[OSGeo-Conf] FOSS4G Boston Travel Grants ~ IMPORTANT request

[Till Adams]

Hi Michael,

in Bonn we had the same issues. The end of the story was, that OSGeo
granted us for 10k US $, that we could use for travel grants, as we also
were unsure where we will come out at the end of the conference.

We restricted the grants to people from 3rd world countries due to world
banks country ranking. We had two kinds of grants:

1. "regular" attendees: We paid their ticket and accommodation, not the
travel (travel is difficult because of different routes, we were not
sure, whether people really attend, how to book for them or were anxious
transfering money in advance)

2. our student helpers, that also applied for the tg program. We paid
them 500 € on the conference as their conference ticket was free anyway
(50/50 deal of help/attendance) and their accommodation.


All together the budget fitted quite well, I am kind of unsure, I guess
we had between 8-12 people that applied. The application was by writing
a letter of intend "why do I want to attend on F4G?" in order to assure,
that people really wanted to come to this event.

In total we agreed in a selection process based on "points", so we gave
more points, the poorer the country of origin was rated (on the
wb-list), more points for presenters and so on, but in the end we could
accept everybody that applied in the program.

I see your sensitives, we had the same ;-) If that helps, I can support
you here with direct support, but would be glad if 2 or 3 other people
from ConfComm and/or board would also jump on the train. Afterwards this
group could share their experience and start the process of an generally
established tg program for F4G's.


Till

 



Am 03.05.2017 um 14:07 schrieb Michael Terner:
> As you all can see we've been very busy assembling our program (225
> accepted talks <http://2017.foss4g.org/accepted-presentations/>, out
> of 423 submitted) and rounding out the sponsorship for the conference
> (>$200k of commitments <http://2017.foss4g.org/sponsor/>). And now,
> with 2 weeks to go before the Early Bird expires, registration is
> starting to pickup with ~200 registrations processed.
>
> And, with registration on people's minds we have started to get the
> inevitable requests for financial support (e.g., and accepted speaker
> who's company cannot pay; graduate students looking for support; etc.)
> and we expect those requests to continue. The Boston LOC (BLOC) would
> dearly like to have a "Travel Grant Program", but as was pointed out
> in earlier threads (I believe by both Steven Feldman and Jody Garnett)
> it is difficult for the host LOC to run such a program. For instance:
>
>  1. We do not yet know our financial condition. With registrations
>     being notoriously late, we won't know if/how much $'s are
>     available for such a program for some time.
>  2. Administering such a program takes time, and our primary focus is
>     on producing the conference and the workshops.
>  3. Decisions on criteria for choosing recipients and the amount of
>     individual grants can be delicate and the criteria/objectives may
>     differ between the BLOC and OSGeo
>
> As such,*the BLOC would like to make a formal request that OSGeo
> establish and administer a travel grant program for the Boston 2017
> event*. We would gladly collaborate and help advertise the program
> (e.g., on our website and through referrals), but we would concur that
> this program should be established and funded by OSGeo. We have high
> hopes that the proceeds from Boston will reimburse OSGeo's investment
> in subsidizing attendance from certain communities. And, we too will
> be looking to offer other opportunities for financial support through
> our volunteer program, and potentially a "need-based" registration
> discount (if our Early Bird registrations give us increased confidence
> in our financial success).
>
> Thank you in advance for considering this request. Please let us know
> if you have any questions.
>
> Sincerely, MT & the BLOC
> -- 
> *Michael Terner*
> /Executive Vice President
> ​ & Chair FOSS4G Boston 2017​
> /
> Applied Geographics, Inc.
>
>
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