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    <p>Steve is just being snarky. <br>
    </p>
    <p>- historically the surplus from conferences was essentially the
      OSMFs sole source of non-earmarked funds. However that hasn't been
      true for quite a long time.</p>
    <p>- corporation tax is due on all such activities (conferences,
      merch etc), and yes when you are selling something to somebody you
      have to provide them with the goods etc. (aka more expenses).<br>
    </p>
    <p>Conferences are not likely to go away as one source of funds for
      the OSMF, however scaling the activities so that they could
      conceivably produce half a million post tax would seem to be a
      very tall order.</p>
    <p>Simon<br>
    </p>
    <div class="moz-cite-prefix">Am 17.03.2023 um 01:26 schrieb john
      whelan:<br>
    </div>
    <blockquote type="cite"
cite="mid:CAJ-Ex1FRY6bHOQYDcUBdEnzttQVeMsWgvzLDX5ybY6Q9bLgLKw@mail.gmail.com">
      <meta http-equiv="content-type" content="text/html; charset=UTF-8">
      <div dir="auto">I think this idea has merit.  I also think there
        should be a way for even a small business to use OSM to display
        their location.  That way it can be a business expense rather
        than a questionable donation?
        <div dir="auto"><br>
        </div>
        <div dir="auto">Are we set up as a charity in any country? 
          Normally I would expect to get a deduction on my tax bill if I
          donate to a charity but only if it is a Canadian registered
          charity.</div>
        <div dir="auto"><br>
        </div>
        <div dir="auto">Cheerio John</div>
      </div>
      <br>
      <div class="gmail_quote">
        <div dir="ltr" class="gmail_attr">On Thu, Mar 16, 2023, 20:15
          Steve Coast <<a href="mailto:steve@stevecoast.com"
            moz-do-not-send="true" class="moz-txt-link-freetext">steve@stevecoast.com</a>>
          wrote:<br>
        </div>
        <blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="margin:0 0 0
          .8ex;border-left:1px #ccc solid;padding-left:1ex">
          <div style="line-break:after-white-space">
            My idea would be to have some kind of conference event,
            where sponsors could pay to get priority speaking slots and
            booths.
            <div><br>
            </div>
            <div>They could get their logo prominently displayed on the
              website, and on, say, a conference t-shirt. The pricing
              could be set to both cover the conference but also there
              could be large leftover funds to run the foundation if it
              were well managed.</div>
            <div><br>
            </div>
            <div>One of the many advantages of this is that companies
              often find it easier to fund something if there is a
              reason, something they get in exchange, like conference
              slots and so on, rather than throwing money in to an
              eternal black hole, with nothing to show for it.</div>
            <div><br>
            </div>
            <div>Perhaps someone has had this idea already or even
              implemented it in the past?</div>
            <div>
              <div>
                <div><br>
                </div>
                <div><br>
                </div>
                <div>Another idea could be to somehow lower costs,
                  perhaps by removing unnecessary or superfluous costs
                  which may have grown dramatically over time. Or
                  perhaps by making sure OSMF costs only directly
                  benefit OSM, instead of, say, offering mapping
                  services for free to the entire internet, or paying
                  for people and associated costs which could be
                  replaced by ChatGPT or Excel.</div>
                <div><br>
                </div>
                <div><br>
                </div>
                <div>A good starting point for such discussions could
                  be, what is the money specifically going towards, and
                  why is OSMF spending it that way?</div>
                <div><br>
                </div>
                <div>If OSMF got a very large donation, say in the form
                  of cryptocurrency, that donation could be used to
                  hedge cost variations over time and ensure continuity.</div>
                <div><br>
                </div>
                <div>Best</div>
                <div><br>
                </div>
                <div>Steve</div>
                <div><br>
                </div>
                <div><br>
                  <div><br>
                    <blockquote type="cite">
                      <div>On Mar 16, 2023, at 12:17 PM, Mikel Maron
                        <<a href="mailto:mikel.maron@gmail.com"
                          target="_blank" rel="noreferrer"
                          moz-do-not-send="true"
                          class="moz-txt-link-freetext">mikel.maron@gmail.com</a>>
                        wrote:</div>
                      <br>
                      <div>
                        <div>
                          <div style="font-family:Helvetica
                            Neue,Helvetica,Arial,sans-serif;font-size:16px">
                            <div>
                              <div dir="ltr">
                                <div>
                                  <p
style="margin-top:0px;color:rgb(34,34,34);font-family:Arial,sans-serif;font-size:15.008px">For
                                    2023, the OSMF Board has decided to
                                    target a balanced budget. Given our
                                    expected income and expenses, there
                                    is a gap of approximately 500K GBP
                                    that we need to fundraise for.</p>
                                  <p
style="color:rgb(34,34,34);font-family:Arial,sans-serif;font-size:15.008px"><a
href="https://wiki.osmfoundation.org/wiki/Board/Minutes/2023-02-09#On_2023_budget"
style="background-color:transparent" rel="nofollow noreferrer"
                                      target="_blank"
                                      moz-do-not-send="true"
                                      class="moz-txt-link-freetext">https://wiki.osmfoundation.org/wiki/Board/Minutes/2023-02-09#On_2023_budget</a></p>
                                  <p
style="color:rgb(34,34,34);font-family:Arial,sans-serif;font-size:15.008px">In
                                    the fall, we started planning for
                                    this by taking part in a workshop on
                                    fundraising strategy and operations <a
href="https://wiki.osmfoundation.org/wiki/Board/Minutes/2022-10#Fundraising_workshops"
style="background-color:transparent" rel="nofollow noreferrer"
                                      target="_blank"
                                      moz-do-not-send="true">Board/Minutes/2022-10
                                      - OpenStreetMap Foundation</a>.</p>
                                  <p
style="color:rgb(34,34,34);font-family:Arial,sans-serif;font-size:15.008px">What
                                    has been clear is that we need a
                                    diversified campaign engaging wide
                                    community for small amounts, and
                                    target larger asks to businesses and
                                    major giving from individuals. This
                                    needs to be organized and executed
                                    effectively – there is a lot of
                                    communication, outreach, development
                                    of new mechanisms for giving, etc.</p>
                                  <p
style="color:rgb(34,34,34);font-family:Arial,sans-serif;font-size:15.008px">We
                                    are considering contracting an
                                    experience consultant who is already
                                    engaged in OpenStreetMap community
                                    to assist us in this process. The
                                    usual set up for such is a small
                                    percentage fee of what’s raised.
                                    They would work closely with the
                                    Board and fundraising committee, as
                                    well as share details of process
                                    publicly in regular diary entries.
                                    All of this is designed in mind to
                                    make the fundraising campaign
                                    reflect how we work as a community.
                                    We think this is low risk, high
                                    reward, and that dedicated attention
                                    to fundraising is necessary to make
                                    it successful.</p>
                                  <p
style="color:rgb(34,34,34);font-family:Arial,sans-serif;font-size:15.008px">We’ll
                                    need everyone’s help as well – from
                                    getting the word out, creatively
                                    engaging potential donors, to making
                                    asks, to of course kicking in a bit
                                    of money too.</p>
                                  <p
style="color:rgb(34,34,34);font-family:Arial,sans-serif;font-size:15.008px">Please
                                    share viewpoints here, or if you
                                    prefer directly with <a
                                      href="mailto:board@osmfoundation.org"
style="background-color:transparent" rel="nofollow noreferrer"
                                      target="_blank"
                                      moz-do-not-send="true"
                                      class="moz-txt-link-freetext">board@osmfoundation.org</a>.
                                    We will receive your input over the
                                    next week until March 22.</p>
                                </div>
                                -Mikel</div>
                              <div><br>
                              </div>
                              <div>* Mikel Maron * +14152835207 @mikel
                                s:mikelmaron</div>
                            </div>
                          </div>
                        </div>
                        _______________________________________________<br>
                        osmf-talk mailing list<br>
                        <a href="mailto:osmf-talk@openstreetmap.org"
                          target="_blank" rel="noreferrer"
                          moz-do-not-send="true"
                          class="moz-txt-link-freetext">osmf-talk@openstreetmap.org</a><br>
                        <a
                          href="https://lists.openstreetmap.org/listinfo/osmf-talk"
                          target="_blank" rel="noreferrer"
                          moz-do-not-send="true"
                          class="moz-txt-link-freetext">https://lists.openstreetmap.org/listinfo/osmf-talk</a><br>
                      </div>
                    </blockquote>
                  </div>
                  <br>
                </div>
              </div>
            </div>
          </div>
          _______________________________________________<br>
          osmf-talk mailing list<br>
          <a href="mailto:osmf-talk@openstreetmap.org" target="_blank"
            rel="noreferrer" moz-do-not-send="true"
            class="moz-txt-link-freetext">osmf-talk@openstreetmap.org</a><br>
          <a href="https://lists.openstreetmap.org/listinfo/osmf-talk"
            rel="noreferrer noreferrer" target="_blank"
            moz-do-not-send="true" class="moz-txt-link-freetext">https://lists.openstreetmap.org/listinfo/osmf-talk</a><br>
        </blockquote>
      </div>
      <br>
      <fieldset class="moz-mime-attachment-header"></fieldset>
      <pre class="moz-quote-pre" wrap="">_______________________________________________
osmf-talk mailing list
<a class="moz-txt-link-abbreviated" href="mailto:osmf-talk@openstreetmap.org">osmf-talk@openstreetmap.org</a>
<a class="moz-txt-link-freetext" href="https://lists.openstreetmap.org/listinfo/osmf-talk">https://lists.openstreetmap.org/listinfo/osmf-talk</a>
</pre>
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