[mapguide-internals] MapGuide Project Sponsorship RFC 83

Fri Oct 2 10:43:34 EDT 2009

The RFC looks good, and I agree that sponsors should be people who hit a minimum value level.  I don't think we could enforce "plans to give a set dollar amount to the project every year" without a contract anyway, right?

Perhaps in the future, sponsors could have votes on what gets worked on.

Cheers
Tom

-----Original Message-----
From: mapguide-internals-bounces at lists.osgeo.org [mailto:mapguide-internals-bounces at lists.osgeo.org] On Behalf Of Jason Birch
Sent: Thursday, October 01, 2009 11:24 PM
To: MapGuide Internals Mail List
Subject: Re: [mapguide-internals] MapGuide Project Sponsorship RFC 83

My personal take would be that sponsors are someone that hits some
minimum value level (silver, gold, whatever) and anything else is a
donation.

Also wondering if we want to look at per-feature and in-kind sponsors
too at some point?

Does PayPal have apis for pulling lists of donors?

BTW, I will have the rc available by the end of the weekend; sorry for
the delay, had a hellish upgrade to get through at work that took all
my spare home time too...

On 2009-10-01, Trevor Wekel <trevor_wekel at otxsystems.com> wrote:
> Hi everyone,
>
> I wanted to give a quick update on this RFC before updating it and sending
> it out for vote.  The only major issue raised was the $500 minimum
> sponsorship/donation amount.
>
> I have been emailing with Frank Warmerdam and Tyler Mitchell and we should
> be able to use the OSGeo PayPal account to accept donations in any amount.
> The only caveat is that someone from the project may need to help out with
> the accounting.  I can do that.  I have experience using PayPal and
> QuickBooks.
>
> We should also set up a Sponsors/Donors page listing the individuals or
> corporations who have given money to the project.  Do we want to a make a
> distinction between a sponsor and a donor?  A donor would be someone who
> gives a one-time infusion to the project and a sponsor would be someone who
> plans to give a set dollar amount to the project every year.
>
> For the yearly recurring sponsorship, we could set a minimum dollar amount
> of $100 assuming the sponsorship money is sent through the PayPal "donate"
> button.  To reduce the management overhead, I would also like to suggest
> that we only list donors who contribute $50 or more on the Donors/Sponsors
> page.
>
> For both sponsors and donors, a listing on the Sponsors/Donors page is
> optional.  If we cannot add a "list me / do not list me" item to the PayPal
> button or notes, I can follow up with each sponsor/donor to see if they want
> to be listed on the webpage.
>
> How does this sound?
>
> Thanks,
> Trevor
>
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: mapguide-internals-bounces at lists.osgeo.org
> [mailto:mapguide-internals-bounces at lists.osgeo.org] On Behalf Of Paul
> Spencer
> Sent: September 12, 2009 7:20 AM
> To: MapGuide Internals Mail List
> Subject: Re: [mapguide-internals] RE: [mapguide-users] MapGuide Project
> Sponsorship RFC 83
>
> I'm not keen on using smaller donations to support the cost of setting
> up and running a corporation.  Annual tax returns for a corporation
> run $500-$700 regardless of income, for instance.
>
> I would like to suggest some alternatives
>
> 1) encourage folks to make smaller donations via the builds donation
> mechanism, which is is very worthwhile and much needed
>
> 2) fund independent consultants (like Trevor :)) directly to work on
> things they would like (unlikely to be less than $500 for any given
> issue anyway as discussed in previous emails).
>
> 3) find an individual to set up a personal paypal account, track
> donations and when it hits $500, make a lump sum donation via the
> official mechanism on behalf of all donations - the caveat being that
> there would be no tax receipts for that individual or for any of the
> contributors.
>
> Cheers
>
> Paul
>
> On 2009-09-11, at 10:20 PM, Trevor Wekel wrote:
>
>> Hi Andy,
>>
>> We were planning to use the standard OSGeo Project Sponsorship
>> mechanism http://wiki.osgeo.org/wiki/Project_Sponsorship.  From what
>> I understand, this mechanism calls for a minimum sponsorship amount
>> of $500 USD.  I expect this lower limit was set to reduce the
>> reporting and management overhead associated with managing small
>> payment amounts.
>>
>> I believe GDAL/OGR and OpenLayers both use the OSGeo Project
>> Sponsorship mechanism and they have a $500 minimum.  GRASS GIS does
>> not use the OSGeo sponsorship mechanism and they do not place a
>> lower limit on the sponsorship amount.
>>
>> Currently, our Builds Donation button uses a PayPal account owned by
>> OTX Systems (my company).  I think this is ok the for builds since
>> OTX Systems is supplying the service.  However, I am not sure it
>> makes sense to use that account for general MapGuide project
>> sponsorship.  OTX Systems would not be the sole provider of services
>> rendered for project sponsorship.
>>
>> To me, using an OTX Systems PayPal account for general MapGuide
>> Sponsorship seems messy from an accounting, taxation, and ownership
>> standpoint.  Since the PSC members are not OTX Systems Directors,
>> they would not have explicit control over the money.  With the OSGeo
>> Project Sponsorship mechanism, they (we) do.
>>
>> Another alternative I see is to create a separate Canadian
>> corporation with some/all PSC members being shareholders and
>> directors.  This corporation could then set up a PayPal account,
>> accept donations, and disperse funds accordingly.  To go along with
>> the intent of OSGeo Project Sponsorship, 25% of the funds taken in
>> should be donated to the OSGeo Foundation.  Suitable names could be
>> the "Canadian MapGuide Foundation", or perhaps "Canadian OSGeo
>> Chapter".
>>
>> Personally, I like the idea of setting up a corporation to manage
>> the sponsorship money.  But it does increase costs and someone will
>> have spend lot of time to do all the corporate paperwork - income
>> tax, annual returns, write up minutes, etc., etc.  We would have to
>> raise at least $2000 from the community just to cover corporation
>> setup, accounting/tax software, and the OSGeo Foundation donation.
>>
>> Thanks,
>> Trevor
>>
>>
>> -----Original Message-----
>> From: mapguide-internals-bounces at lists.osgeo.org [mailto:mapguide-
>> internals-bounces at lists.osgeo.org] On Behalf Of Andy Morsell
>> Sent: September 11, 2009 5:21 PM
>> To: 'MapGuide Internals Mail List'
>> Subject: [mapguide-internals] RE: [mapguide-users] MapGuide Project
>> Sponsorship RFC 83
>>
>> Trevor,
>> Is there any reason why sponsor contributions below $500 USD would
>> not be
>> allowed?  Many individual or sole proprietor (like me) contributors
>> would
>> not be able to donate $500 a pop.
>>
>> Thanks,
>>
>> Andy
>>
>>
>> -----Original Message-----
>> From: mapguide-users-bounces at lists.osgeo.org
>> [mailto:mapguide-users-bounces at lists.osgeo.org] On Behalf Of Trevor
>> Wekel
>> Sent: Thursday, September 10, 2009 8:12 PM
>> To: MapGuide Internals Mail List; MapGuide Users Mail List
>> Subject: [mapguide-users] MapGuide Project Sponsorship RFC 83
>>
>> Hello lists,
>>
>> After some initial discussion with MapGuide PSC members, I am
>> presenting RFC
>> 83 - Project Sponsorship to the community for review and comment.
>> This RFC
>> lays the groundwork for official sponsorship of the MapGuide Open
>> Source
>> Project.  The sponsorship methodology closely follows other OSGeo
>> projects
>> such as GDAL/OGR and OpenLayers.
>>
>> http://trac.osgeo.org/mapguide/wiki/MapGuideRfc83
>>
>> Any comments, questions, or concerns regarding the RFC are welcome.
>>
>>
>> Thank you,
>> Trevor Wekel
>>
>>
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>
> __________________________________________
>
>     Paul Spencer
>     Chief Technology Officer
>     DM Solutions Group Inc
>     http://research.dmsolutions.ca/
>
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