Great to see several conversations coming together and with some enthusiasm too! :) I'm very keen to work together with others on these ideas. I've also had quite a few discussions with people from the OSGeosphere I've met during meetings this week. I'll try to get some of my thoughts down in email by Monday too.
Tyler On 2011-06-03, at 11:02 AM, Duarte Carreira wrote: > Well this is a coincidence! > > I also feel that some form of active pursue of funding has to happen. > Voluntary initiative to donate funds are a noble approach but one that spurs > little participation. > > It seems clear there is a dividing line where we start to give a negative > impression and that should be avoided at all costs. But a well written letter > directed/personalized to specific organizations that are known to be > big/strong adopters should be well received, and met with a significant > success rate. It's not a shakedown, it's a plea for help. > > This or any other variant for that matter. The key is doing active pursue of > funding. But this is not resonating as much as I thought it would... > > Duarte > > > -----Mensagem original----- > De: Eli Adam [mailto:[email protected]] > Enviada: sexta-feira, 3 de Junho de 2011 17:41 > Para: OSGeo Discussions > Cc: Duarte Carreira > Assunto: Re: [OSGeo-Discuss] Are there proposed ways to raise funds for > OSGeoprojects? > > Duarte, > > I agree with you and have similar ideas. I just recently sent an email > similar (cites National Public Radio and Wikipedia examples) to these ideas > to the Board. http://lists.osgeo.org/pipermail/board/2011-June/003816.html > The premise of my idea is that there are numerous agencies and companies that > have employees with minor budgetary authority to spend ~$500 on software and > these individuals are often using OSGeo projects and getting assistance using > these OSGeo projects on the email lists and IRC. It makes sense that these > people might be involved in sponsorship. What do others think? > > Although not heavily promoted, OSGeo and some projects can accept money > through OSGeo here, http://www.osgeo.org/sponsorship/opportunities Some have > $500 minimums. > > Here is the content of that email: > > Board, > > I started this email about six months ago and wanted to keep refining it and > adding bits, but, it seems to be the opportune time to send it since it is a > current topic for the Board (and it is already far too long - perhaps I > should have spend more time removing not adding). > > I have some ideas pertaining to fundraising that I did not find previously > discussed on the board or fundraising email lists. Searching the wiki and > board minutes didn't turn up this discussion either. Perhaps these ideas > have already been discussed and discarded in other venues. I think that > OSGEO projects could get substantial funds from many corporate and agency > users in $500-$2,000 increments on an annual basis. > > I am thinking of a fundraiser very similar to the National Public Radio style > in the States. That is that for one week instead of providing high quality, > commercial free, respected news and music, they focus at least 50% of the > time on fundraising. In addition to changing the focus to fundraising they > use all methods possible to fundraise. The methods seem almost extreme. It > verges on berating, guilt, coercion, and other less dignified methods. Here > are some clips that highlight some of these methods although mixed with > humor, http://www.vpr.net/episode/49677/ If you have never listened to a NPR > style fundraiser, I would suggest listening to one (although I also suggest > listening to the station for a week without fundraiser to experience some of > the more positive aspects of NPR). There should be one on internet radio > currently, perhaps someone can send out a link when their local station is > fundraising. In all the fundraising the focus is that NPR provides unique, > high quality, commercial free, respected news and music and that you, yes > you, can help provide that unique, high quality, commercial free, respected > news and music that you and others value so much. This is impressed upon you > in that familiar authoritative NPR voice which you have come to trust and > respect over the years. > > NPR has the benefit that people listen to the radio for extended periods of > time at home, at work, and in the car going places. To adopt that approach > to OSGeo, would be project mailing lists, IRC channels, websites, and other > communication methods. From the mailing lists, it is clear that most users > regard OSGeo developers very highly. If these respected developers asked for > $500 support from users once a year, I think that many would respond. > Developers routinely add new formats, functions, fix bugs, answer 10 of > thousands of questions through email and IRC, and otherwise are very > responsive to the users. If these developers spent one week a year asking > for support and boasting their project's accomplishments, users would > respond. Following in the NPR style, some large donor could offer a limited > time match. Company X will match your donation, thus doubling it, up to > $1,500 if you donate in the next 24 hours. We need you to donate to help us > get that $1,500. http://wiki.osgeo.org/wiki/How_Can_I_Help websites, > planet.osgeo.org, personal blogs, developer signatures used on the email list > and everything else would need to be temporarily changed to focus on > fundraising. Just as NPR focuses on "unique, high quality, commercial free, > respected news and music and that you, yes you, can help provide that unique, > high quality, commercial free, respected news and music that you and others > value so much" I think that OSGEO and Projects can focus on the same thing > just replacing "news and music" with "Geospatial software and support" > > I think that this would only work if it were really supported and done by > developers. A developer who has helped you individually, answered 10's of > 1,000's of questions, fixed bugs for you, added new functionality, etc is far > more persuasive than someone who might volunteer just for fundraiser (me) or > even Tyler. > > This could be an opportunity to have people sign themselves up as OSGeo > members too. Perhaps donations could include 'premiums' like a shirt and > coffee mug. > > I think that for the States, a good time of year is the spring (April/May). > > I think that the board is looking into lowering the $500 minimum. While that > could make supporting even more accessible to some users, agencies, and > companies, others that would give $500 may take a $250 option if it is > available. It seems fair to have no minimum level for individuals but a > higher level for agencies and companies. > > Benefits: more funds, broad support from many sources, contributors planned > for it as an annual expense, people sign up as members, shirts and coffee > mugs everywhere is good advertising, more and greater involvement. > > Drawbacks: Developers may not want to fundraise for a week (they are already > busy doing a ton of work), developers may feel that fundraising is demeaning > to them, OSGeo may appear less 'dignified', not all OSGeo projects allow for > support through OSGeo, this could generate a lot of paperwork and mailing for > Tyler who may be busy with other OSGeo tasks (paperwork that raises money may > be considered a benefit also), this really focuses on projects not OSGeo > itself (so this may only be 25% as effective as it could be for OSGeo), > focusing OSGeo, OSGeo projects, and OSGeo developers on fundraising for a > week takes the focus away from the projects, development, email list support, > and other tasks that are usually the focus, these are all ideas for the > people that already contribute the most to OSGeo to do more, it seems that > OSGeo's approach has been to get large sponsors which has been working and > this is different than that and could offend large sponsors, changing email > signatures, IRC topics, websites, and everything else is a lot of work. > > I have listed more drawbacks than benefits but that is because it is easy to > criticize. Also, some of the drawbacks are probably not really drawbacks and > may be positives. > > I think that any non-profit can have a fundraiser 1-2 times a year without > losing prestige. For instance, here is the wikipedia one currently: > http://wikimediafoundation.org/wiki/WMFJA6/en/US?utm_medium=sitenotice&utm_campaign=Saturday1113&utm_source=2010_JA1_Banner3_US&country_code=US > > The second funding idea I have is to contact contractors and businesses that > use OSGeo software and encourage them to ask clients to contribute to the > OSGeo projects that they use. So if you do a project for a client that uses > OpenLayers, ask them to consider a tax-deductible contribution to OpenLayers > that allowed you to do that project for them for substantial savings. Also > explain that supporting the projects will help implement new features which > will keep the software very useful for them continuing into the future as new > formats and technologies emerge. This would essentially be encouraging > contractors and consultants using OSGeo to offer their clients the option of > adding $200-500 to support OSGeo projects which made the whole thing possible > and to help further the projects for their future needs. Perhaps this idea > is an idea for a different thread and discussion. > > Perhaps these ideas can find a place in the overall fundraising outlined > here, http://wiki.osgeo.org/wiki/Fundraising_Strategy I see that some of > these are already included in the 2010 page, > http://wiki.osgeo.org/wiki/Fundraising_2010 > > Bests, Eli > >>>> On 6/3/2011 at 2:55 AM, in message > <[email protected]>, Duarte Carreira > <[email protected]> wrote: >> Have there been any discussions about ways of raising funds for projects >> under the OSGeo umbrella? >> >> For instance, annual fund raising campaigns like Wikipedia does? Or >> letters/emails asking for donations to known "significant" users as >> associations sometimes do? Or using sites specialized in linking users >> requests to developers? I suppose this is to be done by each project >> individually... >> >> What are the current opinions? >> >> Regards, >> Duarte > _______________________________________________ > Discuss mailing list > [email protected] > http://lists.osgeo.org/mailman/listinfo/discuss _______________________________________________ Discuss mailing list [email protected] http://lists.osgeo.org/mailman/listinfo/discuss
