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<p>Hi Matt and others interested in funding GDAL,</p>
<p>GDAL is certainly a vital piece of software and I am very happy
that we support it's fundraising approach. </p>
<p>However given the size of GDAL, and their previous fund raising
efforts, I do wonder whether our (relatively) small budget is best
spent on $1000 (~£750) sponsorship. </p>
<p>GDAL's budget is open
(<a class="moz-txt-link-freetext" href="https://opencollective.com/gdal#category-BUDGET">https://opencollective.com/gdal#category-BUDGET</a>) and well worth a
look if you are interested. I approached the gdal-sponsors email
address and received this reply from Howard Butler:</p>
<p>> Indeed GDAL's funding situation is secure at this time,
although our recent loss of two Gold sponsors is likely to change
the program's approach significantly in the future if we are
unable to backfill them. Our current fundraising strategy is to
focus on large corporate institutional organizations that derive
market benefit from their customers using GDAL (ie, the clouds) or
organizations who have strategic economic interest in GDAL. The
former has been lacking in the last year, however. Our operation
strategy has been to build up a comfortable pool of resources
relative to our expenditures to help us weather business and
fundraising cycles. Now that we're in a downturn, we are consuming
some of that rainy day fund. <br>
<br>
> The most significant benefit of OSGeo:UK donating to GDAL
would be visibility of the organization on the GDAL Sponsors page
– an arguably minimal one. I think it is more efficient for
OSGeo:UK to continue to put resources toward the smaller projects
it is currently supporting (this is great!). GDAL can't redirect
its resources as easily, and to do so requires building
relationships with those entities, which your organization already
has. The GDAL Sponsorship Program has redirected some of its
resources in the past, but only to direct project or code
dependencies. The breadth of your sponsorship program is much
wider and able to be more speculative. IMO, you should keep doing
more of that rather than providing resources to GDAL.</p>
<p>So I will take that as a recommendation that we don't sponsor
GDAL this year and use the money for some of our smaller
projects. </p>
<p>Evan Rouault also came in on the email thread, and said that they
would really like us to use our influence and contacts to
highlight GDAL's sponsorship program to large UK based
organisations who are GDAL users. He suggested Met Office,
Ordnance Survey and private owned business in the GIS industry,
etc. He also said</p>
<p>"Underline that this is a large project (2+ million lines of
code), dealing with low-level, yet crucial, details that are both
essential to all building blocks based on it, but too far from
end-users to attract enough spontaneous contributions sufficient
for its daily maintenance. GDAL isn't using an open-core model
with a free tier and a commercial tier. The free product is the
enterprise one, integrating capabilities like direct access to
commercial cloud storage. The revenue stream to improve it without
the sponsorship program is thus relatively modest. Improvements
done in it have a huge leverage on the industry that depends on
it. We have more details in
<a class="moz-txt-link-freetext" href="https://gdal.org/en/stable/development/rfc/rfc83_use_of_project_sponsorship.html">https://gdal.org/en/stable/development/rfc/rfc83_use_of_project_sponsorship.html</a>
on what kind of activities the funds are used for."</p>
<p>So I hope this helps explain our position. </p>
<p>Any comments or feedback, please do post here, comment in the
Google Docs
<a class="moz-txt-link-freetext" href="https://docs.google.com/document/d/1UUl6NmGmUUowluU8L6dNfF6mUO9kZCOU7W1TvmPQM4I/edit?usp=sharing">https://docs.google.com/document/d/1UUl6NmGmUUowluU8L6dNfF6mUO9kZCOU7W1TvmPQM4I/edit?usp=sharing</a>
or come to the meeting on 10th Dec, 12pm
<a class="moz-txt-link-freetext" href="https://meet.google.com/mow-pbyj-wah">https://meet.google.com/mow-pbyj-wah</a>. </p>
<p>Best wishes,<br>
Nick.</p>
<div class="moz-cite-prefix">On 24/11/2025 17:06, Nick Bearman via
UK wrote:<br>
</div>
<blockquote type="cite"
cite="mid:a185b21e-cc6a-4ab6-b3aa-2bbba33e09d0@nickbearman.com">
<meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=UTF-8">
<p>Thanks very much Matt - I will add this to the list when I
can. </p>
<p>Best wishes,<br>
Nick.</p>
<div class="moz-cite-prefix">On 20/11/2025 19:51, Matt Walker via
UK wrote:<br>
</div>
<blockquote type="cite"
cite="mid:CACcwLY8C03S9Q_isOLRqQVQQLZ7UayXx=uTUNeXzdyO9+_WS-A@mail.gmail.com">
<meta http-equiv="content-type"
content="text/html; charset=UTF-8">
<div dir="auto">
<div>Hi,</div>
<div dir="auto"><br>
</div>
<div dir="auto">I'd like to propose we sponsor GDAL as part of
OSGeo:UK GoFundGeo. GDAL underpins so much geospatial
software. Further details here: <a
href="https://gdal.org/en/stable/sponsors/"
moz-do-not-send="true" class="moz-txt-link-freetext">https://gdal.org/en/stable/sponsors/</a>. </div>
<div dir="auto"><br>
</div>
<div dir="auto">Given the levels I'd suggest we look at the
Supporter level at $1000.</div>
<div dir="auto"><br>
</div>
<div dir="auto">Kind regards,</div>
<div><br>
</div>
<div data-smartmail="gmail_signature">
<div dir="ltr">Matt Walker<br>
<a href="https://mastodon.social/@walkermatt"
target="_blank" moz-do-not-send="true"
class="moz-txt-link-freetext">https://mastodon.social/@walkermatt</a></div>
</div>
</div>
<br>
<div class="gmail_quote gmail_quote_container">
<div dir="ltr" class="gmail_attr">On Thu, 20 Nov 2025, 14:43
Nick Bearman via UK, <<a href="mailto:uk@lists.osgeo.org"
moz-do-not-send="true" class="moz-txt-link-freetext">uk@lists.osgeo.org</a>>
wrote:<br>
</div>
<blockquote class="gmail_quote"
style="margin:0 0 0 .8ex;border-left:1px #ccc solid;padding-left:1ex">Hi
Everyone,<br>
<br>
Do remember to suggest projects for GoFundGeo.<br>
<br>
Currently we have two projects who have applied (qgis2web
and GeoServer) <br>
and we are also looking to continue our regular funding of
pgRouting, <br>
QGIS and GISRUK & OSGeo:UK GoFundGeo Award.<br>
<br>
These are listed in Google Docs linked below and we value
your comments.<br>
<br>
<a
href="https://docs.google.com/document/d/1UUl6NmGmUUowluU8L6dNfF6mUO9kZCOU7W1TvmPQM4I/edit?usp=sharing"
rel="noreferrer noreferrer" target="_blank"
moz-do-not-send="true" class="moz-txt-link-freetext">https://docs.google.com/document/d/1UUl6NmGmUUowluU8L6dNfF6mUO9kZCOU7W1TvmPQM4I/edit?usp=sharing</a><br>
<br>
Feel free to add comments to the document, or share comments
on the <br>
email list.<br>
<br>
This will be a live document, updated with more information
and <br>
submissions as we receive them until the deadline, Sun 30th
Nov.<br>
<br>
If you have any questions, please do ask.<br>
<br>
Best wishes,<br>
Nick.<br>
<br>
On 13/11/2025 16:13, Nick Bearman via UK wrote:<br>
> A quick reminder about GoFundGeo.<br>
><br>
> Deadline for Submissions is Sun 30th Nov.<br>
><br>
> So far we have had 1! Please do submit your project and
if you know <br>
> anyone doing interesting work, please encourage them to
submit their <br>
> project. If anyone has any questions, please do ask,
either here or <br>
> via <a href="mailto:osgeouk@gmail.com" target="_blank"
rel="noreferrer" moz-do-not-send="true"
class="moz-txt-link-freetext">osgeouk@gmail.com</a> or <a
href="mailto:nick@nickbearman.com" target="_blank"
rel="noreferrer" moz-do-not-send="true"
class="moz-txt-link-freetext">nick@nickbearman.com</a>.<br>
><br>
> We have decided on the meeting where we decide which
projects to <br>
> fund: 10th December 2025 12pm - 1pm on Google Meet, <br>
> <a href="https://meet.google.com/mow-pbyj-wah"
rel="noreferrer noreferrer" target="_blank"
moz-do-not-send="true" class="moz-txt-link-freetext">https://meet.google.com/mow-pbyj-wah</a>.<br>
><br>
> Best wishes,<br>
> Nick.<br>
><br>
> On 30/10/2025 3:19 pm, Nick Bearman wrote:<br>
>> Every year around November we use surplus funds
from FOSS4G:UK <br>
>> conferences (and other funds) to support Open
Source Geospatial <br>
>> software projects that will have an impact in the
UK. We usually have <br>
>> around £5000 to support a variety of projects, and
have done <br>
>> previously each year since 2022. For more details
of the projects we <br>
>> have supported, please see <a
href="https://uk.osgeo.org/gofundgeo.html"
rel="noreferrer noreferrer" target="_blank"
moz-do-not-send="true" class="moz-txt-link-freetext">https://uk.osgeo.org/gofundgeo.html</a>.<br>
>><br>
>> This year we have a budget of £6,000 and will be
making the decision <br>
>> about which projects we support in early December.
Come along and <br>
>> have your say!<br>
>><br>
>> We are looking to use this money to fund relevant
projects in the <br>
>> range of £500 - £1000 each that will benefit UK
users.<br>
>><br>
>> We would like to hear from you - what project(s) do
you think we <br>
>> should fund?<br>
>><br>
>> We are making this as simple a process as possible,
so please submit <br>
>> your ideas to <a href="mailto:osgeouk@gmail.com"
target="_blank" rel="noreferrer" moz-do-not-send="true"
class="moz-txt-link-freetext">osgeouk@gmail.com</a> by Sun
30th Nov 2025. We will need a <br>
>> short paragraph that covers what is being funded,
why it is useful, <br>
>> who will do it and how much you are applying for.
We will share these <br>
>> to the email list around Tue 2nd Dec, for
discussion at our meeting <br>
>> in early December.<br>
>><br>
>> We have funding guidelines <br>
>> (<a
href="https://uk.osgeo.org/fundingguidelines.html"
rel="noreferrer noreferrer" target="_blank"
moz-do-not-send="true" class="moz-txt-link-freetext">https://uk.osgeo.org/fundingguidelines.html</a>)
and briefly we only <br>
>> fund open source projects, our preference is to
support discrete <br>
>> pieces of work, or to meet specific sponsorship
levels, and we are <br>
>> focused on items that will benefit the UK
community.<br>
>><br>
>> We will discuss the submissions at our meeting in
early December, and <br>
>> decide which ones to fund.<br>
>><br>
>> We are hopeful again to get support from the
RGS-IBG GIScience <br>
>> Research Group who have previously provided funding
of £250 to <br>
>> support GoFundGeo projects.<br>
>><br>
>> If your organisation is interested in supporting
GoFundGeo with a <br>
>> donation, please email <a
href="mailto:osgeouk@gmail.com" target="_blank"
rel="noreferrer" moz-do-not-send="true"
class="moz-txt-link-freetext">osgeouk@gmail.com</a>.<br>
>><br>
>> If you have any questions, or need any more
information please see <br>
>> the website <a
href="https://uk.osgeo.org/gofundgeo.html"
rel="noreferrer noreferrer" target="_blank"
moz-do-not-send="true" class="moz-txt-link-freetext">https://uk.osgeo.org/gofundgeo.html</a>
or email <br>
>> <a href="mailto:osgeouk@gmail.com" target="_blank"
rel="noreferrer" moz-do-not-send="true"
class="moz-txt-link-freetext">osgeouk@gmail.com</a>.<br>
>><br>
>> Best wishes,<br>
>> Nick.<br>
>><br>
>> Nick Bearman<br>
>> OSGeo:UK Chair<br>
>><br>
-- <br>
Nick Bearman<br>
+44 (0) 7717745715<br>
<a href="mailto:nick@nickbearman.com" target="_blank"
rel="noreferrer" moz-do-not-send="true"
class="moz-txt-link-freetext">nick@nickbearman.com</a><br>
<br>
Please let me know if I can make any adjustments related to
disability or neurodivergence to improve how we interact.<br>
<br>
Due to my own life/work balance, you may get emails from me
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<br>
<fieldset class="moz-mime-attachment-header"></fieldset>
<pre wrap="" class="moz-quote-pre">_______________________________________________
UK mailing list
<a class="moz-txt-link-abbreviated moz-txt-link-freetext"
href="mailto:UK@lists.osgeo.org" moz-do-not-send="true">UK@lists.osgeo.org</a>
<a class="moz-txt-link-freetext"
href="https://lists.osgeo.org/mailman/listinfo/uk"
moz-do-not-send="true">https://lists.osgeo.org/mailman/listinfo/uk</a>
</pre>
</blockquote>
<pre class="moz-signature" cols="72">--
Nick Bearman
+44 (0) 7717745715
<a class="moz-txt-link-abbreviated moz-txt-link-freetext"
href="mailto:nick@nickbearman.com" moz-do-not-send="true">nick@nickbearman.com</a>
Please let me know if I can make any adjustments related to disability or neurodivergence to improve how we interact.
Due to my own life/work balance, you may get emails from me outside of normal working hours. Please do not feel any pressure to respond outside of your own working pattern.</pre>
<br>
<fieldset class="moz-mime-attachment-header"></fieldset>
<pre wrap="" class="moz-quote-pre">_______________________________________________
UK mailing list
<a class="moz-txt-link-abbreviated" href="mailto:UK@lists.osgeo.org">UK@lists.osgeo.org</a>
<a class="moz-txt-link-freetext" href="https://lists.osgeo.org/mailman/listinfo/uk">https://lists.osgeo.org/mailman/listinfo/uk</a>
</pre>
</blockquote>
<pre class="moz-signature" cols="72">--
Nick Bearman
+44 (0) 7717745715
<a class="moz-txt-link-abbreviated" href="mailto:nick@nickbearman.com">nick@nickbearman.com</a>
Please let me know if I can make any adjustments related to disability or neurodivergence to improve how we interact.
Due to my own life/work balance, you may get emails from me outside of normal working hours. Please do not feel any pressure to respond outside of your own working pattern.</pre>
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