[OSGeo-Conf] General mandate FOSS4G Travel Grants ~ Call for a VOTE

Mon May 8 13:40:28 PDT 2017

On Thu, May 4, 2017 at 11:42 PM, Till Adams <till.adams at fossgis.de> wrote:
>
> Hi ConfComm,
>
> as you've seen in the past days, Michael from BLOC started a discussion how to proceed with the travel grants, Jody was involved for the board and the board accepted to take over the whole travel grant responsibility to OSGeo. This means, we now can (and should) setup a formal and unique procedure for ALL FOSS4G events for travel granting. In my eyes, this is a big step forward (my thanks to Michael to start this discussion again ;-)).
>
> My suggestion is, to give our ConfComm the mandate to have the responsibility for approving event applications.
>
> So my call for a vote is: "Should ConfComm take over responsibility for approving event applications" ?

+1.  It will need more detail but starting with the responsibility is
the first step.

>
> Please vote until 10.05.2017 24h CET

That was a short window.

Eli

>
> Till
>
>
>
> Am 05.05.2017 um 08:31 schrieb Jody Garnett:
>
> Excellent, so would the idea be to update the conference committee mandate then?
>
> Or would the conference committee set this up as indicative (for program visibility and sponsorship)? ... similar to how the website/rebranding is being taken on as a one-off by the marketing committee.
>
> That is a bit of a strategic question so it may require thought / planning.
>
>
> On Thu, May 4, 2017 at 11:19 PM Till Adams <till.adams at fossgis.de> wrote:
>>
>> 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> 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
>>>
>>> --
>>> Jody Garnett
>>>
>>> On 3 May 2017 at 07:59, Steven Feldman <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> wrote:
>>>>
>>>> As you all can see we've been very busy assembling our program (225 accepted talks, out of 423 submitted) and rounding out the sponsorship for the conference (>$200k of commitments). 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:
>>>>
>>>> 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.
>>>> Administering such a program takes time, and our primary focus is on producing the conference and the workshops.
>>>> 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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>>>
>> --
>> --
>> Jody Garnett
>>
>>
> --
> --
> Jody Garnett
>
>
>
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