[OSGeo Finance] FOSS4G 2008 Budget

[Ken Tamura]

Hello all,
A nice spreadsheet.  The plan has two main points of interest as noted by the other reviewers:

1.  attendance: revenue and much of the costs are tied to the #; therefore, it would be recommended to review attendance targets (specifically the early birds) on a regular basis as an indicator of tracking to these estimates.  This will help make adjustments to the program as needed.

2.  sponsors/exhibitors:  There is approx. 740,000 of 'probable' funds.  I think that this is the area that OSGEO members should concentrate on the most.  My suggestion is to review the fundraising plan on a regular basis to discuss gaps and creative ways to attract commitments (i.e., are the right incentives being offered).  Regular tracking can help prepare event for earlier adjustments if needed.

Best,
Ken


Ken Tamura
Geospatial Solutions of Autodesk, Inc.
415-507-8313 (w)    415-299-1704 (c)

-----Original Message-----
From: finance-bounces at lists.osgeo.org [mailto:finance-bounces at lists.osgeo.org] On Behalf Of Dave McIlhagga (External)
Sent: Thursday, April 03, 2008 12:26 PM
To: Paul Ramsey
Cc: Finance Committee List
Subject: Re: [OSGeo Finance] FOSS4G 2008 Budget

Thanks Paul for the clarifications.

Given this - I'm definitely +1 on recommending to the board that we
approve the budget as is.

Anyone else (Tyler/Ken) have any comments?

Dave





On 3-Apr-08, at 2:36 PM, Paul Ramsey wrote:
> Dave,
>
> On Thu, Apr 3, 2008 at 11:22 AM, Dave McIlhagga
> <dmcilhagga at dmsolutions.ca> wrote:
>>  So tell me if my understanding is right -- from what I can see,
>> in the
>> event of the low-ball number of attendees (700) and based on the
>> current
>> committed sponsors/exhibitors -- we're around R 700,000 (100k USD)
>> short of
>> break-even. The only place to make that up is in additional
>> sponsorship /
>> exhibitor funds.
>
>>  First of all -- am I reading the tea leaves correctly?
>
> Right, based on *current* confirmed sponsorship, the budget is in
> deficit. That said, the projected sponsorship levels are reasonable,
> IMO.  Based on the experience of GeoAfrica in filling an exhibition
> floor, and previous FOSS4G conferences.
>
>>  Secondly -- from your experience with 6 months to go before the
>> big event
>> -- does attracting 100k in more sponsorship seem to be a likely
>> thing to
>> pull off?
>
> I think they have not done a great job rounding up sponsors early in
> the process, but I do not think it is impossible or even highly
> unlikely to get that 100k in sponsors/exhibitors over the next months.
>
>>  Any other thoughts you can shed on this would be helpful.
>
> My comfort level with this budget is based on the previous GeoAfrica
> event, which did break 600 attendees, and had a full exhibition floor.
>  If we should happen to lose $100K on this bet, we'll split that w/
> GISSA, so we're only down $50K and that's covered by the '07 surplus
> easily.  And losing $100K would require going forward with no course
> corrections along the way to reduce expenditures to meet revenues if
> things look like they are going very very bad, so it truly is a very
> worst case scenario.
>
> I have lots of discomfort about this things have been marketed so far,
> and the overall visibility of the conference, and am trying to push
> those issues to the fore, but the budget itself doesn't give me the
> willies anymore.
>
> Paul

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