[OSGeo Finance] QGIS donations

[Tyler Mitchell (OSGeo)]

[NOTE: This got sent to the old address... forwarding it and  
responding here on the finance at lists.osgeo.org instead ]

On 10-Apr-08, at 12:47 AM, Paolo Cavallini wrote:
> Hi all.
> Sorry if I step in in  complete ignorance about your past  
> decisions, but
> I need to clarify a few things, important for the QGIS project.
> - for QGIS, a project aimed at end users (thus not only corporations),
> microdonations are very important; we therefore need a system to
> accommodate them. We could keep a double system (microdonations  
> through
> qgis web site, larger sponsorship through OSGeo), but for various
> reasons we would prefer to have an unified approach

Hi Paolo,

All the thinking about the sponsorship program has been documented  
here, but I see it does not necessarily address your specific questions:

http://wiki.osgeo.org/wiki/Project_Sponsorship

I mention this page because if microdonations are also important then  
this might be a good to create a similar page focused on  
microdonations.  I personally think it would be good to find an OSGeo  
centralised process for this that other projects could also use.  I  
think there would be wider interest from other projects too.  The  
main challenge I see is trying to keep the management overhead as  
light as possible, considering the potentially large number of small  
donations that we'd need to track and report on.  So let's see if we  
can broadly agree on a reasonable approach.  I'm not sure of all the  
options that PayPal offers, but perhaps there is a way to use it??  I  
suggest starting a wiki page to capture your thoughts.

> - it is currently unclear to me how a sponsor could earmark his
> contribution to QGIS through OSGeo

The current sponsorship program starts with me sending a sponsor an  
invoice.  When you find a sponsor, then you let me know that they are  
interested (and for what amount) then I follow-up.

> - we should also make it clear that although the funds will be  
> earmarked
> for QGIS, they will be used for purposes at the discretion of the PSC,
> in the general interest of the project (eg we are planning to  
> invest our
> funds for a hackfest in the near future), not necessarily in bugfixing
> or the development of specific features.

I understand and can include similar statements, but really this kind  
of information can be put on your QGIS sponsorship page.  Then you  
can point potential sponsors to it to learn more.

Perhaps you can follow-up with the QGIS PSC to make sure there has  
been a vote recorded  as mentioned (http://wiki.osgeo.org/wiki/ 
Project_Sponsorship) to "opt-in" to the program.

Hope that helps,
Tyler