[Osmf-talk] Financing the OSMF

Tue Aug 27 12:58:58 UTC 2013

One thing we haven't really talked about is approaching foundations
for funding. The Wikimedia Foundation does receive these types of
grants in addition to individual fundraising. Usually this type of
fundraising is not without some requirements, but it does allow a
funding source that is not directly tied to commercial entities that
some people are concerned about. Personally I think there should be a
wide approach for fundraising combining both individual donations,
corporation donations, and applying for grants to accomplish specific
goals. An example of a specific goal would be having tile server
mirrors in additional places such as Africa and parts of Asia to make
OSM more accessible to the people living there.

-Kate

On Tue, Aug 27, 2013 at 4:56 AM, Ivo Stankov <ivo at e-stankov.com> wrote:
> I really hope the OSMF does not slide into the slippery slope of online advertising, even if it is just for a select group of "sponsors" at the beginning.
>
> One of the most commendable stances of the Wikimedia Foundation is that it chooses to ignore its huge advertising potential in favour of independence, lack of user tracking, etc.
>
> If they can shoulder such a big operation with donations only, I can't see why the OSMF couldn't.
>
> --
> Sent from my Nokia N9
>
>
> On 27/08/2013 10:26 Marek.Strassenburg-Kleciak at elektrobit.com wrote:
> Smart Idea Jaak,
> why not?
>
>
> Marek  Kleciak
>
>
>
> From: Jaak Laineste (Nutiteq) [mailto:jaak at nutiteq.com]
> Sent: Tuesday, August 27, 2013 10:24 AM
> To: Kai Krueger
> Cc: osmf-talk at openstreetmap.org
> Subject: Re: [Osmf-talk] Financing the OSMF
>
>
> Just for context, one random "website valuation" calculator cubestat [1] estimates yearly advertising revenue potential of openstreetmap.org to over $100.000. Of course no one wants to pollute osm frontpage with google ads, but it looks like monetizing a fraction of it with polite sponsor's logo sector would cover minimal running costs easily.
>
> Specifically, I'd put 3-5 top sponsor logos to a non-prominent place in the frontpage, and add "other sponsors" link to all the rest of them, so natural bidding would end up with fair price. Maybe even upper limit should be set to avoid becoming a cash machine.
>
> [1] http://openstreetmap.org.cubestat.com/
>
> Jaak
>
> On 27.08.2013, at 10:23, Kai Krueger <kakrueger at gmail.com> wrote:
>
>
>
> On 08/27/2013 12:14 AM, Oleksiy Muzalyev wrote:
>
>
> Here is the website of the Los Angeles marathon:
> http://www.lamarathon.com/
>
> As you see the name of the sponsor company "Asics" is not only on its
> logo at the down part of the page, but also in the title itself of the
> event. It is the "Asics LA MArathon".
>
> In 2011, when I ran it, it was called the "Honda LA Marathon".
>
> The largest marathon of the world is called "The Ing New York City
> Marathon":
> http://www.ingnycmarathon.org/
>
> In addition to be present in the title, there is also the logo and link
> to "Ing" bank website at the lower part of the page.
>
> These events are very expensive and cannot be organized without
> sponsors. The sponsors are not hidden but proudly presented as, well, as
> sponsors in the events' titles. It does not make these events less noble
> and everybody understands it.
>
> Participating in these events also costs money, but any runner gets a
> medal on crossing the finish line. Besides one gets the finisher
> certificate and finisher t-shirt. At LA it is electronic certificate in
> the PDF format.
>
> At "Ing New York City Marathon" it is the paper certificate printed on a
> quality paper and signed by Michael Bloomberg, the mayor of New York
> City. The certificate is mailed 3 months after the event in an A4
> envelope with piece of cardboard to avoid crumpling.
>
> Also the name and result of runners who finished in less than 5 hours
> printed in the New York times newspaper. Besides, a medal in New York
> gets the name and result engraved on it.
>
> In 2011 120 thousand applied for New York City marathon and 47500 were
> accepted. But everybody knows the iron-clad rule - cross finish line, -
> get the medal, certificate, finisher t-shirt. Give up - get nothing (it
> is done this way to avoid frivolous registrations).
>
> It is close to impossible to invent a new business model, but it is
> quite possible to research how others solve the problem of financing.
>
> Although I support the idea of exploring the options of certain
> corporate donations, imho it needs to be absolutely clear that OSMF
> remains entirely independent and not influenced by individual corporate
> interests. To ensure this OSMF needs some very clear policies on what is
> acceptable and what not in this respect. However something like the
> "Honda LA Marathon" would imho go far to far. For a (large) donation, a
> sign of gratitude to the donor in form of perhaps a blog post, which
> naturally also generates a certain publicity, seems acceptable. But
> anything beyond that is imho problematic for the core OSMF mission. The
> language distinction between donation and sponsorship is probably rather
> important in this respect and sponsorship of OSMF itself is imho not
> acceptable.
>
> "What do companies want in return for donations?" was possibly poorly
> worded. I was referring more to the kind of bureaucracy companies might
> have to go through in order to make donations and if there is something
> that OSMF can do to facilitate this process. E.g. make sure there is a
> "official" person to talk to, or make sure that OSMF has "marketing
> material" available for project people to make it easier to sell the
> idea of a donation to their management who needs to authorize it, or the
> likes.
>
> OSMF overall in the grand scheme of things still has a pretty small
> budget. And hopefully that ensures that we do have the ability to spread
> it across enough small and medium donations that there aren't any real
> strings attached to any money given. OSMF has to make sure it remains in
> support of the community and its mappers.
>
>
> Kai
>
>
>
>
> brgds
> Oleksiy
> http://www.openstreetmap.org/user/Alex-7
>
> On 27.08.2013 03:30, Kai Krueger wrote:
> ...
>
>
> What do companies want in return for donations?
> ...
>
>
> Kai
>
>
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