing committee and others. Furthermore, it is not the first year > that the requested amounts could only be partially approved, delayed > or even denied and every time, the decisions were not easily taken. > Thus, it is safe and sad to say that today, the OSGeo Foundation is > under-funded and without fundamental changes, the risk of collapse due > to its own success is real. > > It has become more obvious after the COVID pandemic: the combination > of almost complete dependency on the financial success of the yearly > global conference, coupled with the lack of structure and agreements > between the OSGeo Foundation, Local Chapters and local and regional > FOSS4G conferences is having dangerous consequences on the budget. > Even more, given that the Foundation relies solely on volunteers > (except for a very limited amount of consulting fees for SAC) and that > it has no professional staff, is a significant hindrance when it comes > to attracting and retaining sponsors. > > We want to assure the community that addressing this situation is a > top priority for the OSGeo board and we have started to work on > drafting potential changes on the current structure, financial setup > and status that would curve the current trajectory and would allow the > Foundation to serve its community on the long run. In the near future, > the board is planning a dedicated meeting for which your > participation, as well as your suggestions are more than welcomed. > > On behalf of the OSGeo Board, > Angelos > -- http://www.spatialys.com My software is free, but my time generally not.