[Osmf-talk] Funding of iD Development and Maintenance

[michael spreng]

Hi,

On 05.08.20 14:14, Frederik Ramm wrote:
> Or the other way round, possibly you meant that by "arms-length
> organisations", that the OSMF becomes the nondescript charity that only
> has a couple of trademarks and rights, and all the operative business is
> run by the "OpenStreetMap Services Ltd." or whatever, which would be the
> organisation that can fail without tearing down the project.

I was just thinking the same thing. It would feel a lot better if we
could spin employing editor developers out into another organization.
Apart from the usual politics, I am afraid of fundraising resulting from
this four times increase in expenses (From 75k in 2018 to estimated
325k). I feel bad about fundraising, because it means spending a
significant amount of the money you get as donations to get them in the
first place (around 20% at least). Personally, I have a hard time
fitting professional fundraising into an ethical framework that makes
sense to me.

I understand the desire to react to this crisis in iD development.
However, I don't think someone should now be employed 100% for that. The
OSMF is not ready for such a huge jump in expenses.

Michael