<div dir="auto">I am writing to support this. In the Microgrants Committee this became very relevant, on many notes. It's important to recognize the Microgrants Committee could be seen as a sort of working group but with a very specific project and an end date in theory. It also had a budget to manage which was provided by the foundation directly. There were some proposed microgrant projects that were rejected despite excellent merit due to fitting the activities of a working group and not the microgrants program (which went on to receive support and be successful that way as far as I can tell). <div dir="auto"><br></div><div dir="auto">Allan, would it be accurate to describe OSMF committees as being focused on rather singular goals, often with a measurable timeline, perhaps as a sort of managed finite project rather than an open ended group of experts like a working group?</div><div dir="auto"><br></div><div dir="auto">For example, Data Working Group consists of experts set to answer questions and formulate ongoing policy about data. Meanwhile, a committee dealing with microgrants is given a fixed budget for one time use and has a single overall task to complete before pretty much shutting down, unless renewed for another term. Both groups are volunteers or appointed from a larger pool of volunteers. One is focused on sprints and one focused on marathons.</div><div dir="auto"><br></div><div dir="auto">I may be wrong so please correct this for the broader community understanding. </div></div><br><div class="gmail_quote"><div dir="ltr" class="gmail_attr">On Wed, Dec 2, 2020, 18:06 Allan Mustard <<a href="mailto:allan.mustard@osmfoundation.org">allan.mustard@osmfoundation.org</a>> wrote:<br></div><blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="margin:0 0 0 .8ex;border-left:1px #ccc solid;padding-left:1ex">
<div>
<p><font face="Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif">Please read my diary
post clarifying what the proposed Articles of Association
amendment is about. There has been confusion about it and I
apologize for not being utterly, totally clear. The diary post
is here:
<a href="https://www.openstreetmap.org/user/apm-wa/diary/394981" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer">https://www.openstreetmap.org/user/apm-wa/diary/394981</a>. Please
feel free to leave comments there or to reply to this talk
message.</font></p>
<p><font face="Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif">The text of the diary
post is as follows:</font></p>
<p>
<blockquote type="cite">
<p style="box-sizing:border-box;margin-top:0px;margin-bottom:1rem;color:rgb(34,34,34);font-size:14px;font-style:normal;font-variant-ligatures:normal;font-variant-caps:normal;font-weight:400;letter-spacing:normal;text-align:left;text-indent:0px;text-transform:none;white-space:normal;word-spacing:0px;background-color:rgb(255,255,255);text-decoration-style:initial;text-decoration-color:initial"><font face="Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif">The OSMF
Board is asking the membership to approve an amendment to
the Articles of Association that will allow Board committees
(specified in the AoA as only consisting of Board members)
to include any Foundation member, associate or full, to
serve on a Board committee. The reason for this is that some
of the Board’s administrative work, such as handling our
finances, has proven very time consuming, more than one
person can handle. Another sphere is the budget preparation,
and yet another is fundraising. Since the Board is also
hiring fulltime staff and engaging contractors, it needs
help with oversight.</font></p>
<p style="box-sizing:border-box;margin-top:0px;margin-bottom:1rem;color:rgb(34,34,34);font-size:14px;font-style:normal;font-variant-ligatures:normal;font-variant-caps:normal;font-weight:400;letter-spacing:normal;text-align:left;text-indent:0px;text-transform:none;white-space:normal;word-spacing:0px;background-color:rgb(255,255,255);text-decoration-style:initial;text-decoration-color:initial"><font face="Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif">Some board
members have been asked if this is intended to supplant the
Working Groups. At least one diary entry has been posted by
a community member asserting that this is the case, and
urging Foundation members to vote against the amendment.</font></p>
<p style="box-sizing:border-box;margin-top:0px;margin-bottom:1rem;color:rgb(34,34,34);font-size:14px;font-style:normal;font-variant-ligatures:normal;font-variant-caps:normal;font-weight:400;letter-spacing:normal;text-align:left;text-indent:0px;text-transform:none;white-space:normal;word-spacing:0px;background-color:rgb(255,255,255);text-decoration-style:initial;text-decoration-color:initial"><font face="Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif">The
proposed AoA amendment is NOT intended to supplant Working
Groups. The Working Groups handle the substantive and
administrative issues of the community, which is separate
from the Foundation and the Board. The Working Groups would
therefore not be affected. As I envision it, the Board
committees would deal with personnel, budget, and
fundraising, none of which fall in the remit of any Working
Group.</font></p>
<p style="box-sizing:border-box;margin-top:0px;margin-bottom:1rem;color:rgb(34,34,34);font-size:14px;font-style:normal;font-variant-ligatures:normal;font-variant-caps:normal;font-weight:400;letter-spacing:normal;text-align:left;text-indent:0px;text-transform:none;white-space:normal;word-spacing:0px;background-color:rgb(255,255,255);text-decoration-style:initial;text-decoration-color:initial"><font face="Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif">I urge
Foundation members to vote in favor of the AoA amendment,
and then to volunteer to serve on one of the Board
committees (and on Working Groups, too, but separately!)</font></p>
</blockquote>
<font face="Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif">Thank you and happy
mapping!</font><br>
</p>
<div>-------<br>
<i>Allan Mustard, Chairperson</i><br>
<i>Board of Directors</i><br>
<i>OpenStreetMap Foundation</i></div>
</div>
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