Re: Premium sponsor ship offerings [WAS Re: recruiting sponsors]
On Fri, Jun 12, 2009 at 4:09 AM, Dave Neary wrote: > I am proposing that we in no way create any appearance of a link between > sponsoring the GNOME Foundation and being on the advisory board. They're not > the same thing. > > A note. It's quite common for nonprofits to require that directors donate money. So a donation doesn't mean a seat, but an invitation to a seat means you have to donate. (And usually those people are asked to help fundraise.) So we could say something like Board of Advisors is by invite only. Sponsorship at XYZ level is required of all advisors. As another note, I believe the advisors would be more than willing to talk to potential sponsors for us. One of the Intel guys has offered several times. Stormy -- marketing-list mailing list marketing-list@gnome.org http://mail.gnome.org/mailman/listinfo/marketing-list
Re: Premium sponsor ship offerings [WAS Re: recruiting sponsors]
I will work at dividing all the benefits into different levels of sponsorship on a wiki page when I get back from vacation. (I will be back on the 24th.) I'll try to have it on the wiki by GUADEC so we can point people at it and get feedback and have conversations in person with existing or potential sponsors. Stormy On Fri, Jun 12, 2009 at 4:09 AM, Dave Neary wrote: > Hi, > > Jaap A. Haitsma wrote: > >> So you are proposing that people in the advisory board should pay more >> that people that are just sponsors? >> > > I am proposing that we in no way create any appearance of a link between > sponsoring the GNOME Foundation and being on the advisory board. They're not > the same thing. > > People on the advisory board are paying to ensure the GNOME Foundation > continues to exist because of the value we create for them, and this value > is considerable. And so the amount they pay should be considerable. > > Peoiple sponsoring GNOME are doing so essentially out of a desire to help > out and "give back". And so it seems natural that they will give less for a > similar sized company. > > > You need an "enterprise version", a "home version" and a "student version" >>> of GNOME sponsorship, but the key is that they can't be the same thing, >>> or >>> the big guys won't give. >>> >>> >> What according to you should be the concrete proposal besides the >> sponsorship proposal you gave >> > > I think the list of potential benefits was great - in particular, if we get > the take-up, formalising a GNOME Users Summit which includes big GNOME users > invited to attend (ideally, involving the sales & marketing people in IBM, > Novell, Canonical, Red Hat, etc, to get some of their big clients in > attendance) sounds like a great benefit - although a big job to organise. > "Yearly meeting at GUADEC" sounds unrealistic and not necessarily desirable > to me - at GUADEC we have hackers and the advisory board meeting, a user > group meeting could be smaller, more intimate, and perhaps a little more > up-market. > > The lower-cost, lower-effort benefits like access to the executive > director, monthly conference calls on product plans, sponsorship presence on > the web site and in annual (or quarterly?) reports should be basic to every > package, scaling logo prominence according to donation level. > > I don't like selling presentations for GUADEC, it's something I've been > vocal against in the past. > > Like I said, the brainstormed ideas are mostly great, and just need to be > packaged to have 3 levels, with the levels set right. > > For corporate donor packages, I like $2000/$5000/$1 as the levels, but > you should bear in mind the cost of each level - organising a user summit > will cost a lot of money, and it'll be tough to get it sponsored. > > > Cheers, > Dave. > -- > Dave Neary > GNOME Foundation member > dne...@gnome.org > -- marketing-list mailing list marketing-list@gnome.org http://mail.gnome.org/mailman/listinfo/marketing-list
Re: Premium sponsor ship offerings [WAS Re: recruiting sponsors]
Hi, Jaap A. Haitsma wrote: So you are proposing that people in the advisory board should pay more that people that are just sponsors? I am proposing that we in no way create any appearance of a link between sponsoring the GNOME Foundation and being on the advisory board. They're not the same thing. People on the advisory board are paying to ensure the GNOME Foundation continues to exist because of the value we create for them, and this value is considerable. And so the amount they pay should be considerable. Peoiple sponsoring GNOME are doing so essentially out of a desire to help out and "give back". And so it seems natural that they will give less for a similar sized company. You need an "enterprise version", a "home version" and a "student version" of GNOME sponsorship, but the key is that they can't be the same thing, or the big guys won't give. What according to you should be the concrete proposal besides the sponsorship proposal you gave I think the list of potential benefits was great - in particular, if we get the take-up, formalising a GNOME Users Summit which includes big GNOME users invited to attend (ideally, involving the sales & marketing people in IBM, Novell, Canonical, Red Hat, etc, to get some of their big clients in attendance) sounds like a great benefit - although a big job to organise. "Yearly meeting at GUADEC" sounds unrealistic and not necessarily desirable to me - at GUADEC we have hackers and the advisory board meeting, a user group meeting could be smaller, more intimate, and perhaps a little more up-market. The lower-cost, lower-effort benefits like access to the executive director, monthly conference calls on product plans, sponsorship presence on the web site and in annual (or quarterly?) reports should be basic to every package, scaling logo prominence according to donation level. I don't like selling presentations for GUADEC, it's something I've been vocal against in the past. Like I said, the brainstormed ideas are mostly great, and just need to be packaged to have 3 levels, with the levels set right. For corporate donor packages, I like $2000/$5000/$1 as the levels, but you should bear in mind the cost of each level - organising a user summit will cost a lot of money, and it'll be tough to get it sponsored. Cheers, Dave. -- Dave Neary GNOME Foundation member dne...@gnome.org -- marketing-list mailing list marketing-list@gnome.org http://mail.gnome.org/mailman/listinfo/marketing-list
Re: Premium sponsor ship offerings [WAS Re: recruiting sponsors]
> > This feels like reflex replying to remake the same point I made earlier, but > anyway... Sorry about that. > Jaap A. Haitsma wrote: >>> >>> How about something more like this: >>> >>> $3000 <= 10 employees or $1M revenues >>> $1 <= 50 employees or $5M revenues >>> $2 > 50 employees or $5M revenues >> >> Many private companies don't want to disclose their revenues so I'd >> leave that out. > > This is the type of structure (orders of magnitude different but...) that > the Eclipse Foundation has. Revenue/size calculations are on an honour > basis. http://www.eclipse.org/membership/become_a_member/membershipTypes.php > >> Furthermore in this case if you are 11 people you >> already pay 10K, which is a lot for such a small company. > > If we're talking about advisory board dues (and again, I'm not sure which > thing you're talking about with these packages), you're a strategically > aligned company with GNOME, and you have 11 employees, then you're probably > a company like Collabora - maybe Openismus is up to 11 now too? and your > annual revenues are likely to be between $500K and $1M per year. Or you're a > company like Litl (or Canonical in 2004-05), and you don't have any revenues > yet. I was talking about the normal sponsorship dues > $10K is a lot of money, don't get me wrong, but it's an investment which > will give a return for companies like Collabora and Openismus, because the > companies who spend money on developing their software will likely also be > in the room in the advisory board meetings, when they're talking about > things that should be invested in for the GNOME platform. And for companies > like Canonical and Litl, it's important to be able to influence what people > are investing in - whether it's Novell, Red Hat, Intel, or volunteer effort > in the community. What we've seen in recent times is that there is more > direction coming from corporate sponsored development by companies like > OpenedHand, Nokia, Red Hat, Novell, Canonical, etc... than there is from > community volunteer efforts. A company like Litl can definitely benefit from > a dual approach - co-ordinating with bigger companies to help set direction, > while working actively within the community (as they are doing) to ensure > that their priorities are taken into consideration. Given the annual budget > of 20 developers, $10K doesn't seem much for access to that influence. > This is a good point. I didn't think about it that way > If we're talking about an annual donation, then I agree with you, for a > company that is a fan of, but not really aligned with, GNOME (someone like > SilverOrange or maybe Dupedi (Belgian GNOME user, 75 employees), $10K is too > much to ask, but $3K is entirely reasonable/possible. Yeah. So you are proposing that people in the advisory board should pay more that people that are just sponsors? >> For the normal sponsorship I would be opposed to only have size of the >> contribution matter. Many small shops are really important for the >> further development of GNOME and relatively contribute a lot of code >> to GNOME compared to large multinationals. > > This is what makes me think that you're conflating advisory board & donors. > The small shops that are very important for the further development of GNOME > should be encouraged to join the advisory board. The large multinationals > not contributing much code to GNOME should be encouraged to give us as much > money as possible in return for the value we give them. The small companies > who get some benefit from GNOME should also be encouraged to give us as much > as possible. Agree. > A serious question: will anyone give money to GNOME because of the things > they get? Or will the things they get help grease the wheels? I can imagine > a few different scenarios here. > > CTO: "We have 200 people using GNOME internally - we're already paying for a > support package to Red Hat, but I'd like to give some money to the GNOME > Foundation to support their good work. What do you think?" > CFO: "Sure, why not. How much are we talking about?" > CTO: "$10,000" > CFO spits coffee on keyboard. "You're kidding me? You want to give $10,000 > for software we're already paying for?" > CTO: "Hold on, hold on... there's a package. We get our logo up on the GNOME > website as a sponsors, we get to meet the GNOME Foundation executive > director, we get to take part in the annual GNOME User Meeting, and we can > call into a monthly conf call to get latest product plans and vote on the > bugs that are important to us!" > CFO: "Oh, if you put it like that..." > > Here's a second possible conversation: > > CTO: "How about we give some money to those fine folk in the GNOME > Foundation?" > CEO: "How much do they want?" > CTO: "$10,000, and we get our logo on the website and in their annual report > as a donor, and an invitation to attend the GNOME Users Summit to talk about > the issues we have." > CEO: "$10,000? I was talking to a buddy who got
Re: Premium sponsor ship offerings [WAS Re: recruiting sponsors]
A data point from the Friends of GNOME survey[1], most people that gave money were not GNOME Foundation members. Less than 5% were GNOME Foundation members, less than 20% were contributors and many said they donate money because they can't contribute code. So asking corporations who use our software but don't participate in the community might be a good idea. Stormy [1] My mail with results is stuck awaiting moderation - I have a request into the sys admin team. On Thu, Jun 11, 2009 at 2:53 AM, Dave Neary wrote: > Hi, > > This feels like reflex replying to remake the same point I made earlier, > but anyway... > > Jaap A. Haitsma wrote: > >> How about something more like this: >>> >>> $3000 <= 10 employees or $1M revenues >>> $1 <= 50 employees or $5M revenues >>> $2 > 50 employees or $5M revenues >>> >> >> Many private companies don't want to disclose their revenues so I'd >> leave that out. >> > > This is the type of structure (orders of magnitude different but...) that > the Eclipse Foundation has. Revenue/size calculations are on an honour > basis. > http://www.eclipse.org/membership/become_a_member/membershipTypes.php > > Furthermore in this case if you are 11 people you >> already pay 10K, which is a lot for such a small company. >> > > If we're talking about advisory board dues (and again, I'm not sure which > thing you're talking about with these packages), you're a strategically > aligned company with GNOME, and you have 11 employees, then you're probably > a company like Collabora - maybe Openismus is up to 11 now too? and your > annual revenues are likely to be between $500K and $1M per year. Or you're a > company like Litl (or Canonical in 2004-05), and you don't have any revenues > yet. > > $10K is a lot of money, don't get me wrong, but it's an investment which > will give a return for companies like Collabora and Openismus, because the > companies who spend money on developing their software will likely also be > in the room in the advisory board meetings, when they're talking about > things that should be invested in for the GNOME platform. And for companies > like Canonical and Litl, it's important to be able to influence what people > are investing in - whether it's Novell, Red Hat, Intel, or volunteer effort > in the community. What we've seen in recent times is that there is more > direction coming from corporate sponsored development by companies like > OpenedHand, Nokia, Red Hat, Novell, Canonical, etc... than there is from > community volunteer efforts. A company like Litl can definitely benefit from > a dual approach - co-ordinating with bigger companies to help set direction, > while working actively within the community (as they are doing) to ensure > that their priorities are taken into consideration. Given the annual budget > of 20 developers, $10K doesn't seem much for access to that influence. > > If we're talking about an annual donation, then I agree with you, for a > company that is a fan of, but not really aligned with, GNOME (someone like > SilverOrange or maybe Dupedi (Belgian GNOME user, 75 employees), $10K is too > much to ask, but $3K is entirely reasonable/possible. > > For the normal sponsorship I would be opposed to only have size of the >> contribution matter. Many small shops are really important for the >> further development of GNOME and relatively contribute a lot of code >> to GNOME compared to large multinationals. >> > > This is what makes me think that you're conflating advisory board & donors. > The small shops that are very important for the further development of GNOME > should be encouraged to join the advisory board. The large multinationals > not contributing much code to GNOME should be encouraged to give us as much > money as possible in return for the value we give them. The small companies > who get some benefit from GNOME should also be encouraged to give us as much > as possible. > > A serious question: will anyone give money to GNOME because of the things > they get? Or will the things they get help grease the wheels? I can imagine > a few different scenarios here. > > CTO: "We have 200 people using GNOME internally - we're already paying for > a support package to Red Hat, but I'd like to give some money to the GNOME > Foundation to support their good work. What do you think?" > CFO: "Sure, why not. How much are we talking about?" > CTO: "$10,000" > CFO spits coffee on keyboard. "You're kidding me? You want to give $10,000 > for software we're already paying for?" > CTO: "Hold on, hold on... there's a package. We get our logo up on the > GNOME website as a sponsors, we get to meet the GNOME Foundation executive > director, we get to take part in the annual GNOME User Meeting, and we can > call into a monthly conf call to get latest product plans and vote on the > bugs that are important to us!" > CFO: "Oh, if you put it like that..." > > Here's a second possible conversation: > > CTO: "How about we give some money to those fine
Re: Premium sponsor ship offerings [WAS Re: recruiting sponsors]
Hi, This feels like reflex replying to remake the same point I made earlier, but anyway... Jaap A. Haitsma wrote: How about something more like this: $3000 <= 10 employees or $1M revenues $1 <= 50 employees or $5M revenues $2 > 50 employees or $5M revenues Many private companies don't want to disclose their revenues so I'd leave that out. This is the type of structure (orders of magnitude different but...) that the Eclipse Foundation has. Revenue/size calculations are on an honour basis. http://www.eclipse.org/membership/become_a_member/membershipTypes.php Furthermore in this case if you are 11 people you already pay 10K, which is a lot for such a small company. If we're talking about advisory board dues (and again, I'm not sure which thing you're talking about with these packages), you're a strategically aligned company with GNOME, and you have 11 employees, then you're probably a company like Collabora - maybe Openismus is up to 11 now too? and your annual revenues are likely to be between $500K and $1M per year. Or you're a company like Litl (or Canonical in 2004-05), and you don't have any revenues yet. $10K is a lot of money, don't get me wrong, but it's an investment which will give a return for companies like Collabora and Openismus, because the companies who spend money on developing their software will likely also be in the room in the advisory board meetings, when they're talking about things that should be invested in for the GNOME platform. And for companies like Canonical and Litl, it's important to be able to influence what people are investing in - whether it's Novell, Red Hat, Intel, or volunteer effort in the community. What we've seen in recent times is that there is more direction coming from corporate sponsored development by companies like OpenedHand, Nokia, Red Hat, Novell, Canonical, etc... than there is from community volunteer efforts. A company like Litl can definitely benefit from a dual approach - co-ordinating with bigger companies to help set direction, while working actively within the community (as they are doing) to ensure that their priorities are taken into consideration. Given the annual budget of 20 developers, $10K doesn't seem much for access to that influence. If we're talking about an annual donation, then I agree with you, for a company that is a fan of, but not really aligned with, GNOME (someone like SilverOrange or maybe Dupedi (Belgian GNOME user, 75 employees), $10K is too much to ask, but $3K is entirely reasonable/possible. For the normal sponsorship I would be opposed to only have size of the contribution matter. Many small shops are really important for the further development of GNOME and relatively contribute a lot of code to GNOME compared to large multinationals. This is what makes me think that you're conflating advisory board & donors. The small shops that are very important for the further development of GNOME should be encouraged to join the advisory board. The large multinationals not contributing much code to GNOME should be encouraged to give us as much money as possible in return for the value we give them. The small companies who get some benefit from GNOME should also be encouraged to give us as much as possible. A serious question: will anyone give money to GNOME because of the things they get? Or will the things they get help grease the wheels? I can imagine a few different scenarios here. CTO: "We have 200 people using GNOME internally - we're already paying for a support package to Red Hat, but I'd like to give some money to the GNOME Foundation to support their good work. What do you think?" CFO: "Sure, why not. How much are we talking about?" CTO: "$10,000" CFO spits coffee on keyboard. "You're kidding me? You want to give $10,000 for software we're already paying for?" CTO: "Hold on, hold on... there's a package. We get our logo up on the GNOME website as a sponsors, we get to meet the GNOME Foundation executive director, we get to take part in the annual GNOME User Meeting, and we can call into a monthly conf call to get latest product plans and vote on the bugs that are important to us!" CFO: "Oh, if you put it like that..." Here's a second possible conversation: CTO: "How about we give some money to those fine folk in the GNOME Foundation?" CEO: "How much do they want?" CTO: "$10,000, and we get our logo on the website and in their annual report as a donor, and an invitation to attend the GNOME Users Summit to talk about the issues we have." CEO: "$10,000? I was talking to a buddy who got all that last month, and they only gave $3,000. what gives?" CTO: "Well, they're smaller than us." CEO: "Oh, if you put it like that..." People don't like paying more just because they can afford to. Joel Spolsky talks about this in his article on how to fix the price of a service or product: http://www.joelonsoftware.com/articles/CamelsandRubberDuckies.htm
Re: Premium sponsor ship offerings [WAS Re: recruiting sponsors]
On Wed, Jun 10, 2009 at 08:11:14AM +0200, Jaap A. Haitsma wrote: > On Tue, Jun 9, 2009 at 23:22, Stormy Peters wrote: > > On Tue, Jun 9, 2009 at 2:28 PM, Jaap A. Haitsma wrote: > >> I like this idea of having "Premium GNOME Foundations sponsorship" > >> In my opinion it would be best to have this as an extra option for > >> companies > >> > >> I'd start with revising the standard sponsorship fees by having more > >> levels depending on company size > >> 1000$ < 10 employees > >> 2500$ < 25 employees > >> 5000$ < 100 employees > >> 1$ < 1000 employees > >> 2$ > 1000 employees > > > > I think this is complicated. I think just 2-3 options is much simplier. > > Many people liked this option when we discussed it compared to the old system > 5000$ < 50 > 1$ > 50 FWIW, around 10 years ago for some small organization I had no problem at all getting sponsored for something like 5K EUR /year. I even got the impression that we didn't ask for enough money. This organization didn't have the same relation as the GNOME foundation had (result was that we wanted the company as a main sponsor, the company actually didn't care too much). Are these numbers based upon real investigation? I can also ask what the office I work for used to spend on sponsorships (for organizations we want to align ourselves with). Anyway, above numbers still come across (for a big company) as very low IMO. See e.g. http://www.linuxfoundation.org/about/join/corporate (not at all saying we should go for those amounts, but advisory is somewhat similar to 'board seats'). > If you think 5 are too many I'd go for 3 > 1000$ < 10 employees > 5000$ < 100 employees > 2$ > 1000 employees -- Regards, Olav -- marketing-list mailing list marketing-list@gnome.org http://mail.gnome.org/mailman/listinfo/marketing-list
Re: Premium sponsor ship offerings [WAS Re: recruiting sponsors]
On Wed, Jun 10, 2009 at 11:43, Dave Neary wrote: > Hi, > > Jaap A. Haitsma wrote: >> >> Many people liked this option when we discussed it compared to the old >> system >> 5000$ < 50 >> 1$ > 50 >> >> If you think 5 are too many I'd go for 3 >> 1000$ < 10 employees >> 5000$ < 100 employees >> 2$ > 1000 employees > > No members between 100 and 1000 employees? Oops my mistake. I just stroke out two of the five options > How about something more like this: > > $3000 <= 10 employees or $1M revenues > $1 <= 50 employees or $5M revenues > $2 > 50 employees or $5M revenues Many private companies don't want to disclose their revenues so I'd leave that out. Furthermore in this case if you are 11 people you already pay 10K, which is a lot for such a small company. Looking at it it's not really easy to fit a fair system three scales. 4 seems to be the minimum, and it's also obvious in a way companies of 10, 100, 1000 or more than 1000 are very different companies. $1000 <= 10 employees $5000 <= 100 employees $1 <= 1000 employees $2 > 1000 employees > I'm in favour of increasing dues for existing advisory board members, with > their agreement of course. > >> My idea for a premium fee was to help smaller companies. If you say a >> premium package costs 30K it will be to expensive for small companies. >> For a company with less than 10 people paying 1000$ a year (in my >> proposal) paying an extra fee of say 10K$ might be worth it, when >> there are perks like travel vouchers etc. > > Again, I want to point out that there are 2 distinct issues here: advisory > board membership (where the fee is important, but the strategic alignment > with GNOME is more important) and sponsorship (where strategic alignment is > unimportant, and we'll take your money whoever you are). We are in agreement here. > The simple principle to follow for sponsorship is: if you pay more, you get > more. The size of the company shouldn't even enter into consideration, it's > the size of your contribution which matters. > > There is a certain charm in saying that a small guy who makes a > proportionately larger donation should get more than a big guy making the > same donation, but at the end of the day a $50,000 from Google is worth more > to the GNOME Foundation than a $1000 donation from me, even though $1000 is > probably comparatively more money to me. So why shouldn't Google get more > thanks for giving more? I think the current thinking is to make the premium package something that has a fixed fee. So we are in agreement here. For the normal sponsorship I would be opposed to only have size of the contribution matter. Many small shops are really important for the further development of GNOME and relatively contribute a lot of code to GNOME compared to large multinationals. > >>> The reason I thought of this is because someone needed a premium >>> sponsorship >>> to include GUADEC. Again, it's about getting approval and it's easier to >>> get >>> approval once internally for one thing than to have to go back for all >>> the >>> line items. >>> >>> We'll have to see in the report, but I think most companies gave the same >>> amount they would have given if it was just GUADEC - I'm not sure we made >>> twice as much by combining the conferences. Not to say there aren't other >>> benefits ... >> >> Which report are you talking about? > > The Gran Canaria Desktop Summit financial report, presumably. > > >> Looks like a decent package to me. (Stormy I think you beat all of us >> in the brainstorm :-) ) >> >> Comments? I think we should work it out further now to a concrete >> proposal with the right numbers > > I do like the idea of a sponsorship package, but I can't insist enough that > it be completely separate from the advisory board, and be associated with > the level of donation rather than size of the donor. The package (except for > the advisory board seat) looks great. You would just need to chop it up in > appropriate chunks to reflect contribution levels. Maybe we should take of the "advisory board seat upon approval" from the perks. Stormy, Can you out of the discussion make a conclusion which you also support and we can start formalizing with the existing sponsors as the new corporate fees and premium sponsorship Thanks Jaap -- marketing-list mailing list marketing-list@gnome.org http://mail.gnome.org/mailman/listinfo/marketing-list
Re: Premium sponsor ship offerings [WAS Re: recruiting sponsors]
Hi, Jaap A. Haitsma wrote: Many people liked this option when we discussed it compared to the old system 5000$ < 50 1$ > 50 If you think 5 are too many I'd go for 3 1000$ < 10 employees 5000$ < 100 employees 2$ > 1000 employees No members between 100 and 1000 employees? How about something more like this: $3000 <= 10 employees or $1M revenues $1 <= 50 employees or $5M revenues $2 > 50 employees or $5M revenues I'm in favour of increasing dues for existing advisory board members, with their agreement of course. My idea for a premium fee was to help smaller companies. If you say a premium package costs 30K it will be to expensive for small companies. For a company with less than 10 people paying 1000$ a year (in my proposal) paying an extra fee of say 10K$ might be worth it, when there are perks like travel vouchers etc. Again, I want to point out that there are 2 distinct issues here: advisory board membership (where the fee is important, but the strategic alignment with GNOME is more important) and sponsorship (where strategic alignment is unimportant, and we'll take your money whoever you are). The simple principle to follow for sponsorship is: if you pay more, you get more. The size of the company shouldn't even enter into consideration, it's the size of your contribution which matters. There is a certain charm in saying that a small guy who makes a proportionately larger donation should get more than a big guy making the same donation, but at the end of the day a $50,000 from Google is worth more to the GNOME Foundation than a $1000 donation from me, even though $1000 is probably comparatively more money to me. So why shouldn't Google get more thanks for giving more? The reason I thought of this is because someone needed a premium sponsorship to include GUADEC. Again, it's about getting approval and it's easier to get approval once internally for one thing than to have to go back for all the line items. We'll have to see in the report, but I think most companies gave the same amount they would have given if it was just GUADEC - I'm not sure we made twice as much by combining the conferences. Not to say there aren't other benefits ... Which report are you talking about? The Gran Canaria Desktop Summit financial report, presumably. Looks like a decent package to me. (Stormy I think you beat all of us in the brainstorm :-) ) Comments? I think we should work it out further now to a concrete proposal with the right numbers I do like the idea of a sponsorship package, but I can't insist enough that it be completely separate from the advisory board, and be associated with the level of donation rather than size of the donor. The package (except for the advisory board seat) looks great. You would just need to chop it up in appropriate chunks to reflect contribution levels. Cheers, Dave. -- Dave Neary GNOME Foundation member dne...@gnome.org -- marketing-list mailing list marketing-list@gnome.org http://mail.gnome.org/mailman/listinfo/marketing-list
Re: Premium sponsor ship offerings [WAS Re: recruiting sponsors]
On Tue, Jun 9, 2009 at 23:22, Stormy Peters wrote: > > > On Tue, Jun 9, 2009 at 2:28 PM, Jaap A. Haitsma wrote: >> >> Hi Stormy, >> >> I like this idea of having "Premium GNOME Foundations sponsorship" >> In my opinion it would be best to have this as an extra option for >> companies >> >> I'd start with revising the standard sponsorship fees by having more >> levels depending on company size >> 1000$ < 10 employees >> 2500$ < 25 employees >> 5000$ < 100 employees >> 1$ < 1000 employees >> 2$ > 1000 employees > > I think this is complicated. I think just 2-3 options is much simplier. Many people liked this option when we discussed it compared to the old system 5000$ < 50 1$ > 50 If you think 5 are too many I'd go for 3 1000$ < 10 employees 5000$ < 100 employees 2$ > 1000 employees >> >> >> "Premium sponsorship" would be something you pay on top of that >> There are basically two options >> 1) Fixed amount of say 10K$. This seems a bit unfair for small >> companies, but also sponsorship of conferences etc. do not look at the >> size of the company if you want to be gold, silver or bronze sponsor. > > When sponsoring a conference they all get the same amount of benefit in > advertising regardless of how big they are. Often concessions are made for > the type of company (nonprofit, profit, etc) rather than the size of the > company. >> >> Also if we decide to give "Premium sponsor" something that costs >> dollars we need to make sure that the extra premium fee covers this. >> Another argument for a fixed fee that is not too low is that Premium >> sponsorship should also be really a Premium. If everybody takes it >> it's standard not premium > > No, the whole idea is that premium is a way to charge more in one fee. I saw > it more to simplify the approval process within the company. OK, in that case we really should look at what the potential costs could be and make the fee such that we can't be loosing money on it. >> >> >> 2) A percentage of the normal fee (let's say 100%). That would mean >> that companies over 1000 employees would pay 20K on top of the 20K >> they already pay for the normal fee. The change from 10K to 40K seems >> a bit steep to me, but you don't have to become a premium sponsor if >> you don't want to. Furthermore it could be the case that if we get >> manyPremium sponsors that are companies of less than 10 people, >> because for them it's just 1000$ to become a premium > > I think that's too complicated. I agree I just wanted to bring up the option >> >> >> >> I'm leaning towards a fixed Premium of 10K$, but if others have >> convincing arguments to do it differently I'm all open for it > > We currently charge $10K. I wouldn't think we'd charge a "premium" fee but > rather have a premium package that includes all the normal things and then > some. My idea for a premium fee was to help smaller companies. If you say a premium package costs 30K it will be to expensive for small companies. For a company with less than 10 people paying 1000$ a year (in my proposal) paying an extra fee of say 10K$ might be worth it, when there are perks like travel vouchers etc. >> >> >> Some more inline comments about ideas for the package below. >> >> > >> > 2) Create a set of GNOME Foundation sponsorship offerings. I recently >> > worked >> > with one of our sponsors to create a "Premium GNOME Foundation >> > sponsorship" >> > which included an adboard seat (that they already had) and GUADEC >> > sponsorship. While the end amounts ended up being the same, it was >> > easier >> > for them to get internal approval for the package deal. >> > >> > So we could identify all the different benefits and package them up. >> > Different packages could be targetted at different types and sizes of >> > companies with advisory board seats being in packages targetting >> > companies >> > closely involved with GNOME products. (And we can always make >> > exceptions.) >> > >> > Here's some of the benefits we could offer: (in return for a specified >> > donation) >> > * advisory board seat >> >> Should not be automatically the case in my opinion, but we could make >> it a pre requisite (at least for new adboard members) > > If it's a prereq, how do they get it? We could also customize the option for > each sponsor. So the web page could say "advisory board seat (requires > approval or upon invitation) I agree we should put "advisory board seat (requires approval)" that in the package I If we invite non premium sponsor company X to be in the advisory board we should ask them to become premium sponsor >> >> >> > * monthly meetings with key contributors on product plans (kind of like >> > our >> > current monthly adboard meetings) >> >> I have my doubts if the sponsors are interested in this, and might >> also be not that easy to setup > > They would be! We have monthly meetings now and the most well attended are > the product related ones. OK, you know better. So we should include it. >> >> >> >
Re: Premium sponsor ship offerings [WAS Re: recruiting sponsors]
On Tue, Jun 9, 2009 at 3:09 PM, Brian Cameron wrote: > > Jaap: > > * travel vouchers for x number of employees to attend GUADEC or hackfests >>> >> >> I don't see why we would ask them for sponsoring if afterwards we give >> the money (or at least a signifcant part of it) back >> > > Perhaps instead of travel vouchers, there could be a reduced price for > a certain number of people to attend events that have registration fees, > such as GUADEC? At the very least, people who are on the AdBoard > should not have to pay fees to participate. Especially if our plan is > for the yearly face-to-face meeting is supposed to be at GUADEC. Yes. We could even do both or have it be an either/or. > > > * a mentor from the Board of Directors or community >>> >> Could be an option if they want it. >> > > Might be more useful if we could clarify what the mentor would do or > help with more specifically. It might depend on the company but we could list some options. Help with learning how to work upstream. Technical help with a particular project. Help with someone used to getting things done in the community. Someone to simply help make introductions (like the board did for me when I started.) > > > * access to the GNOME Foundation Executive Director >>> >> Don't they have this already? >> >> * on-site presentations from key GNOME contributors (topics to be >>> determined) >>> >> If they are willing to pay travel+lodging I think it's not too >> difficult to find volunteers >> > > Or, perhaps it might be easier to arrange video-conferencing or > have IRC meetings, or find some other forum to provide presentations > without requiring travel. We could but I bet the on-site ones would be valued more ... > > > * weekly updates on top bug >>> >> They can already subscribe to bugzilla >> > > Perhaps we could provide some service to help generate attention > towards bugs that are particularly irksome for them. Perhaps > a coding contest with reward money to fix a certain number of bugs > highlighted by those who donate money? That's a good idea. > > > * others?? >>> >> >> To summarize my thoughts on "Premium sponsorship" are the following >> Cost: Extra 10K$ per year >> Perks: >> 1) One sponsored hackfest of 5K$ >> 2) Yearly meeting at GUADEC as I described above >> 3) At the top of the sponsor ship page >> 4) Can publish pre approved articles on GNOME news >> 5) Ability to have interviews placed on planet gnome or GNOME news >> >> Any comments? >> > > I think this is a good start, but I think we need to further explore > what sorts of services and benefits the Foundation can provide. > Agreed. My list was the start of a brainstorm ... Stormy > > Brian > -- marketing-list mailing list marketing-list@gnome.org http://mail.gnome.org/mailman/listinfo/marketing-list
Re: Premium sponsor ship offerings [WAS Re: recruiting sponsors]
On Tue, Jun 9, 2009 at 2:28 PM, Jaap A. Haitsma wrote: > Hi Stormy, > > I like this idea of having "Premium GNOME Foundations sponsorship" > In my opinion it would be best to have this as an extra option for > companies > > I'd start with revising the standard sponsorship fees by having more > levels depending on company size > 1000$ < 10 employees > 2500$ < 25 employees > 5000$ < 100 employees > 1$ < 1000 employees > 2$ > 1000 employees I think this is complicated. I think just 2-3 options is much simplier. > > > "Premium sponsorship" would be something you pay on top of that > There are basically two options > 1) Fixed amount of say 10K$. This seems a bit unfair for small > companies, but also sponsorship of conferences etc. do not look at the > size of the company if you want to be gold, silver or bronze sponsor. When sponsoring a conference they all get the same amount of benefit in advertising regardless of how big they are. Often concessions are made for the type of company (nonprofit, profit, etc) rather than the size of the company. > > Also if we decide to give "Premium sponsor" something that costs > dollars we need to make sure that the extra premium fee covers this. > Another argument for a fixed fee that is not too low is that Premium > sponsorship should also be really a Premium. If everybody takes it > it's standard not premium No, the whole idea is that premium is a way to charge more in one fee. I saw it more to simplify the approval process within the company. > > > 2) A percentage of the normal fee (let's say 100%). That would mean > that companies over 1000 employees would pay 20K on top of the 20K > they already pay for the normal fee. The change from 10K to 40K seems > a bit steep to me, but you don't have to become a premium sponsor if > you don't want to. Furthermore it could be the case that if we get > manyPremium sponsors that are companies of less than 10 people, > because for them it's just 1000$ to become a premium I think that's too complicated. > > > > I'm leaning towards a fixed Premium of 10K$, but if others have > convincing arguments to do it differently I'm all open for it We currently charge $10K. I wouldn't think we'd charge a "premium" fee but rather have a premium package that includes all the normal things and then some. > > > Some more inline comments about ideas for the package below. > > > > > 2) Create a set of GNOME Foundation sponsorship offerings. I recently > worked > > with one of our sponsors to create a "Premium GNOME Foundation > sponsorship" > > which included an adboard seat (that they already had) and GUADEC > > sponsorship. While the end amounts ended up being the same, it was easier > > for them to get internal approval for the package deal. > > > > So we could identify all the different benefits and package them up. > > Different packages could be targetted at different types and sizes of > > companies with advisory board seats being in packages targetting > companies > > closely involved with GNOME products. (And we can always make > exceptions.) > > > > Here's some of the benefits we could offer: (in return for a specified > > donation) > > * advisory board seat > > Should not be automatically the case in my opinion, but we could make > it a pre requisite (at least for new adboard members) If it's a prereq, how do they get it? We could also customize the option for each sponsor. So the web page could say "advisory board seat (requires approval or upon invitation) > > > > * monthly meetings with key contributors on product plans (kind of like > our > > current monthly adboard meetings) > > I have my doubts if the sponsors are interested in this, and might > also be not that easy to setup They would be! We have monthly meetings now and the most well attended are the product related ones. > > > > * annual face-to-face meetings with other advisory board members > > Probably best to do something around GUADEC. You invite them a day > earlier (travel on their own cost) and have a meeting plus dinner > (dinner on cost of the foundation). Furthermore you can explain them > what the foundation has been doing and what the plans are. Furthermore > you could have some key contributors present explaining directions and > to whom the sponsors can ask questions. We do this now. I was just trying to enumerate all the things we do ... > > > > * travel vouchers for x number of employees to attend GUADEC or hackfests > > I don't see why we would ask them for sponsoring if afterwards we give > the money (or at least a signifcant part of it) back Again, it's packaging. The team that is sponsoring the GNOME Foundation might have a fixed budget that includes a certain amount of money for travel. Having open source developers that might typically need to travel more than regular proprietary software developers is often a strain on their regular travel budget and requires special approval. Enabling them to lump some of the costs of their ope
Re: Premium sponsor ship offerings [WAS Re: recruiting sponsors]
Jaap: * travel vouchers for x number of employees to attend GUADEC or hackfests I don't see why we would ask them for sponsoring if afterwards we give the money (or at least a signifcant part of it) back Perhaps instead of travel vouchers, there could be a reduced price for a certain number of people to attend events that have registration fees, such as GUADEC? At the very least, people who are on the AdBoard should not have to pay fees to participate. Especially if our plan is for the yearly face-to-face meeting is supposed to be at GUADEC. * a mentor from the Board of Directors or community Could be an option if they want it. Might be more useful if we could clarify what the mentor would do or help with more specifically. * access to the GNOME Foundation Executive Director Don't they have this already? * on-site presentations from key GNOME contributors (topics to be determined) If they are willing to pay travel+lodging I think it's not too difficult to find volunteers Or, perhaps it might be easier to arrange video-conferencing or have IRC meetings, or find some other forum to provide presentations without requiring travel. * weekly updates on top bug They can already subscribe to bugzilla Perhaps we could provide some service to help generate attention towards bugs that are particularly irksome for them. Perhaps a coding contest with reward money to fix a certain number of bugs highlighted by those who donate money? * others?? To summarize my thoughts on "Premium sponsorship" are the following Cost: Extra 10K$ per year Perks: 1) One sponsored hackfest of 5K$ 2) Yearly meeting at GUADEC as I described above 3) At the top of the sponsor ship page 4) Can publish pre approved articles on GNOME news 5) Ability to have interviews placed on planet gnome or GNOME news Any comments? I think this is a good start, but I think we need to further explore what sorts of services and benefits the Foundation can provide. Brian -- marketing-list mailing list marketing-list@gnome.org http://mail.gnome.org/mailman/listinfo/marketing-list
Premium sponsor ship offerings [WAS Re: recruiting sponsors]
Hi Stormy, I like this idea of having "Premium GNOME Foundations sponsorship" In my opinion it would be best to have this as an extra option for companies I'd start with revising the standard sponsorship fees by having more levels depending on company size 1000$ < 10 employees 2500$ < 25 employees 5000$ < 100 employees 1$ < 1000 employees 2$ > 1000 employees "Premium sponsorship" would be something you pay on top of that There are basically two options 1) Fixed amount of say 10K$. This seems a bit unfair for small companies, but also sponsorship of conferences etc. do not look at the size of the company if you want to be gold, silver or bronze sponsor. Also if we decide to give "Premium sponsor" something that costs dollars we need to make sure that the extra premium fee covers this. Another argument for a fixed fee that is not too low is that Premium sponsorship should also be really a Premium. If everybody takes it it's standard not premium 2) A percentage of the normal fee (let's say 100%). That would mean that companies over 1000 employees would pay 20K on top of the 20K they already pay for the normal fee. The change from 10K to 40K seems a bit steep to me, but you don't have to become a premium sponsor if you don't want to. Furthermore it could be the case that if we get manyPremium sponsors that are companies of less than 10 people, because for them it's just 1000$ to become a premium I'm leaning towards a fixed Premium of 10K$, but if others have convincing arguments to do it differently I'm all open for it Some more inline comments about ideas for the package below. > > 2) Create a set of GNOME Foundation sponsorship offerings. I recently worked > with one of our sponsors to create a "Premium GNOME Foundation sponsorship" > which included an adboard seat (that they already had) and GUADEC > sponsorship. While the end amounts ended up being the same, it was easier > for them to get internal approval for the package deal. > > So we could identify all the different benefits and package them up. > Different packages could be targetted at different types and sizes of > companies with advisory board seats being in packages targetting companies > closely involved with GNOME products. (And we can always make exceptions.) > > Here's some of the benefits we could offer: (in return for a specified > donation) > * advisory board seat Should not be automatically the case in my opinion, but we could make it a pre requisite (at least for new adboard members) > * monthly meetings with key contributors on product plans (kind of like our > current monthly adboard meetings) I have my doubts if the sponsors are interested in this, and might also be not that easy to setup > * annual face-to-face meetings with other advisory board members Probably best to do something around GUADEC. You invite them a day earlier (travel on their own cost) and have a meeting plus dinner (dinner on cost of the foundation). Furthermore you can explain them what the foundation has been doing and what the plans are. Furthermore you could have some key contributors present explaining directions and to whom the sponsors can ask questions. > * travel vouchers for x number of employees to attend GUADEC or hackfests I don't see why we would ask them for sponsoring if afterwards we give the money (or at least a signifcant part of it) back > * hackfest sponsorship (would add $5K to the fee and would guarentee > sponsorship of one) Good idea > * hackfest sponsorship opportunity (we'd invite them to sponsor them as they > came up) > * GUADEC sponsorship I think it's best to organize big events like this seperate and work with seperate sponsors. I think it has worked out so far. Furthermore leaving it as is gives you more flexibility if you want to organize guadec together with akademy > * logo (in different sizes) on web site Should be for every sponsor. Premium sponsors at the top > * blurb on gnome.org website I suggest we have a tab saying sponsors on gnome.org site which lists all sponsors and why they sponsor GNOME > * interview of company employee on planet gnome > * interview of company employee in GNOME Journal > * GNOME related article in GNOME Journal (cannot be an ad, topic must be > pre-approved) Good idea > * ad on gnome.org website I think that's covered with the sponsorship page > * a mentor from the Board of Directors or community Could be an option if they want it. > * access to the GNOME Foundation Executive Director Don't they have this already? > * on-site presentations from key GNOME contributors (topics to be > determined) If they are willing to pay travel+lodging I think it's not too difficult to find volunteers > * presentation at GUADEC Can't everybody already do that if they have the right topic > * weekly updates on top bug They can already subscribe to bugzilla > * others?? To summarize my thoughts on "Premium sponsorship" are the following Cost: Extra 10K$ per year Perks: 1) One
Re: recruiting sponsors
On Tue, May 26, 2009 at 11:59 AM, Alberto Ruiz wrote: > 2009/5/26 Stormy Peters : >> I agree and I think there's two ways we could deal with this. I'm >> recommending the second. >> >> 1) Completely divorce adboard seats from money. Make the adboard by invite >> only. We would get/keep a lot of control but we would lose our leverage to >> raise money through the adboard. (Also, many of our supporters in companies >> use this as a way to convince their management that sponsoring the GNOME >> Foundation is a good thing. It gives them a seat on the adboard which >> enables them to work closely with the GNOME Foudnation and project.) > > Hi Stormy, > > Well, as I see it, if a company wants to be in the board, they should I think it also looks important on websites and resumes so I don't think the desire always correlates with adding value. Although it does 90% of the time. > probably be in the board (meaning, if they have the will to be > involved, they probably have some value to add). We could state that > only foundation members can be in the adboard, and that the inclusion I think many of our adboard members, some of whom are very good contributors, are not foundation members. So we should think about that ... We could however ask that companies have people apply and explain how they can/will contribute. I don't know how that would go over ... Thoughts? > in the adboard has to be negotiated with the board of directors first > to discuss what values do they want to provide. I don't think we lose > the leverage given such scenario, we just lose the 1-1 map between > foundation and adboard members. I do think that companies that really don't have a lot to add probably just wouldn't show up so the adboard wouldn't grow unreasonably, but there's no point in having a huge advisory board where only a small percentage show up. It would be really hard to know how best to structure meetings to be useful. Stormy -- marketing-list mailing list marketing-list@gnome.org http://mail.gnome.org/mailman/listinfo/marketing-list
Re: recruiting sponsors
2009/5/26 Stormy Peters : > I agree and I think there's two ways we could deal with this. I'm > recommending the second. > > 1) Completely divorce adboard seats from money. Make the adboard by invite > only. We would get/keep a lot of control but we would lose our leverage to > raise money through the adboard. (Also, many of our supporters in companies > use this as a way to convince their management that sponsoring the GNOME > Foundation is a good thing. It gives them a seat on the adboard which > enables them to work closely with the GNOME Foudnation and project.) Hi Stormy, Well, as I see it, if a company wants to be in the board, they should probably be in the board (meaning, if they have the will to be involved, they probably have some value to add). We could state that only foundation members can be in the adboard, and that the inclusion in the adboard has to be negotiated with the board of directors first to discuss what values do they want to provide. I don't think we lose the leverage given such scenario, we just lose the 1-1 map between foundation and adboard members. -- Cheers, Alberto Ruiz -- marketing-list mailing list marketing-list@gnome.org http://mail.gnome.org/mailman/listinfo/marketing-list
Re: recruiting sponsors
I agree and I think there's two ways we could deal with this. I'm recommending the second. 1) Completely divorce adboard seats from money. Make the adboard by invite only. We would get/keep a lot of control but we would lose our leverage to raise money through the adboard. (Also, many of our supporters in companies use this as a way to convince their management that sponsoring the GNOME Foundation is a good thing. It gives them a seat on the adboard which enables them to work closely with the GNOME Foudnation and project.) 2) Create a set of GNOME Foundation sponsorship offerings. I recently worked with one of our sponsors to create a "Premium GNOME Foundation sponsorship" which included an adboard seat (that they already had) and GUADEC sponsorship. While the end amounts ended up being the same, it was easier for them to get internal approval for the package deal. So we could identify all the different benefits and package them up. Different packages could be targetted at different types and sizes of companies with advisory board seats being in packages targetting companies closely involved with GNOME products. (And we can always make exceptions.) Here's some of the benefits we could offer: (in return for a specified donation) * advisory board seat * monthly meetings with key contributors on product plans (kind of like our current monthly adboard meetings) * annual face-to-face meetings with other advisory board members * travel vouchers for x number of employees to attend GUADEC or hackfests * hackfest sponsorship (would add $5K to the fee and would guarentee sponsorship of one) * hackfest sponsorship opportunity (we'd invite them to sponsor them as they came up) * GUADEC sponsorship * logo (in different sizes) on web site * blurb on gnome.org website * interview of company employee on planet gnome * interview of company employee in GNOME Journal * GNOME related article in GNOME Journal (cannot be an ad, topic must be pre-approved) * ad on gnome.org website * a mentor from the Board of Directors or community * access to the GNOME Foundation Executive Director * on-site presentations from key GNOME contributors (topics to be determined) * presentation at GUADEC * weekly updates on top bug * others?? Packages could be targetted at: * companies of less then 50 employees that have GNOME developers on staff * companies of less than 50 employees that use GNOME products * companies that use GNOME products * companies that ship products that include GNOME, but they don't work on them (think of companies that distribute Linux on their hardware) * ... We could package them into something like the following: * Associate sponsor * targetted at companies of less then 50 employees that have GNOME developers on staff * includes: * adboard seat * 200x200 logo on ... * ... Stormy On Tue, May 26, 2009 at 11:23 AM, Alberto Ruiz wrote: > 2009/5/26 Dave Neary : > > Hi, > > > > There's a trade-off here: > > * We want an influential advisory board with big supporters of GNOME > > * We want more money > > > > Currently, we have the influential advisory board, and all the members > (with > > the possible exception of Google, SFLC) are involved in distributing or > > developing GNOME and the GNOME platform. We don't want to lose that, but > we > > want to increase funds available. One possible way is to increase how > much > > we receive for the advisory board dues from each member. Another way to > > raise more money is to have a corporate sponsorship program where people > get > > a reward for giving a certain amount of money. But I think it's vital to > > keep the two absolutely, and completely, separate. > > Totally agree. I don't think it's worth populating the AdBoard with > companies/orgs that cannot add value. But still, I know organizations > that would be happy to just be part of the foundation as a bare > marketing thing or a way to pay back what they get out of the project > with no intents at all of being part of the adboard. > > -- > Cheers, > Alberto Ruiz > -- > marketing-list mailing list > marketing-list@gnome.org > http://mail.gnome.org/mailman/listinfo/marketing-list > -- marketing-list mailing list marketing-list@gnome.org http://mail.gnome.org/mailman/listinfo/marketing-list
Re: recruiting sponsors
2009/5/26 Dave Neary : > Hi, > > There's a trade-off here: > * We want an influential advisory board with big supporters of GNOME > * We want more money > > Currently, we have the influential advisory board, and all the members (with > the possible exception of Google, SFLC) are involved in distributing or > developing GNOME and the GNOME platform. We don't want to lose that, but we > want to increase funds available. One possible way is to increase how much > we receive for the advisory board dues from each member. Another way to > raise more money is to have a corporate sponsorship program where people get > a reward for giving a certain amount of money. But I think it's vital to > keep the two absolutely, and completely, separate. Totally agree. I don't think it's worth populating the AdBoard with companies/orgs that cannot add value. But still, I know organizations that would be happy to just be part of the foundation as a bare marketing thing or a way to pay back what they get out of the project with no intents at all of being part of the adboard. -- Cheers, Alberto Ruiz -- marketing-list mailing list marketing-list@gnome.org http://mail.gnome.org/mailman/listinfo/marketing-list
Re: recruiting sponsors
Hi, Alberto Ruiz wrote: 2009/5/26 Dr. Michael J. Chudobiak : So what about 1000$ < 10 employees 2500$ < 25 employees 5000$ < 100 employees 1$ < 1000 employees 2$ > 1000 employees I just want to put this in perspective. If you have (say) 8 employees, your annual expenditures are likely to be in the region of $800,000 to $900,000. Even if you only have one, you're probably spending around $150,000. Put like that, $1000 is not very much money for a company (especially if they can write it off). And for companies between 50 and 100 employees (that is, with annual expenditure of at least $4,000,000, and perhaps up to $10,000,000) we will actually be reducing their advisory board fee from $10,000 to $5,000. I'm not against a sliding fee - in fact, I was the one who introduced the $5,000 level back in 2005 - but I think we probably need to adjust the totals upwards. +1. That would dramatically increase the odds of getting money from small companies, speaking as a <10 company person. +1. Totally agree. These days you see a lot of GNOME small shops, I'm pretty sure such approach would a) reduce the pressure for the current (small) members and 2) increase the number (or at least the chance of increase it) of overall small companies that are part of the foundation. Let me ask: what are you "buying" with this fee? If we're talking about sponsorship, then these levels correspond to something, don't they? A certain presence on the site, a certain size logo? But if we're talking about advisory board seats and the associated dues, don't we run the risk that the advisory board grows uncontrollably? There's a trade-off here: * We want an influential advisory board with big supporters of GNOME * We want more money Currently, we have the influential advisory board, and all the members (with the possible exception of Google, SFLC) are involved in distributing or developing GNOME and the GNOME platform. We don't want to lose that, but we want to increase funds available. One possible way is to increase how much we receive for the advisory board dues from each member. Another way to raise more money is to have a corporate sponsorship program where people get a reward for giving a certain amount of money. But I think it's vital to keep the two absolutely, and completely, separate. Cheers, Dave. -- Dave Neary GNOME Foundation member dne...@gnome.org -- marketing-list mailing list marketing-list@gnome.org http://mail.gnome.org/mailman/listinfo/marketing-list
Re: recruiting sponsors
2009/5/26 Dr. Michael J. Chudobiak : > Jaap A. Haitsma wrote: > >> Now there are 2 possible fees >> 5000$ if you have <=50 employees >> 1$ if you have > 50 employees >> >> You could think of a 1 or 2 more levels here. Because a company of 51 >> employees is quite different to 5000 employees. >> >> So what about >> >> 1000$ < 10 employees >> 2500$ < 25 employees >> 5000$ < 100 employees >> 1$ < 1000 employees >> 2$ > 1000 employees > > +1. That would dramatically increase the odds of getting money from small > companies, speaking as a <10 company person. +1. Totally agree. These days you see a lot of GNOME small shops, I'm pretty sure such approach would a) reduce the pressure for the current (small) members and 2) increase the number (or at least the chance of increase it) of overall small companies that are part of the foundation. -- Un saludo, Alberto Ruiz -- marketing-list mailing list marketing-list@gnome.org http://mail.gnome.org/mailman/listinfo/marketing-list
Re: recruiting sponsors
Jaap: So what about 1000$ < 10 employees 2500$ < 25 employees 5000$ < 100 employees 1$ < 1000 employees 2$ > 1000 employees If the current sponsors agree to this (I think it's very important that they agree) the income would go up significantly because GNOME has quite some sponsors with more than a 1000 employees (HP, Google, Intel, Motorola, Nokia, Novell, Redhat). Furthermore on the low end we also introduce more options. It does make sense to have a sliding scale that allows smaller organizations to more easily participate in the community by donating and getting recognition. However, as you say, how the fees are handled for larger organizations would need to be negotiated with those organizations which currently donate. Brian -- marketing-list mailing list marketing-list@gnome.org http://mail.gnome.org/mailman/listinfo/marketing-list
Re: recruiting sponsors
Jaap A. Haitsma wrote: Now there are 2 possible fees 5000$ if you have <=50 employees 1$ if you have > 50 employees You could think of a 1 or 2 more levels here. Because a company of 51 employees is quite different to 5000 employees. So what about 1000$ < 10 employees 2500$ < 25 employees 5000$ < 100 employees 1$ < 1000 employees 2$ > 1000 employees +1. That would dramatically increase the odds of getting money from small companies, speaking as a <10 company person. - Mike -- marketing-list mailing list marketing-list@gnome.org http://mail.gnome.org/mailman/listinfo/marketing-list
Re: recruiting sponsors
On Wed, May 20, 2009 at 17:54, Stormy Peters wrote: > Thanks for the feedback I've gotten for this off list. > > An idea that's come up several times is financially compensating individuals > and companies that bring additional companies to the GNOME community. While > we want companies to come join the community and participate, regardless of > whether or not they sponsor the Foundation financially, it might be worth > rewarding people for bringing financial contributions. > > What would people think of a 10% finders fee for individuals or companies > that brought in sponsors? > > Maybe there's some guidelines like must give at least $5,000. > I don't like the finders fee that much. If we want to offer something it should be more in the spirit of free beer. So maybe a travel cheque that can be used to visit GUADEC. So in the proposed case of 10% and 5000$ it would be a 500$ travel cheque that can only be used to visit GUADEC or some other GNOME conference Jaap -- marketing-list mailing list marketing-list@gnome.org http://mail.gnome.org/mailman/listinfo/marketing-list
Re: recruiting sponsors
On Wed, May 20, 2009 at 22:09, Dave Neary wrote: > Hi, > > Diego Escalante Urrelo wrote: >> >> OTOH, I have wonder if it would be fair to our current Advisory Board >> members to give other companies paying less the same marketing benefit, >> can we consider that the seat in AB is worth -say- $4000 or should we >> limit the marketing benefits of our possible smaller companies? > > You want to lower ad board fees? > > $10K is a ridiculously small amount of money for many of the companies > funding the foundation. At this price level, we already have a small budget. > We might want to consider *increasing* ad board fees, especially since I > have the impression that this year we are giving good value for money in > terms of networking and feedback & access. Now there are 2 possible fees 5000$ if you have <=50 employees 1$ if you have > 50 employees You could think of a 1 or 2 more levels here. Because a company of 51 employees is quite different to 5000 employees. So what about 1000$ < 10 employees 2500$ < 25 employees 5000$ < 100 employees 1$ < 1000 employees 2$ > 1000 employees If the current sponsors agree to this (I think it's very important that they agree) the income would go up significantly because GNOME has quite some sponsors with more than a 1000 employees (HP, Google, Intel, Motorola, Nokia, Novell, Redhat). Furthermore on the low end we also introduce more options. For the big companies to pay more we need to come up with a plan on how to spend the money. A full time sysadmin helping to setup stuff comes first to mind, but then there is quite some money left. Jaap -- marketing-list mailing list marketing-list@gnome.org http://mail.gnome.org/mailman/listinfo/marketing-list
Re: recruiting sponsors
On Thu, May 21, 2009 at 10:34, Dave Neary wrote: > Hi, > > Diego Escalante Urrelo wrote: >>> >>> We might follow the GIMP & KDE models, and simply have a page where we >>> list benefactors of the foundation, separately from the advisory board. >> >> Yes, that could work, they might ask for having a logo plus their name >> in the thank you pages instead of just their name. Just an idea. > > This is what the GIMP has done in the past (I don't know if it's still > maintained): http://gimp.org/donating/sponsors.html > > We had guidelines on the maximum size of logos per level, and the more > people gave the bigger their logo, and the higher they were on the page. > > Individual donors also got their name embossed & rendered with script-fu in > a big font if they gave over a certain level. > I've suggested to have a sponsor tab on the main gnome page http://mail.gnome.org/archives/marketing-list/2009-May/msg00039.html I think that brings value to our corporate sponsors. Now it is quite hidden that they are sponsoring GNOME Jaap -- marketing-list mailing list marketing-list@gnome.org http://mail.gnome.org/mailman/listinfo/marketing-list
Re: recruiting sponsors
Good point. We should probably have some type of process where people log their intent to contact a company and log the contact they've had so others can follow up if and when appropriate. Stormy On Mon, May 25, 2009 at 1:17 AM, Murray Cumming wrote: > I guess that it could damage GNOME's overall relationship with potential > sponsoring companies if companies found themselves being contacted by > multiple random people on our behalf. > > -- > murr...@murrayc.com > www.murrayc.com > www.openismus.com > > -- > marketing-list mailing list > marketing-list@gnome.org > http://mail.gnome.org/mailman/listinfo/marketing-list > -- marketing-list mailing list marketing-list@gnome.org http://mail.gnome.org/mailman/listinfo/marketing-list
Re: recruiting sponsors
I guess that it could damage GNOME's overall relationship with potential sponsoring companies if companies found themselves being contacted by multiple random people on our behalf. -- murr...@murrayc.com www.murrayc.com www.openismus.com -- marketing-list mailing list marketing-list@gnome.org http://mail.gnome.org/mailman/listinfo/marketing-list
Re: recruiting sponsors
Dave: Dave Neary wrote: > Stormy Peters wrote: >> >>What would people think of a 10% finders fee for individuals or >>companies that brought in sponsors? > > Honestly, I don't like the idea. It seems so mercenary. Plus, we would > no longer be in the position of seeking out companies strategically > aligned with the project for advisory board seats. I do not think it needs to be interpreted as being mercenary. The GNOME Foundation has a need for raising money, and if this is presented in the right way, it could be an opportunity for small business to be created in a Free Source environment, which is something that I think even Richard Stallman encourages.[1] Aside from creating some mechanism of compensation for people who do the footwork, I think it encourages people to seek out smaller organizations and individuals who might be interested in participating in the GNOME community, but are "below the radar" currently. I think the concept of donating to GNOME does not need to be tied to an AdBoard seat. It probably makes the most sense to address AdBoard membership on a case-by-case basis, and whether the individual or organization would have a meaningful role in a forum like AdBoard. That said, I think a 10% finders fee is reasonable. Though such a program might benefit from having a more structured set of options. Perhaps, for example, first-time donation finders get a higher percentage to encourage people to start thinking about participating in such a program. Or perhaps a sliding-scale percentage rate based on whether the person is a Foundation member or not, or based on the size of the contribution which was found. Perhaps larger donations should be awarded smaller percentage amounts. Brian [1] http://www.gnu.org/philosophy/selling.html -- marketing-list mailing list marketing-list@gnome.org http://mail.gnome.org/mailman/listinfo/marketing-list
Re: recruiting sponsors
Hi, Diego Escalante Urrelo wrote: We might follow the GIMP & KDE models, and simply have a page where we list benefactors of the foundation, separately from the advisory board. Yes, that could work, they might ask for having a logo plus their name in the thank you pages instead of just their name. Just an idea. This is what the GIMP has done in the past (I don't know if it's still maintained): http://gimp.org/donating/sponsors.html We had guidelines on the maximum size of logos per level, and the more people gave the bigger their logo, and the higher they were on the page. Individual donors also got their name embossed & rendered with script-fu in a big font if they gave over a certain level. Cheers, Dave. -- Dave Neary GNOME Foundation member dne...@gnome.org -- marketing-list mailing list marketing-list@gnome.org http://mail.gnome.org/mailman/listinfo/marketing-list
Re: recruiting sponsors
On Wed, 2009-05-20 at 22:09 +0200, Dave Neary wrote: > Hi, > > Diego Escalante Urrelo wrote: > > OTOH, I have wonder if it would be fair to our current Advisory Board > > members to give other companies paying less the same marketing benefit, > > can we consider that the seat in AB is worth -say- $4000 or should we > > limit the marketing benefits of our possible smaller companies? > > You want to lower ad board fees? > Oh sorry, disregard that number, I just wrote down one a bit distracted. > > I'm thinking that we can get perhaps 8 small companies supporting with > > 1000 USD per year, what could we offer them? what would we keep as > > exclusive to our AB members? > > We might follow the GIMP & KDE models, and simply have a page where we > list benefactors of the foundation, separately from the advisory board. > Yes, that could work, they might ask for having a logo plus their name in the thank you pages instead of just their name. Just an idea. -- marketing-list mailing list marketing-list@gnome.org http://mail.gnome.org/mailman/listinfo/marketing-list
Re: recruiting sponsors
Hi, Diego Escalante Urrelo wrote: OTOH, I have wonder if it would be fair to our current Advisory Board members to give other companies paying less the same marketing benefit, can we consider that the seat in AB is worth -say- $4000 or should we limit the marketing benefits of our possible smaller companies? You want to lower ad board fees? $10K is a ridiculously small amount of money for many of the companies funding the foundation. At this price level, we already have a small budget. We might want to consider *increasing* ad board fees, especially since I have the impression that this year we are giving good value for money in terms of networking and feedback & access. I'm thinking that we can get perhaps 8 small companies supporting with 1000 USD per year, what could we offer them? what would we keep as exclusive to our AB members? We might follow the GIMP & KDE models, and simply have a page where we list benefactors of the foundation, separately from the advisory board. Cheers, Dave. -- Dave Neary GNOME Foundation member dne...@gnome.org -- marketing-list mailing list marketing-list@gnome.org http://mail.gnome.org/mailman/listinfo/marketing-list
Re: recruiting sponsors
We should brainstorm a list of benefits we could offer to companies interested in supporting GNOME ... A note on the $1K level. We have companies now that occasional donate $500-1000 through Friends of GNOME. It's likely at that level they would just want some recognition, not a list of benefits. I don't know though. Stormy On Wed, May 20, 2009 at 1:40 PM, Diego Escalante Urrelo wrote: > On Wed, 2009-05-20 at 10:23 -0600, Stormy Peters wrote: > > I really think we need a better way to get corporate donations than > > advisory board seats. However, we need to find something better before > > we decouple them. > > > > Talked with John Wendell some time ago about this, we agreed that some > local companies would be happy to sponsor GNOME through the Foundation > but that offering them Advisory Board seats perhaps wasn't a good deal. > The main thing is that this companies would really not be interested in > shaping the future of GNOME but more in just getting some marketing by > associating their brands to GNOME or just mentioning in their profiles > that they support the Foundation. > > OTOH, I have wonder if it would be fair to our current Advisory Board > members to give other companies paying less the same marketing benefit, > can we consider that the seat in AB is worth -say- $4000 or should we > limit the marketing benefits of our possible smaller companies? > > I'm thinking that we can get perhaps 8 small companies supporting with > 1000 USD per year, what could we offer them? what would we keep as > exclusive to our AB members? > > -- marketing-list mailing list marketing-list@gnome.org http://mail.gnome.org/mailman/listinfo/marketing-list
Re: recruiting sponsors
On Wed, 2009-05-20 at 10:23 -0600, Stormy Peters wrote: > I really think we need a better way to get corporate donations than > advisory board seats. However, we need to find something better before > we decouple them. > Talked with John Wendell some time ago about this, we agreed that some local companies would be happy to sponsor GNOME through the Foundation but that offering them Advisory Board seats perhaps wasn't a good deal. The main thing is that this companies would really not be interested in shaping the future of GNOME but more in just getting some marketing by associating their brands to GNOME or just mentioning in their profiles that they support the Foundation. OTOH, I have wonder if it would be fair to our current Advisory Board members to give other companies paying less the same marketing benefit, can we consider that the seat in AB is worth -say- $4000 or should we limit the marketing benefits of our possible smaller companies? I'm thinking that we can get perhaps 8 small companies supporting with 1000 USD per year, what could we offer them? what would we keep as exclusive to our AB members? -- marketing-list mailing list marketing-list@gnome.org http://mail.gnome.org/mailman/listinfo/marketing-list
Re: recruiting sponsors
I really think we need a better way to get corporate donations than advisory board seats. However, we need to find something better before we decouple them. I tried recruiting without offering adboard seats and it was a hard sell. Perhaps we could offer more on the marketing side? Or a track at GUADEC for sponsors to showcase their products? (Just thinking outloud here ...) Or a visit from a GNOME community member to present at their company? Stormy On Wed, May 20, 2009 at 10:20 AM, Dave Neary wrote: > Hi > > Stormy Peters wrote: > >> What would people think of a 10% finders fee for individuals or companies >> that brought in sponsors? >> > > Honestly, I don't like the idea. It seems so mercenary. Plus, we would no > longer be in the position of seeking out companies strategically aligned > with the project for advisory board seats. > > Perhaps we need another way of getting and rewarding annual corporate > donations than advisory board seats? > > Cheers, > Dave. > > -- > Dave Neary > GNOME Foundation member > dne...@gnome.org > -- marketing-list mailing list marketing-list@gnome.org http://mail.gnome.org/mailman/listinfo/marketing-list
Re: recruiting sponsors
Hi Stormy Peters wrote: What would people think of a 10% finders fee for individuals or companies that brought in sponsors? Honestly, I don't like the idea. It seems so mercenary. Plus, we would no longer be in the position of seeking out companies strategically aligned with the project for advisory board seats. Perhaps we need another way of getting and rewarding annual corporate donations than advisory board seats? Cheers, Dave. -- Dave Neary GNOME Foundation member dne...@gnome.org -- marketing-list mailing list marketing-list@gnome.org http://mail.gnome.org/mailman/listinfo/marketing-list
Re: recruiting sponsors
Thanks for the feedback I've gotten for this off list. An idea that's come up several times is financially compensating individuals and companies that bring additional companies to the GNOME community. While we want companies to come join the community and participate, regardless of whether or not they sponsor the Foundation financially, it might be worth rewarding people for bringing financial contributions. What would people think of a 10% finders fee for individuals or companies that brought in sponsors? Maybe there's some guidelines like must give at least $5,000. Bringing in a sponsor would mean identifying a potential sponsor, approaching them, following up with them, bringing in other people to speak to them as appropriate (maybe they want to speak to another company or to a Gstreamer maintainer or ...), and "closing the deal". Thoughts? Stormy On Thu, May 7, 2009 at 2:16 PM, Stormy Peters wrote: > Recruiting sponsors (as in companies that sponsor GNOME) is something the > whole GNOME community can help with. > > So I put together this draft of a how-to. Let me know if you have any > comments or suggestions and I'll put it in the wiki. > > Stormy > > = Recruiting a sponsoring company = > > The GNOME Foundation is sponsored by many individuals and companies. This > page is about how GNOME community members can recruit sponsoring companies > or government organizations to the GNOME project. > > Companies and government organizations can sponsor the GNOME Foundation in > several ways: > * giving a one time financial donation via Friends of GNOME, > * sponsoring GNOME events and programs like GUADEC, GNOME.Asia and > accessibility outreach, > * paying employees to work on GNOME, > * joining the GNOME advisory board and paying an annual set amount to the > GNOME Foundation. > > Many companies do many of these, for example, most of our sponsors pay > employees to work on GNOME, are on the advisory board, and sponsor GNOME > events though out the year. > > == Who can recruit? == > > You can! If you know of companies that are not part of the GNOME community > and sponsors now, please recruit them. If you are interested in recruiting, > put down your name and location. Often it helps to meet in person and > knowing where we have interested community members can help us connect > potential sponsors with passionate community members. > > * Stormy Peters, Colorado, USA > > Remember, you don't need permission to recruit companies and government > organizations to join GNOME, but you should get board approval before you > invite them to be on the advisory board. > > == Which companies might want to donate to GNOME? == > > The easiest companies to approach are ones that are using GNOME > technologies in development. But also consider companies and government > organizations that are using GNOME (even if they are using Linux and don't > know they are using GNOME!) Also, government organizations interested in > fostering freedom and software development may be interested in > contributing. > > * Companies using GNOME technologies in development or in their products. > * Examples: Supersonic Imagine uses GNOME technologies and they sponsored > GUADEC 2008. > * Companies using GNOME as end users. > * Companies whose end users might use GNOME with their products. For > example, digital camera makers, assistive technology providers, ... > * Government organizations > * others? > > == How do I approach them? == > > * First, try to set up a meeting. It's best if you can talk to them in > person. Next best is over the phone. > * When sending an email query, I find it best to keep the first message > very short and ask to follow up via phone. (Or in person, if possible.) > * Also, learn as much about them as you can before hand, and tailor the > message to them. > * Don't try to explain all the benefits of the GNOME Foundation and the > GNOME project in the first mail. I usually just briefly explain what GNOME > and the GNOME Foundation are (two sentences), a sentence about how it > relates to them and then a request for a meeting. > * When following up, be sure to ask lots about what they do and how they > use GNOME. You should do less than half the talking during the meeting. > > == What's in it for them? == > > * By using open source technologies like GNOME, companies can focus on > adding their value add, branding both the open source pieces and their > applications for their users. > * The foundation provides a conduit to the developers. We can help make > introductions or advice on how best to get work done. > * The advisory board provides a high-value communication channel with the >
recruiting sponsors
Recruiting sponsors (as in companies that sponsor GNOME) is something the whole GNOME community can help with. So I put together this draft of a how-to. Let me know if you have any comments or suggestions and I'll put it in the wiki. Stormy = Recruiting a sponsoring company = The GNOME Foundation is sponsored by many individuals and companies. This page is about how GNOME community members can recruit sponsoring companies or government organizations to the GNOME project. Companies and government organizations can sponsor the GNOME Foundation in several ways: * giving a one time financial donation via Friends of GNOME, * sponsoring GNOME events and programs like GUADEC, GNOME.Asia and accessibility outreach, * paying employees to work on GNOME, * joining the GNOME advisory board and paying an annual set amount to the GNOME Foundation. Many companies do many of these, for example, most of our sponsors pay employees to work on GNOME, are on the advisory board, and sponsor GNOME events though out the year. == Who can recruit? == You can! If you know of companies that are not part of the GNOME community and sponsors now, please recruit them. If you are interested in recruiting, put down your name and location. Often it helps to meet in person and knowing where we have interested community members can help us connect potential sponsors with passionate community members. * Stormy Peters, Colorado, USA Remember, you don't need permission to recruit companies and government organizations to join GNOME, but you should get board approval before you invite them to be on the advisory board. == Which companies might want to donate to GNOME? == The easiest companies to approach are ones that are using GNOME technologies in development. But also consider companies and government organizations that are using GNOME (even if they are using Linux and don't know they are using GNOME!) Also, government organizations interested in fostering freedom and software development may be interested in contributing. * Companies using GNOME technologies in development or in their products. * Examples: Supersonic Imagine uses GNOME technologies and they sponsored GUADEC 2008. * Companies using GNOME as end users. * Companies whose end users might use GNOME with their products. For example, digital camera makers, assistive technology providers, ... * Government organizations * others? == How do I approach them? == * First, try to set up a meeting. It's best if you can talk to them in person. Next best is over the phone. * When sending an email query, I find it best to keep the first message very short and ask to follow up via phone. (Or in person, if possible.) * Also, learn as much about them as you can before hand, and tailor the message to them. * Don't try to explain all the benefits of the GNOME Foundation and the GNOME project in the first mail. I usually just briefly explain what GNOME and the GNOME Foundation are (two sentences), a sentence about how it relates to them and then a request for a meeting. * When following up, be sure to ask lots about what they do and how they use GNOME. You should do less than half the talking during the meeting. == What's in it for them? == * By using open source technologies like GNOME, companies can focus on adding their value add, branding both the open source pieces and their applications for their users. * The foundation provides a conduit to the developers. We can help make introductions or advice on how best to get work done. * The advisory board provides a high-value communication channel with the GNOME community, through the board of directors, and with other companies using GNOME technologies. * The foundation ensures that the GNOME project is easy to work with by enabling six month release cycles, press releases, funding management, etc. * The foundation currently has a part-time assistant and a full-time director who will support the GNOME community and grow interest in the desktop and the platform. We are looking to hire a system administrator in the near future. * The more you work with the community, the more you support the project and the more awareness they have of your plans, the more supportive they will be when you need help. By joining the GNOME Foundation and sponsoring GNOME, you will create good will among GNOME developers. They know that the GNOME Foundation fees go towards things that help GNOME developers like hackfests, sponsoring travel to conferences, and system administration resources. * General press. The GNOME Foundation does regular press releases and we welcome participation from our sponsors. * Knowledge of future directions and roadmaps. By participating in the community through mailing lists and teams, you gain awareness of roadmaps, marketing plans, and future directions. * GNOME provides desktop technology to many users world wide in many languages. == What resources are availab
