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

Till Adams till.adams at fossgis.de
Thu May 4 23:19:46 PDT 2017


Hi Jody,

I would propose to post this responsibility to the ConfCom. Some of the
past chairs already were involved in such kind of decisions.

Till


Am 04.05.2017 um 17:07 schrieb Jody Garnett:
> Thanks Till, can you dive into that draft document and come back here
> with feedback?
>
> One open question is who should take the responsibility for approving
> event applications. Should the board handle it like code sprints, is
> the conference committee interested in the responsibility, do we want
> a new committee with yourself as chair? Etc ...
>
> If there is a dedicated group then it would open up a few alternate
> approaches to the one proposed.
> On Wed, May 3, 2017 at 11:32 PM Till Adams <till.adams at fossgis.de
> <mailto:till.adams at fossgis.de>> wrote:
>
>     I raise my hand as volunteer.
>
>
>     Till
>
>
>
>     Am 03.05.2017 um 18:10 schrieb Jody Garnett:
>>     We covered this in last months board meeting, so far we need
>>     volunteers willing to take part.
>>
>>     You many not be specifically happy with the direction thus far
>>     (travel grant fund available to all osgeo events, focused on
>>     diversity, event organizers apply similar to code sprints).
>>
>>     I have draft I am working on based on discussion thus far (using
>>     code sprint guidelines as a starting point).
>>>>      Travel Grant Guidelines
>>     <https://docs.google.com/document/d/1jYDOd87redxMHwT-xURcBrD7xwOeAPdVVLWZtIbM7-w/edit?usp=drive_web>
>>>>
>>     --
>>     Jody Garnett
>>
>>     On 3 May 2017 at 07:59, Steven Feldman <shfeldman at gmail.com
>>     <mailto:shfeldman at gmail.com>> wrote:
>>
>>         I fully support Michael’s request. 
>>
>>         It is time for OSGeo to establish a transparent policy on
>>         travel grants, to fund them and most importantly to
>>         administer them
>>         ______
>>         Steven
>>
>>
>>>         On 3 May 2017, at 13:56, Till Adams <till.adams at fossgis.de
>>>         <mailto:till.adams at fossgis.de>> wrote:
>>>
>>>         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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>>
>>
>>         _______________________________________________
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>>         Board at lists.osgeo.org <mailto:Board at lists.osgeo.org>
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>>
>>
>
> -- 
> -- 
> Jody Garnett

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