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<font face="Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif">Most of the Board members
have no ties to the applicants. As pointed out below, "...Had
Joost and Mikel abstained from the vote, the outcome would not
have changed," so no damage to the Foundation or community was
done. <br>
</font><br>
<font face="Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif">The applications for
microgrants were vetted by a separate Microgrants Committee, which
operated independently.[1] The Board's decisions were based on
that committee's recommendations combined with public
criteria.[2] If anybody believes the Board acted in bad faith in
its decision, that person is welcome to raise such a belief at the
next Board meeting on February 26 during the guest comments
portion of the meeting, and it will be discussed.</font><br>
<font face="Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif">cheers,<br>
apm<br>
</font><br>
<font face="Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif">[1]
<a class="moz-txt-link-freetext" href="https://wiki.osmfoundation.org/wiki/Microgrants/Committee">https://wiki.osmfoundation.org/wiki/Microgrants/Committee</a></font><br>
<font face="Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif">[2]
<a class="moz-txt-link-freetext" href="https://wiki.osmfoundation.org/wiki/Microgrants/Policy_Framework">https://wiki.osmfoundation.org/wiki/Microgrants/Policy_Framework</a><br>
</font>
<p><font face="Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif"><br>
</font></p>
<div class="moz-cite-prefix">On 2/2/2021 9:44 AM, Simon Poole wrote:<br>
</div>
<blockquote type="cite"
cite="mid:a470e144-b42e-15f5-157b-37f2e2fe5b01@poole.ch">Well
better late than never, but naturally the damage has already been
done given that it wasn't exactly secret that grants had gone to
groups with close ties to the board.
<br>
<br>
The amazing thing though, is not that there are people seeking
grants which would cause CoIs with board members, but that such
requests were, and continue to be, permitted applications. They
should have never been, I will share the blame in not noticing
that appropriate rules were missing way back, allowed in the first
place.
<br>
<br>
Simon
<br>
<br>
Am 02.02.2021 um 13:29 schrieb Mikel Maron:
<br>
<blockquote type="cite">Hi,
<br>
<br>
(This email was intended to go out in October, but slipped
through the cracks).
<br>
<br>
The selections presented by the Microgrants Committee to the
Board was unanimously approved in bulk by the Board in our June
2020 meeting. That was a mistake. By voting in bulk, we
overlooked conflicts of interest covered by our policy [1].
<br>
<br>
Our former Board member Joost is on the board of OSM Belgium
which was awarded the Belgium Road Completion microgrant [2]. He
had made clear that he was close to the project, suggested by
his compatriot Jonathan Beliën. Joost had worked on the first
concept back in 2016, and remained interested in the project. He
refrained from participating in discussions on the topic. At the
time of voting, he didn’t realize there was a possible conflict
of interest.
<br>
<br>
Mikel and his wife Erica are both cofounders and on the board of
the Map Kibera Trust, which was awarded the Water and Sanitation
mapping in Nairobi’s informal settlements microgrant [3]. Mikel
did not work on, nor was tracking, this proposal. When voting,
it was his oversight to not declare and abstain.
<br>
<br>
Had Joost and Mikel abstained from the vote, the outcome would
not have changed.
<br>
<br>
Joost and Mikel individually, and as resolved at the September
2020 Board Meeting [4] the board as a whole, want to apologize
for this mistake.
<br>
<br>
To make sure this doesn’t happen again, in the likely event of a
future Microgrants run:
<br>
<br>
* We will no longer vote in bulk if there are projects with
possible CoI.
<br>
* We are going to ask applicants to explicitly state any
relationships they may have with members of the Microgrant
Committee and the Board, reducing work on the already busy
Micrgrants Committee and OSMF Board.
<br>
<br>
- Mikel & Joost & the OSMF Board
<br>
<br>
[1] <a class="moz-txt-link-freetext" href="https://wiki.osmfoundation.org/wiki/Conflict_of_Interest_Policy">https://wiki.osmfoundation.org/wiki/Conflict_of_Interest_Policy</a>
<br>
[2] <a class="moz-txt-link-freetext" href="https://wiki.openstreetmap.org/wiki/Microgrants/Microgrants_2020/Proposal/Road_Completion_project">https://wiki.openstreetmap.org/wiki/Microgrants/Microgrants_2020/Proposal/Road_Completion_project</a>
<br>
[3] <a class="moz-txt-link-freetext" href="https://wiki.openstreetmap.org/wiki/Microgrants/Microgrants_2020/Proposal/Water_and_Sanitation_mapping_in_Nairobi%27s_informal_settlements">https://wiki.openstreetmap.org/wiki/Microgrants/Microgrants_2020/Proposal/Water_and_Sanitation_mapping_in_Nairobi%27s_informal_settlements</a>
<br>
[4] <a class="moz-txt-link-freetext" href="https://wiki.osmfoundation.org/wiki/Board/Minutes/2020-09#Conflicts_of_Interest_disclosure">https://wiki.osmfoundation.org/wiki/Board/Minutes/2020-09#Conflicts_of_Interest_disclosure</a>
<br>
<br>
* Mikel Maron * +14152835207 @mikel s:mikelmaron
<br>
<br>
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</blockquote>
<br>
<br>
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