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Ned Ludd wrote: |
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> What are some of the things you would do to try and |
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> accomplish this goal? |
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|
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In order to raise money, we need a budget - a target to focus folks on. The |
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budget depends on where we hold the event, when, and what we do at the |
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event. We need to tackle that, and build a ballpark figure. It also |
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depends on how many are attending, and whether or not everyone needs |
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financial assistance to attend. There's a lot to do there - including |
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convincing Gentoo devs to attend (not taking that for granted!) - we'll need |
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to build a team to handle the work between us, make sure it's transparent, |
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and that we're planning an event that Gentoo devs will want to be part of. |
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There are going to be folks in the wider Gentoo community who can help make |
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this happen - we'll be looking to engage them, and get them involved too. |
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We're going to need folks on the ground in different countries, because part |
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of the fundraising will probably require meeting donors face to face. |
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|
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Another important point, before we can set a budget, is scope. Should this |
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be a dev-only event, or should it also include something for Gentoo users |
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too? That would change the whole dynamic; the size & content would change, |
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the overall budget would change, and we could use attendee charges to help |
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assist Gentoo devs attending. |
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|
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When it comes to assisting devs ... what are the rules to qualify for |
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assistance? Are they means-tested? Do they depend on what you do for |
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Gentoo, or how long you have been a dev? Should we run an 'adopt a dev' |
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sponsorship campaign, where we ask users to donate to assist a named dev? |
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Is there another assistance scheme we could use instead? |
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|
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I am making a fundamental assumption here that we should be assisting devs, |
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so that they can attend. That needs looking at. Maybe we don't actually |
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need to do so. Maybe we shouldn't be doing so. I think we should, but |
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there hasn't been any sort of debate about this. |
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|
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Once we have our estimated budget, we need to raise the money. Here, there |
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are issues to sort out. I'm unclear about the financial (and, tbh, legal) |
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situation of the Foundation, and I doubt I'm the only one. Even before we |
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start figuring out how to raise the money, we need to ensure that the |
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Foundation has the capability of handling the money, and the financial |
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controls in place to ensure that the money does not get mis-appropriated. |
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|
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Actually raising the money ... we need to identify different sources of |
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money, and pursue the right strategy for each source. Some sources include: |
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|
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- our users, |
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- companies that make money from Gentoo, |
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- companies that use Gentoo, |
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- the wider Linux community, who like our docs and our forums and |
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our willingness to help folks from other distros |
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- the media, and other folks who have things they could sell to |
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folks @ the conference |
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- foundations and trusts that exist to donate money to appropriate |
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causes |
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- local and national governments and their agencies |
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- folks who don't use Linux at all |
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|
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I'm sure that there are more that we can find. |
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|
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We could just do what the local hospital does ... we put a big |
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target-o-meter in a prominent place, and appeal to people's conscience to |
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help it move up from zero to what we need. Has the advantage of being a |
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clear and easy-to-digest concept to sell. |
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|
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Companies are traditionally tackled through the "sponsorship" approach. We |
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could just hope that companies sponsor our conference out of the goodness of |
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their hearts - it's worked for the UK conferences to date :) - but a more |
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successful approach would be to create a valuable package for a sponsor to |
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buy into. When I say "package", I'm not talking software. I'm essentially |
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talking marketing - taking their currency in exchange for giving them value |
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in return. It'll take us numerous iterations to get this one right, but |
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longer-term it'll be a more successful approach than simply handing round |
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the begging bowl. |
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|
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The Foundation's legal status could have a bearing on the fundraising. |
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We'll need advice on exactly where we can accept money from, and in what |
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amounts. I know Freenode are affected by this; at this moment in time, I |
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don't know whether we are also affected by this or not. It's worth asking |
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the question of whether we should organise this directly through the |
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Foundation, or whether a separate legal entity would be more appropriate. |
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|
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Speaking of which ... simply getting folks worldwide to donate to the |
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US-based Foundation misses out on some sources of funding. The UK (for one) |
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runs a scheme called Gift Aid, where tax can be reclaimed on money donated |
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to UK charities. Although it would create an administration overhead, |
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establishing a world-wide network of local Gentoo Foundations would |
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longer-term increase our ability to raise money. Such a network would also |
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allow us to cast a wider net, and apply for funding from sources within each |
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country, and would also make it easier for local businesses to donate to |
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their national Gentoo charity / not for profit. |
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|
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Let me sell that idea another way. Imagine going to www.gentoo.org/donate/, |
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and being presented with a form for you to donate money. The first page, |
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there would be a dropdown box, allowing you to indicate which country you |
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reside in. When you select your country, we would take you to a second |
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page, which would be a localised donation form for your country, which would |
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take advantage of whatever tax breaks your country offered. We make sure |
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that the money goes into your country's Gentoo bank account, where the local |
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trustees become responsible for it. |
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|
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Establishing this local charity network is a massive undertaking, and it's |
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unlikely to be in place in time for the 2007 conference. But it's worth |
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doing in the longer term, not only because we can raise more money than by |
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having a distant Foundation in the U.S., but also because a local charity |
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can also do local educational things with Gentoo - and that will keep |
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bringing in new blood to our ranks. It's not just about the money - it's |
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about building a global organisation to take Gentoo from the Internet and |
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into local communities. And without having to try and establish a |
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commercial arm, to compete with the other distros. We remain a community |
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distro, and we get to widen our community far beyond the propeller head ranks. |
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|
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To increase the chance of success, we need Gentoo's PR machine fixing (work |
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has started on that today, interested volunteers should knock on frilling's |
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door), and that will probably have a knock-on effect on www.g.o's homepage. |
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We need to make Gentoo more accessible to the folks in the media, and we |
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need to improve the understanding that we are truly a community distro, and |
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all that being a community distro means. We need a PR machine that can |
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create the right associations in people's minds, so that they feel more |
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inclined to part with their money. We need a PR machine to "sell" Gentoo as |
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a concept, and as a movement. |
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|
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One thing I haven't done yet is get in touch with the organisers of other |
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events. There are plenty of people who have been successfully running |
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international conferences for years; their experience and advice will help |
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us a lot too. |
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|
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Why do I think I'm the right person to make this happen? (You haven't |
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asked, but it seems appropriate to include here). First, I'm proposing to |
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act when no-one else is. My apologies if I've missed it, but I'm not aware |
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of any existing trustee, or any candidate for this year's election, who is |
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proposing that we do this. From other open-source projects that I'm |
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involved with, I've seen first-hand that there is no substitute for folks |
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having met and spent time with each other to resolve communication problems. |
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|
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I've never run a legally-formed charity, but I have repeated experience of |
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setting up and running volunteer organisations, and departments and teams |
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within commercial organisations spanning back 14 years. I have run my own |
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business. My roots are in free software. I've been maintaining GPL'd |
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software since 1994; first of which was to create dialog-0.4 specifically |
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for Slackware 2.0.1. (No, this does not mean that I'll be accepting bugs |
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against dialog ;-) dialog is the tool that manages the text-based UI for |
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nearly all Linux text-based installers; lxdialog included in the kernel is |
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derived from it. |
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|
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I setup the successful Gentoo UK conference, which has now been running for |
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three years. I'd like to now take things to the next level, and create a |
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world-wide conference for all our devs. |
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|
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I really believe that we can create an international conference - *if* we |
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want it enough - and make it a recurring event. |
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|
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Best regards, |
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Stu |
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-- |
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Stuart Herbert stuart@g.o |
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Gentoo Developer http://www.gentoo.org/ |
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http://blog.stuartherbert.com/ |
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|
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GnuPG key id# F9AFC57C available from http://pgp.mit.edu |
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Key fingerprint = 31FB 50D4 1F88 E227 F319 C549 0C2F 80BA F9AF C57C |
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-- |