[Osmf-talk] clarification of the AoA amendment on board committees

[Christopher Beddow]

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).

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?

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.

I may be wrong so please correct this for the broader community
understanding.

On Wed, Dec 2, 2020, 18:06 Allan Mustard <allan.mustard at osmfoundation.org>
wrote:

> 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:
> https://www.openstreetmap.org/user/apm-wa/diary/394981.  Please feel free
> to leave comments there or to reply to this talk message.
>
> The text of the diary post is as follows:
>
> 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.
>
> 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.
>
> 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.
>
> 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!)
>
> Thank you and happy mapping!
> -------
> *Allan Mustard, Chairperson*
> *Board of Directors*
> *OpenStreetMap Foundation*
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