[Osmf-talk] Consultation on fundraising strategy
Allan Mustard
allan at mustard.net
Fri Mar 17 14:19:43 UTC 2023
Well, I must disagree with you, Steve. The conference is a side issue
and was not a function of the Board of Directors or its members, so it's
not fair to pin lack of a SOTM this year on the Board.
Now, as to the costs, the community survey conducted in 2021 showed that
just over 81 percent of respondents approved or strongly approved of the
Board’s decision to begin raising funds via large donations. Only 4.3%
disapproved or strongly disapproved. The reasons for this attitude were
reflected in the priorities the community voted for, with the top
priority being reliability and stability of the platform. This community
response drove the Board's decision to contract for services of a site
reliability engineer (to ensure system reliability) and to take over the
cost of a software developer (the ID developer contract) when previous
sponsors of that work withdrew. Just over three quarters of respondents
to the survey approved of the contract to engage a full‐time iD
maintainer. About 5.9% of respondents disapproved or strongly
disapproved. In short, there was overwhelming support for the Board
decisions that created these financial obligations.[1]
As an aside, support from Foundation members mirrored support from the
community as a whole. The differences in mean responses amounted to a
few hundredths of a percent.[1]
Further, 81.4% of respondents approved or strongly approved of the
Board’s funding of short‐term grants to upgrade Nominatim, osm2pgsql,
and Potlatch. Slightly under 4 percent disapproved or strongly
disapproved. This was the least controversial feedback question in the
2021 survey. [1]
I don't see here a "bailout" but rather a concerted effort to a)
establish a better budgeting process so OSMF can better support
community and Foundation member priorities, b) better stage ourselves to
be a "map of the world that anyone can use" that is the first map of
choice, while adhering to the proven concepts of crowd sourcing and
volunteerism (for which we thank you, Steve), and c) constrain growth in
financial obligations, based on the draft strategic plan on which Craig
Allan, Sarah Hoffman, and I are working, the outline of which has been
out for public comment since 2021.[2] [3]
My two manats' worth.
cheers,
Allan Mustard
[1]
https://wiki.osmfoundation.org/w/images/4/44/2021_OSMF_survey_summary_stats.ods
[2] https://wiki.osmfoundation.org/wiki/Strategic_Plan_2023_Cycle
[3] https://wiki.osmfoundation.org/wiki/Strategic_Plan_Outline#Preamble
On 3/17/2023 9:02 AM, Steve Coast wrote:
> I’m also highlighting the incompetence of the OSMF. If they can’t run
> a conference, or cut costs, does it make any sense at all to send them
> boat loads of money?
>
> It’s pretty clear to some audiences at least that we need to rethink
> the OSMF, not bail them out:
>
> The @openstreetmap Foundation seems to in some kind of zombie/failure
> state and needs a reboot. Agree? https://t.co/GWMlJ4pHYO #OpenStreetMap
> twitter.2.ico
> <https://twitter.com/stevec/status/1636525391350480896?s=46&t=puDs0lWV9Yc38mk7hFGn-Q>
>
> stevecoast.eth
> <https://twitter.com/stevec/status/1636525391350480896?s=46&t=puDs0lWV9Yc38mk7hFGn-Q>
> twitter.com
> <https://twitter.com/stevec/status/1636525391350480896?s=46&t=puDs0lWV9Yc38mk7hFGn-Q>
>
> <https://twitter.com/stevec/status/1636525391350480896?s=46&t=puDs0lWV9Yc38mk7hFGn-Q>
>
>
> Best
>
> Steve
>
>> On Mar 17, 2023, at 1:25 AM, Simon Poole <simon at poole.ch> wrote:
>>
>>
>>
>> Steve is just being snarky.
>>
>> - 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.
>>
>> - 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).
>>
>> 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.
>>
>> Simon
>>
>> Am 17.03.2023 um 01:26 schrieb john whelan:
>>> 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?
>>>
>>> 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.
>>>
>>> Cheerio John
>>>
>>> On Thu, Mar 16, 2023, 20:15 Steve Coast <steve at stevecoast.com> wrote:
>>>
>>> My idea would be to have some kind of conference event, where
>>> sponsors could pay to get priority speaking slots and booths.
>>>
>>> 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.
>>>
>>> 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.
>>>
>>> Perhaps someone has had this idea already or even implemented it
>>> in the past?
>>>
>>>
>>> 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.
>>>
>>>
>>> A good starting point for such discussions could be, what is the
>>> money specifically going towards, and why is OSMF spending it
>>> that way?
>>>
>>> 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.
>>>
>>> Best
>>>
>>> Steve
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>>> On Mar 16, 2023, at 12:17 PM, Mikel Maron
>>>> <mikel.maron at gmail.com> wrote:
>>>>
>>>> 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.
>>>>
>>>> https://wiki.osmfoundation.org/wiki/Board/Minutes/2023-02-09#On_2023_budget
>>>>
>>>> In the fall, we started planning for this by taking part in a
>>>> workshop on fundraising strategy and operations
>>>> Board/Minutes/2022-10 - OpenStreetMap Foundation
>>>> <https://wiki.osmfoundation.org/wiki/Board/Minutes/2022-10#Fundraising_workshops>.
>>>>
>>>> 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.
>>>>
>>>> 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.
>>>>
>>>> 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.
>>>>
>>>> Please share viewpoints here, or if you prefer directly with
>>>> board at osmfoundation.org. We will receive your input over the
>>>> next week until March 22.
>>>>
>>>> -Mikel
>>>>
>>>> * Mikel Maron * +14152835207 @mikel s:mikelmaron
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