[OSGeo Finance] Budget - how to reach closure for the board?

[Dave McIlhagga]

Hi Frank,

I agree that the budget does need to reflect the priorities of the  
board -- however we do have a responsibility to inform the board about  
options for achieving those priorities and ensuring budget estimates  
are correct etc..

Couple of things that I believe would be helpful:

1. What level of deficit (if any) is the Board comfortable taking on  
in a worse-case scenario this year? From an operating standpoint --  
can we advise on what we believe that worse case scenario deficit  
should be for 2009? Can we identify what the implications of this are  
for 2010? ie. something like "If OSGeo runs a 50k deficit in 2009, the  
organization cannot afford to take on a deficit in 2010"

2. Given the answer to 1. -- should we identify how to manage the  
budget so that if our revenues fall short of our goals, we can take  
action to ensure we don't end up any worse than the worse-case  
scenario? What I'm saying is -- some budget items may be "contingent"  
on financial status later in the year. Do we know what those line  
items (cut if necessary) might be?


1. and 2. really need to be addressed by the board -- perhaps we could  
propose some scenarios and ask the board to address these items as  
part of approving the budget?

Dave




On 2-Dec-08, at 3:13 PM, Frank Warmerdam wrote:

> Folks,
>
> The board will be meeting Dec 12th, and I think we need to recommend a
> 2009 budget to them at that meeting.
>
> I have reviewed the budget and added one additional supporting (10K)  
> and
> one additional associate (3K) sponsorship to bring the budget  
> essentially
> into balance.  This means, overall, we need to bring in $63K in new
> sponsorship in 2009 (an aggressive goal).
>
> Howard is talking with SAC about what SAC might want in addition, or  
> instead
> of, the proposed $2500 for a new beefy server.  I'm not sure what  
> will come of
> that, but it seems unlikely we will have a detailed proposal in the  
> next
> few days.
>
> Marketing has not presented any sort of budget proposal for how  
> their proposed
> $50K will be spent, though they are discussing it.
>
> Ultimately I think it is the Finance committees job to ensure that
> predictable expenses in the budget are realistic but that it is up to
> the board to set policy like balancing SAC vs. Marketing spending - or
> whether we will assume additional sponsorships.  So, I'm thinking we  
> ought
> to approve the budget as it stands now at:
>
>  http://wiki.osgeo.org/wiki/OSGeo_Budget_2009
>
> Before calling for a motion on this, I'd like to hear thoughts from  
> others
> on the Finance Committee.
>
> Best regards,
> -- 
> --------------------------------------- 
> +--------------------------------------
> I set the clouds in motion - turn up   | Frank Warmerdam, warmerdam at pobox.com
> light and sound - activate the windows | http://pobox.com/~warmerdam
> and watch the world go round - Rush    | Geospatial Programmer for  
> Rent
>
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