[OpenLayers-Dev] Entering OSGeo Project Sponsorship

[Paul Spencer]

Thanks Frank,  I think this is exactly the feedback we needed.

On 17-Oct-08, at 8:19 PM, Frank Warmerdam wrote:

> Paul Spencer wrote:
>> Frank,
>> In relation to OpenLayers pursuing sponsorship via OSGeo, could you  
>> provide us with a brief summary of your experience with OSGeo  
>> sponsorship program as it relates to GDAL/OGR?  I think this would  
>> help us crystalize our thoughts on how OpenLayers would like to  
>> proceed.
>
> Paul,
>
> I'm not sure the experience will be all that similar for OpenLayers,  
> but
> I'll make a few observations with regard to GDAL, and perhaps  
> editorialize
> a bit.
>
> First, please be aware that participating in the sponsorship program
> involves some effort.  Beyond setting up initial documents, and  
> soliciting
> sponsors, it is expected that any project that participates in the  
> sponsorship
> program will produce an annual report to sponsors summarizing at  
> least how
> the sponsorship funds have been used over they year.   This isn't  
> onerous,
> but someone has to get this done.
>
> Second, I would observe that Tyler takes care of the invoices for  
> sponsorship,
> and the collection of money.  So generally speaking once I have a  
> verbal
> (or email) agreement from an organization to sponsor GDAL I pass on  
> the
> contact details, the start date, and the sponsorship level to Tyler  
> who
> prepares the invoice, and takes care of contact with the sponsor.   
> This is
> a huge help and without Tyler handling this professionally the whole  
> effort
> might well be too much for me pursue.
>
> For GDAL it is considered allowed to sponsor for any amount of above
> $500, but the invoicing and other hassles involved in small  
> sponsorships have
> resulted in me only actively pursuing sponsorships of $3000 or more (a
> silver sponsorship).  I accept smaller sponsorships (gracefully I  
> hope),
> but I don't pursue smaller sponsors for annual renewals.
>
> An items that has proven a bit challenging for GDAL is that sponsors  
> are
> permitted a logo and block of text on our sponsor page.
>
>  http://www.gdal.org/credits.html
>
> It has proven surprisingly hard to get an appropriately sized logo,  
> and
> appropriate text from sponsors.  Sometimes they don't respond.   
> Sometimes
> they give me huge or otherwise inappropriate logos.  And they give me
> highly variable text for inclusion.  So I've had to set fairly  
> specific
> rules for the maximum number of pixels in the logo (I take care of  
> resizing
> and confirm with the sponsor) and an upper limit on the descriptive  
> text
> (50 words at silver).  I still have some sponsors I've not been able  
> to get
> the logo and text from and they go uncredited.  In retrospect I  
> wonder if I
> would have been better off with a simplier scheme - at least perhaps  
> no text.
>
> As for actually soliciting sponsors, I have (I think) been  
> responsible for
> soliciting all the GDAL sponsors so far.  I generally don't try to  
> hard, but
> I do have to make some effort.  I don't recall any stepping up and  
> volunteering
> their interest just based on the sponsor solicitation page.  I've  
> directly
> approached a few organizations I knew were heavy users of GDAL and  
> that I
> know well.  I also will often mention GDAL and OSGeo sponsorship  
> opportunities
> to folks when I answer technical questions about the project and  
> related
> software if they look like they might be getting significant value  
> from the
> software.  I generally just approach companies under the assumption  
> that
> sponsorship is pretty hard to arrange for a government  
> organization.  My
> pitch normally goes something like:
>
> """
> If you find you are getting substantial value from GDAL/OGR and you
> would like to help sustain the project you might consider becoming
> a sponsor:
>
>  http://www.gdal.org/sponsorship.html
>
> Sponsorship helps us fund bug fixing and other efforts to sustain
> the project.  Sponsors get some degree of priority in getting
> bug fixes, and receive credit on our credits page.  Let me know
> if you might be interested, or have any questions about sponsorship.
> """
>
> In a few cases I've offered to waive an hourly fee to fix some bug or
> implement some small feature if an organization would like to become
> a sponsor.  I've turned what might have been a personal invoice for
> $500 into a $3000 silver sponsorship a couple times this way, though
> generally these organizations might already have been well disposed
> to sponsorship without my sweetening the pot.
>
> I do avoid situations where sponsors are offered specific promises
> in return for sponsorship unless it is something I'd be doing out of
> my own time.  For instance I discussed possible sponsorship options  
> with
> a large company who seemed to want to tie it to efforts to incorporate
> or do work on a particular library of theirs and I stressed that
> sponsorship would need to be distinct from any efforts in that regard.
>
> Well - thats the collection side.
>
> The other side is making productive use of the money.
>
> In the GDAL project we have only used the money for two things so far.
> One has been funding a contract paid maintainer position which is  
> focused
> on bug fixing, though it also takes on some other project tasks.  We  
> have
> also used it to purchase project t-shirts handed out at the 2007 code
> sprint.
>
> We have been very lucky to have Mateusz Loskot available as our paid
> maintainer.  He is a skilled self-starter and does not require much
> direction, though he has responded well to my priority setting.  We  
> have
> a written up RFC describing how the paid maintainer role works:
>
>  http://trac.osgeo.org/gdal/wiki/rfc9_maintainer
>
> My main problem so far in this regard has been Mateusz' limited
> availability, and in fact we have accumulated a significant amount of
> money in the project fund as he hasn't had enough time available to
> consume it all.
>
> With regard to paid maintenance I will note a couple things about the
> GDAL project.
>
> 1) I have deliberately kept the remuneration fairly modest for this  
> role.
> $20/hr or so. This is for a couple reasons.  First, it helps avoid a
> sense amoung the unpaid developers that someone is getting rich off  
> the
> project.  The maintainer pay isn't enough to make anyone particular
> jealous though it may still cause some existing contributors to "leave
> it to the paid guy" for some things.  The other reason is I want the
> sponsors to feel that their money is being stretched fairly  
> effectively.
>
> Actually, the third reason is that I like to see this maintainer role
> as a sort of stepping stone that could lead the maintainer to more
> lucrative private contracting related to the project.
>
> 2) I have deliberately avoided having the funding go to the existing
> core team - especially to the PSC members who actually decide on the
> dispersement of the funds.  In particular, I've never taken any GDAL
> project money for myself.  I've been concerned about appearance of
> self-dealing or our profiteering off the project.  I'm not sure how
> reasonable these concerns are - but to me it was important that the
> money be seen going to bring additional resources to the project
> that wouldn't have been their otherwise and to avoid any appearance
> of impropriety in the handling of the money.
>
> --
>
> Mateusz is no longer available for the maintainer role (he has  
> accepted
> a related full time job), so now we are having to search for a new
> maintainer.  It isn't so easy to find someone with good dev skills,
> a pre-apparent interest in GDAL and a willingness to work for modest
> financial returns.  Our ability to find a new maintainer may well be
> a major test for our sponsorship program.
>
> Overall, the sponsorship program was one of the reasons I was  
> interested
> in launching OSGeo and having GDAL join it.  I wanted an orderly,  
> transparent
> mechanism where organizations could help fund the project  
> development in
> a way beyond funding specific new features.  I think it has gone  
> fairly
> well though I hope for a more stable maintainer role in the future.
>
> I will say that I think using some of the funding for team building
> activities is a good idea.  We did the t-shirts from this fund, and in
> the future I could imagine using the funds to help support a GDAL
> code sprint, or perhaps cool prizes for the best bug report, best
> patch etc.
>
> --
>
> One other point I'll mention is that 25% of the sponsorship funds
> collected go to fund general OSGeo activities.  I have not heard
> any complaints about this in the context of the GDAL project (from
> sponsors or developers) though I have heard resistance on this from
> other projects.  I think it is important to see this as supporting
> the underlying infrastructure and community that OSGeo provides to
> projects.
>
> But if you see the project sponsorship program as a way to raise
> money to fund specific new developments then this cut may seem
> painful.  I do think it is important to *not* treat project
> sponorship as a mechanism for an organization to fund a specific
> development.  Direct contracting with a consultant is still better
> for that sort of thing.
>
> I hope this is somewhat helpful.
>
> 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
>


__________________________________________

    Paul Spencer
    Chief Technology Officer
    DM Solutions Group Inc
    http://research.dmsolutions.ca/