[OSGeo-Discuss] Membership fee (was: Proposed process for selecting OSGeo charter members)

[Mateusz Łoskot]

On 24 June 2014 14:02, Jorge Gaspar Sanz Salinas <jsanz at osgeo.org> wrote:
> El 24/06/14 13:26, Mateusz Łoskot escribió:
>>>
>> Shortly, I see nothing wrong in expecting as an organisation
>> that if an individual aims and agrees to be nominated for
>> OSGeo Charter Member she/he also agrees to donate on yearly/monthly basis.
>>
>
> Yes but I see that as different things, one is being nominated and
> elected as member, and other being an active sponsor of the
> organization.
>
> They are complementary, some people want to be involved on
> the organization donating time, others maybe just want to donate funds,
> and finally some crazy people both :-)

So, you prefer that Charter Members and non-Charter Members
is not differentiated (among other things) by paid membership.

> But when it comes on deciding who is on the board or any other important
> issue, I prefer having a membership that has been in one way or the
> other elected by the community, not one that has paid their annual fee.

AFAIU, nobody proposed to replace Charter Members election
with membership fees, but to complement the former with the latter.

>>> Ha! Not exactly that, but maybe doing better outreach effort to show
>>> where the money is used would help to a better understanding of the need
>>> of funds.
>>>
>>> Budgets are published and anyone willing to ask can reach them, but
>>> maybe being more proactive on showing the need for money could help to
>>> increase the perception that maintaining OSGeo is not free (as free beer).
>>
>> Yes, but that is more a technical issue. So, it's the easiest one to
>> solve, I think.
>
> It's not important now but anyway I didn't explain well myself. I see it
> as an organizational and marketing issue. As our treasurer, the task of
> publicly remembering where the money comes and goes is probably one of
> most ungrateful jobs anyone can have here, only for a tireless special one.

The books show where the money comes from and where it goes,
so still technical issue, but yes it requires hard work to maintain.
However, the marketing side...is a different issue that is much harder to
work on than the former one, I think.

Best regards,
-- 
Mateusz  Łoskot, http://mateusz.loskot.net