[OSGeo Oceania] OO board meeting minutes, 10 May

[Adam Steer]

HI Alex, Elisa, all

Page 17 of the FOSS4G RfP document outlines how to ask for seed funding
from OSGeo [1]. The OSGeo conference committee are more than happy to have
a discussion, as is the OSGeo board. In OSGeo Oceania's case there would be
a discussion about financial risks (you have money in the bank, why ask for
$$ from the global community? - to which OO could lay out its current
forecasts and say OK yes now, next year is unknown and we want to ensure
OSGeo Oceania stays alive and the conference is doable at the same time)

The concept of OSGeo acting as a seed fund supplier is documented as
raised, so it doesn't need deeper digging. Here's the quote again:

"Possible to ask OSGeo to be the backer instead of OO? Alex: risk of losing
money is basically zero, the bigger risk is that we split the community and
upset those who have worked on this."

I understand that minutes don't capture nuance well, that was the point of
this line of questioning - and yes, I did ask around a little bit before
writing anything out. I also think it's pretty natural to read the
statement above and think.. hmm. why is this being said / recorded? It
seems completely normal that OSGeo Oceania provide organisational / legal
backing ("fiscal sponsorship") - which was one of the core "whys" of OO to
begin with. And the finance concerns raised in the minutes could be reduced
by asking the global community for support - which is core to OSGeo's
reason for being.

A third path not yet seen is removing some financial concerns by OO
committing some of the seed funding, and asking OSGeo for the balance -
that way giving OO room to consider the scale of its contribution as
unknown unknowns in mid 2024 become more known as 2025 approaches. There
are really no such absolutes as "this way or else", it's all a discussion
and every FOSS4G has different needs - the core criteria is being proactive
about understanding needs as early as possible and being open / upfront
about how things are working out.  So maybe an idea for OO / AKL to keep in
the pocket as things progress...

All the best,
Adam

[1]
https://www.osgeo.org/wp-content/uploads/FOSS4G2025-request-for-proposal.pdf
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