[OSM-talk] foundation affiliate revenue

[Peter Miller]

The big question with all this is how much are you likely to get from this
source? I suspect the answer is ‘not a lot’! Can we have an estimate and
then we can decide if it is even worth considering.

 

While I am on the subject, I have never seen any accounts for the
foundation, I have no idea how much it spends, I have no idea how much money
it needs or how it is planning to go about raising it.

 

The treasurer’s report for the last AGM does not seem to be available on the
web (I had intended to get to the AGM but the weather was so good and I was
so knackered that I let it pass and sat in the garden instead!)

 

I have indicated before that I think that OpenStreetMap is very fundable
from charitable sources and could well be successful with funding
applications from £5K to £50K if it phrased the application correctly and
the money was actually going to make a difference to something that
mattered. We have the charitable conduit set up already and have used it
successfully. I can make the appropriate introductions if you have the
proposal in the first place.

 

A company recently offered £2K to support legal work and there was not a
murmur of appreciation on the list (there were private offers of
appreciation from the foundation officers I am pleased to say).

 

I know two companies that current pay for mapping, one pays Navteq £100K per
year and the other was quoted £33K by Navteq and I am suggesting they
haggle. These companies may be prepared to support something that brings
down their costs.

 

The UK department for transport has just allocated £250K to pay commercial
companies to collect cycling data for 2 cities in the UK, that’s ¼ million
pounds. I think OSMF should challenge them to give 10% of the money to
support OpenStreetMap.

 

If I sound a little frustrated it is because I am a bit frustrated. I see
people thinking small when they should be thinking big. Possibly I am just
ill-informed, but if I am then I suspect that other foundation members are
as well.

 

 

 

 

Regards,

 

 

 

 

Peter

            

 

 

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