[OSGeo Oceania] Request to OSGeo for chapter startup financial assistance

[John Bryant]

Hi OSGeo Board,

OSGeo Oceania already has an item on the next OSGeo board meeting agenda to
discuss the formation of an Oceania regional chapter of OSGeo [1]. I'd like
to add a request for financial support, and it likely makes sense to bring
it up at the same meeting. The details of this request are as follows:

We are in the process of establishing a set of ground rules for how we
operate as a community, including:
* how we recruit & retain our membership
* how we run AGMs
* how we replace directors on an ongoing basis
* ultimately, how we can best develop a body that's accountable to an
engaged community.

As a regulated entity, we face some complexity with regard to how we
conduct ourselves legally and financially, so running through this process
will require updates to our constitution and entity registration. We also
have a fairly complex tax situation, operating in multiple tax
jurisdictions, so we need to do some groundwork to make sure we're doing
this right.

We see a clear benefit in engaging professional advice at this stage. Our
experience has shown that while a DIY approach is possible, it requires a
huge amount of volunteer energy and comes with increased risk of error and
re-work. This is a situation with high risk of burnout, and we'd like to
avoid it. We estimate in the range of AUD $5000-6000 on not-for-profit
organisational and accounting advice, as a one-off expense over the next
few months.

*We're requesting funding from OSGeo to cover 50% of the cost of this
project, ie. USD $2000, and we will cover the rest from other sources.*

Thanks!
John Bryant
on behalf of OSGeo Oceania

[1] https://lists.osgeo.org/pipermail/board/2019-July/012228.html
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