I'm happy to answer any Travel Assistance (TAC) related questions. At this stage, I don’t see any reason why as a one off funds cannot be added to the TAC budget and held in reserve for ASF sponsored OOo related events.
HTH Gav... > -----Original Message----- > From: Wolf Halton [mailto:[email protected]] > Sent: Saturday, 11 February 2012 7:42 AM > To: [email protected] > Subject: Re: Proposal for use of funds collected by SPI > > On Fri, Feb 10, 2012 at 4:02 PM, Rob Weir <[email protected]> wrote: > > On Fri, Feb 10, 2012 at 3:29 PM, Wolf Halton <[email protected]> > wrote: > >> Summary: SPI has been collecting moneys for the OpenOffice.org > >> project for quite a while. They wanted to help the project and their > >> help is appreciated. Now that we are part of the ASF family, we have > >> some important choices to make. > >> > >> First and foremost, we must request SPI to stop their collections > >> efforts. AOO cannot receive the money directly as ASF does that. > >> Second, we need to find out how much they have collected so far. > >> Third, we need to decide how we would like to use the money they have > >> collected. > >> In general, it would make sense to use the funds for holding > >> or supporting events, with guidance from the ASF Conference Committee > >> > >> travel assistance with guidance from the aptly named > >> Travel Assistance Committee > >> > >> and possibly marketing with help from the Trademarks Committee > >> and Marketing Committee > >> > >> We absolutely cannot pay people to develop our software with > >> the money, per ASF rules. > >> I volunteered to move this forward and I would like your feedback, > >> maybe a general poll of what you, the community, would like to do > >> with the money. > >> > > Thanks for the link, Rob. I must have been channeling the page with my list > above, as it is essentially the list on the original page. > :-) > > > > > When OpenOffice.org was collecting the funds, it told contributors > > that the funds would be used for certain purposes. You can see the > > language that was used here: > > > > http://web.archive.org/web/20100105132519/http://contributing.openoffi > > ce.org/donate.html > > > > I think we have latitude to use the funds for any purpose that is > > listed there, *and* which is also something Apache is able to spend > > money on, per charter and per policy. > > > > As you mentioned, we cannot use the funds to pay for developers. But > > the other uses listed there, like travel assistance for conferences, > > etc., makes sense to me. > > > > Hopefully, if there is no objection to that general outline, we can go > > ahead and transfer the funds. I think the goal should be to transfer > > the lump sum balance to Apache, and them disburse individual payments > > from that fund rather than to make individual requests to SPI. We > > should look to get the lump sum, and them use ASF mechanisms for > > approving the detailed disbursement plan, and that might occur over a > > longer period of time. > > > > Also, when you contact SPI, be sure to thank them for their past > > efforts in helping OpenOffice.org collect donations in the US. They > > did a fine job and we are grateful for that work. But the reason for > > using SPI was to enable easier collection of donations from US > > residents. Now that we're at Apache, a US-based non-profit > > corporation, this help is no longer needed. > > > > -Rob > > > >> Once I have some idea of your wishes, I will connect the dots to > >> close this issue. > >> > >> Cheers, > >> > >> Wolf Halton > >> > >> -- > >> This Apt Has Super Cow Powers - http://sourcefreedom.com Advancing > >> Libraries Together - http://LYRASIS.org > > SPI has been very helpful - working in the background, as have so many > other organizations and entities. > I am planning to thank them for all their efforts on our behalf. > > -- > This Apt Has Super Cow Powers - http://sourcefreedom.com Advancing > Libraries Together - http://LYRASIS.org
