[mapguide-internals] MapGuide Project Sponsorship RFC 83

Fri Oct 2 11:42:56 EDT 2009

I would like to deal with sponsor priorities in the same way that gdal
does; with an annual sponsor survey. But we would need to ensure that
we retain autonomy.

On 2009-10-02, Trevor Wekel <trevor_wekel at otxsystems.com> wrote:
> Hi Jason,
>
> Ok.  We can leave the sponsorship as is in the RFC: $500 minimum, $3000
> silver, $9000 Gold,
> $27000 Platinum.  We can assume that any dollar amount over $500 is a
> sponsorship and there is no requirement for recurrence - good suggestion
> Tom.  All sponsors have the option of being listed on the Sponsors/Donors
> page.
>
> Following up on Tom's email, all sponsors could have a say on project
> priorities.  This means anyone who contributes $500 or more gets a say.
> This could be accomplished through an email poll on mapguide-internals.
>
> Donations are any dollar amount under $500.  Donors who contribute $50 or
> more have the option of being listed on the Sponsors/Donors page.
>
> PayPal transactions are generally tagged with the buyers email address so we
> do have a list.  It is possible to do some classification on PayPal
> transactions for per-feature and in-kind but I would prefer not to make it
> too complicated at first.  PayPal buttons can include a notes section.  That
> may work.  I will investigate a little more.
>
> Thanks,
> Trevor
>
>
>
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: mapguide-internals-bounces at lists.osgeo.org
> [mailto:mapguide-internals-bounces at lists.osgeo.org] On Behalf Of Jason Birch
> Sent: October 1, 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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>>>
>>>
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>>
>>
>> __________________________________________
>>
>>     Paul Spencer
>>     Chief Technology Officer
>>     DM Solutions Group Inc
>>     http://research.dmsolutions.ca/
>>
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