[Osmf-talk] Operating reserves

[Christoph Hormann]

On Monday 14 December 2020, Jean-Marc Liotier wrote:

> Nevertheless, this satisfactory state of affairs remains the informal
> result of the Board's cautious management. In keeping with my pledge
> of reinforcing the Openstreetmap Foundation's financial
> sustainability, I wish to take it a step further and advocate for the
> Board to produce an Operating Reserve Policy for a Board-Designated
> Operating Reserve.
>
> I think that would indeed be a prudent measure, if for nothing else to 
properly and publicly document best practice.  And i very much
appreciate you bringing this up in public discussion from the start -
this is a very positive step.

I do however have a few points i would like to mention in that regard:


* basing such a rule on the budget alone is somewhat problematic because 
the budget does not in any way practically restrict actual money spending 
by the board in substance. It is a bit different for the working groups - 
however during the last year most of the concrete money spending was 
decided on by the board itself. It might be more prudent to not just 
apply it as a limit to the budget but to all contractual and moral 
financial obligations of the OSMF (see also Simon's comment on that).
* one frequent side effect of fiscal constraints is that it gives

additional power to whoever has the thumb on it - which in this case 
would most likely be the board.  In Germany the fiscal constraints on 
public spending (Schuldenbremse) is often used as an argument by the 
government against spending money on things they don't want to spend 
money on ("that would cost so much and we have to look at the fiscal 
constraints") while it does not ensure frugality on spendings the 
government wants to do.  In other words:  It is used as leverage in 
public discussion and political negotiations to support the spending 
habits of the government even against valid arguments and public 
opinion.  That does not mean this has to be the outcome in the case of 
the OSMF as well, but it would be prudent to keep this in mind.
* the idea of a shadow budget - exempt from sustainability principles for 
paid work considered optional or 'luxury' for the OSMF fulfilling its 
function - is something i consider highly problematic for multiple 
reasons. First of all for the basic legal and moral side, since the 
obligations of the OSMF in this field are no different from those for the 
core budget. Second and more importantly because of the implications on 
the work of those people and the conflict this might create with previous 
claims and policy of the OSMF 
(https://wiki.osmfoundation.org/wiki/Hiring_Framework). If you

communicate to an employee (or even more relevant: an independent 
contractor who you can terminate the contract with at short notice) that 
their continued work for the OSMF is directly tied to the continued 
availability of targeted funding then that essentially implies the 
instruction to do nothing that would in any way go against the interests 
of those providing the money and that could endanger the continued money 
stream from the financiers.  To put it bluntly:  Having a paid sysadmin 
who has to fear for their job in case Apple, Amazon and Facebook pull 
their financial support because the sysadmin has done something that they 
dislike would be a very bad situation.  Independent of the question if 
this is likely to practically happen, the OSMF indicating that this might 
be the situation is already a problem IMO.

I also agree with Simon that the overall budget/actual spendings for 2021 
will most likely be higher than the board envisions it to be at present 
time because the existing spending plans are likely to incur additional 
costs not yet budgeted for and there are a significant number of likely 
other costs (like related to measures to be taken w.r.t. Brexit).  Much 
will of course depend on when the employment for the sysadmin position 
will start - delay in that would decrease the spending in 2021 obviously.

-- 
Christoph Hormann
https://www.imagico.de/