Re: 2009 Current Year Budget
It's now all up on http://foundation.gnome.org/finance/ and I made the correction in the budget such that the 35K for hackfests shows up correctly in the budget summary Jaap On Mon, Jun 8, 2009 at 23:34, Stormy Peterssto...@gnome.org wrote: Oh, sorry. Too much email today ... Sounds good. If you can give me a hand putting it there that'd be great. I'll look into getting a git account and maybe get someone to give me a mini-tutorial if necessary at GUADEC. Stormy On Mon, Jun 8, 2009 at 3:22 PM, Jaap A. Haitsma j...@haitsma.org wrote: Stormy, I'm referring to the 2009 year budget.(My apologies if this was unclear) The wiki page you refer to contains the donations of Friends of GNOME not the Jaap On Mon, Jun 8, 2009 at 22:48, Stormy Peterssto...@gnome.org wrote: I had already put it in the wiki and removed my old spreadsheet on this page: http://live.gnome.org/GnomeMarketing/Tasks/FriendsOfGNOME We can also put it on the finance page. If you have access to that, that'd be great. (I can only modify the wiki ...) Thanks, Stormy On Mon, Jun 8, 2009 at 2:41 PM, Jaap A. Haitsma j...@haitsma.org wrote: Stormy, For creating more transparency (as many of the candidates that are running for the board want) can you make the corrected spreadsheet available on the web or wiki. I suggest we make it (and also the Friends of GNOME data which is now at http://live.gnome.org/GnomeMarketing/Tasks/FriendsOfGNOME ) available on http://foundation.gnome.org/finance/ I can give you a hand if you like Regards, Jaap On Tue, May 5, 2009 at 21:30, Stormy Petersstormy.pet...@gmail.com wrote: You're right. That $15,000 seems to be hard coded in and it should be pulling from the corporate contributions spreadsheet. I'll fix it. That said, the fix should probably be in the corporate contributions spreadsheet as many of the companies that expressed interest in sponsoring hackfests are no longer able or interested in doing so. Stormy On Sun, May 3, 2009 at 2:37 PM, Jaap A. Haitsma j...@haitsma.org wrote: Hi, I was looking at the spreadsheet and I think I might have spotted an error in the Budget Summary sheet. Shouldn't the projected income for hackfests be 35,000$ instead of 15,000$. In the sheet Corporate contributions the total contributions for hackfests is 35,000$. Regards Jaap On Thu, Apr 30, 2009 at 19:58, john palmieri john.j5.palmi...@gmail.com wrote: Dear Foundation Members, Attached is the 2009 budget put together by Stormy. Due to the economy our budget shows us eating into the surplus quite a bit. While we will remain solvent for 2009, it is a burn rate we will not be able to sustain in 2010 barring changes in funding level and/or reduction of ongoing expenditures. Those decisions will be made as the year progresses and we have a more complete picture of where we will be come December. As I have said we are in good shape for this year but we need to look to the future in order to find ways to best serve our members. On behalf of the board, John (J5) Palmieri ___ foundation-announce mailing list foundation-annou...@gnome.org http://mail.gnome.org/mailman/listinfo/foundation-announce ___ foundation-list mailing list foundation-list@gnome.org http://mail.gnome.org/mailman/listinfo/foundation-list -- blog: http://jaap.haitsma.org -- blog: http://jaap.haitsma.org -- blog: http://jaap.haitsma.org ___ foundation-list mailing list foundation-list@gnome.org http://mail.gnome.org/mailman/listinfo/foundation-list
Re: 2009 Current Year Budget
In April 2006 on the donations page, there are a lot of entrys that say GUADEC 2006 Registration I guess that explain why April 2006 was the month with the biggest income so far, but is that data supposed to be there in the first place? - Andreas On 06/09/2009 08:08 AM, Jaap A. Haitsma wrote: It's now all up on http://foundation.gnome.org/finance/ and I made the correction in the budget such that the 35K for hackfests shows up correctly in the budget summary Jaap On Mon, Jun 8, 2009 at 23:34, Stormy Peterssto...@gnome.org wrote: Oh, sorry. Too much email today ... Sounds good. If you can give me a hand putting it there that'd be great. I'll look into getting a git account and maybe get someone to give me a mini-tutorial if necessary at GUADEC. Stormy On Mon, Jun 8, 2009 at 3:22 PM, Jaap A. Haitsmaj...@haitsma.org wrote: Stormy, I'm referring to the 2009 year budget.(My apologies if this was unclear) The wiki page you refer to contains the donations of Friends of GNOME not the Jaap On Mon, Jun 8, 2009 at 22:48, Stormy Peterssto...@gnome.org wrote: I had already put it in the wiki and removed my old spreadsheet on this page: http://live.gnome.org/GnomeMarketing/Tasks/FriendsOfGNOME We can also put it on the finance page. If you have access to that, that'd be great. (I can only modify the wiki ...) Thanks, Stormy On Mon, Jun 8, 2009 at 2:41 PM, Jaap A. Haitsmaj...@haitsma.org wrote: Stormy, For creating more transparency (as many of the candidates that are running for the board want) can you make the corrected spreadsheet available on the web or wiki. I suggest we make it (and also the Friends of GNOME data which is now at http://live.gnome.org/GnomeMarketing/Tasks/FriendsOfGNOME ) available on http://foundation.gnome.org/finance/ I can give you a hand if you like Regards, Jaap On Tue, May 5, 2009 at 21:30, Stormy Petersstormy.pet...@gmail.com wrote: You're right. That $15,000 seems to be hard coded in and it should be pulling from the corporate contributions spreadsheet. I'll fix it. That said, the fix should probably be in the corporate contributions spreadsheet as many of the companies that expressed interest in sponsoring hackfests are no longer able or interested in doing so. Stormy On Sun, May 3, 2009 at 2:37 PM, Jaap A. Haitsmaj...@haitsma.org wrote: Hi, I was looking at the spreadsheet and I think I might have spotted an error in the Budget Summary sheet. Shouldn't the projected income for hackfests be 35,000$ instead of 15,000$. In the sheet Corporate contributions the total contributions for hackfests is 35,000$. Regards Jaap On Thu, Apr 30, 2009 at 19:58, john palmieri john.j5.palmi...@gmail.com wrote: Dear Foundation Members, Attached is the 2009 budget put together by Stormy. Due to the economy our budget shows us eating into the surplus quite a bit. While we will remain solvent for 2009, it is a burn rate we will not be able to sustain in 2010 barring changes in funding level and/or reduction of ongoing expenditures. Those decisions will be made as the year progresses and we have a more complete picture of where we will be come December. As I have said we are in good shape for this year but we need to look to the future in order to find ways to best serve our members. On behalf of the board, John (J5) Palmieri ___ foundation-announce mailing list foundation-annou...@gnome.org http://mail.gnome.org/mailman/listinfo/foundation-announce ___ foundation-list mailing list foundation-list@gnome.org http://mail.gnome.org/mailman/listinfo/foundation-list -- blog: http://jaap.haitsma.org -- blog: http://jaap.haitsma.org ___ foundation-list mailing list foundation-list@gnome.org http://mail.gnome.org/mailman/listinfo/foundation-list
Re: 2009 Current Year Budget
I had already put it in the wiki and removed my old spreadsheet on this page: http://live.gnome.org/GnomeMarketing/Tasks/FriendsOfGNOME We can also put it on the finance page. If you have access to that, that'd be great. (I can only modify the wiki ...) Thanks, Stormy On Mon, Jun 8, 2009 at 2:41 PM, Jaap A. Haitsma j...@haitsma.org wrote: Stormy, For creating more transparency (as many of the candidates that are running for the board want) can you make the corrected spreadsheet available on the web or wiki. I suggest we make it (and also the Friends of GNOME data which is now at http://live.gnome.org/GnomeMarketing/Tasks/FriendsOfGNOME ) available on http://foundation.gnome.org/finance/ I can give you a hand if you like Regards, Jaap On Tue, May 5, 2009 at 21:30, Stormy Petersstormy.pet...@gmail.com wrote: You're right. That $15,000 seems to be hard coded in and it should be pulling from the corporate contributions spreadsheet. I'll fix it. That said, the fix should probably be in the corporate contributions spreadsheet as many of the companies that expressed interest in sponsoring hackfests are no longer able or interested in doing so. Stormy On Sun, May 3, 2009 at 2:37 PM, Jaap A. Haitsma j...@haitsma.org wrote: Hi, I was looking at the spreadsheet and I think I might have spotted an error in the Budget Summary sheet. Shouldn't the projected income for hackfests be 35,000$ instead of 15,000$. In the sheet Corporate contributions the total contributions for hackfests is 35,000$. Regards Jaap On Thu, Apr 30, 2009 at 19:58, john palmieri john.j5.palmi...@gmail.com wrote: Dear Foundation Members, Attached is the 2009 budget put together by Stormy. Due to the economy our budget shows us eating into the surplus quite a bit. While we will remain solvent for 2009, it is a burn rate we will not be able to sustain in 2010 barring changes in funding level and/or reduction of ongoing expenditures. Those decisions will be made as the year progresses and we have a more complete picture of where we will be come December. As I have said we are in good shape for this year but we need to look to the future in order to find ways to best serve our members. On behalf of the board, John (J5) Palmieri ___ foundation-announce mailing list foundation-annou...@gnome.org http://mail.gnome.org/mailman/listinfo/foundation-announce ___ foundation-list mailing list foundation-list@gnome.org http://mail.gnome.org/mailman/listinfo/foundation-list -- blog: http://jaap.haitsma.org ___ foundation-list mailing list foundation-list@gnome.org http://mail.gnome.org/mailman/listinfo/foundation-list
Re: 2009 Current Year Budget
Stormy, I'm referring to the 2009 year budget.(My apologies if this was unclear) The wiki page you refer to contains the donations of Friends of GNOME not the Jaap On Mon, Jun 8, 2009 at 22:48, Stormy Peterssto...@gnome.org wrote: I had already put it in the wiki and removed my old spreadsheet on this page: http://live.gnome.org/GnomeMarketing/Tasks/FriendsOfGNOME We can also put it on the finance page. If you have access to that, that'd be great. (I can only modify the wiki ...) Thanks, Stormy On Mon, Jun 8, 2009 at 2:41 PM, Jaap A. Haitsma j...@haitsma.org wrote: Stormy, For creating more transparency (as many of the candidates that are running for the board want) can you make the corrected spreadsheet available on the web or wiki. I suggest we make it (and also the Friends of GNOME data which is now at http://live.gnome.org/GnomeMarketing/Tasks/FriendsOfGNOME ) available on http://foundation.gnome.org/finance/ I can give you a hand if you like Regards, Jaap On Tue, May 5, 2009 at 21:30, Stormy Petersstormy.pet...@gmail.com wrote: You're right. That $15,000 seems to be hard coded in and it should be pulling from the corporate contributions spreadsheet. I'll fix it. That said, the fix should probably be in the corporate contributions spreadsheet as many of the companies that expressed interest in sponsoring hackfests are no longer able or interested in doing so. Stormy On Sun, May 3, 2009 at 2:37 PM, Jaap A. Haitsma j...@haitsma.org wrote: Hi, I was looking at the spreadsheet and I think I might have spotted an error in the Budget Summary sheet. Shouldn't the projected income for hackfests be 35,000$ instead of 15,000$. In the sheet Corporate contributions the total contributions for hackfests is 35,000$. Regards Jaap On Thu, Apr 30, 2009 at 19:58, john palmieri john.j5.palmi...@gmail.com wrote: Dear Foundation Members, Attached is the 2009 budget put together by Stormy. Due to the economy our budget shows us eating into the surplus quite a bit. While we will remain solvent for 2009, it is a burn rate we will not be able to sustain in 2010 barring changes in funding level and/or reduction of ongoing expenditures. Those decisions will be made as the year progresses and we have a more complete picture of where we will be come December. As I have said we are in good shape for this year but we need to look to the future in order to find ways to best serve our members. On behalf of the board, John (J5) Palmieri ___ foundation-announce mailing list foundation-annou...@gnome.org http://mail.gnome.org/mailman/listinfo/foundation-announce ___ foundation-list mailing list foundation-list@gnome.org http://mail.gnome.org/mailman/listinfo/foundation-list -- blog: http://jaap.haitsma.org -- blog: http://jaap.haitsma.org ___ foundation-list mailing list foundation-list@gnome.org http://mail.gnome.org/mailman/listinfo/foundation-list
Re: 2009 Current Year Budget
Oh, sorry. Too much email today ... Sounds good. If you can give me a hand putting it there that'd be great. I'll look into getting a git account and maybe get someone to give me a mini-tutorial if necessary at GUADEC. Stormy On Mon, Jun 8, 2009 at 3:22 PM, Jaap A. Haitsma j...@haitsma.org wrote: Stormy, I'm referring to the 2009 year budget.(My apologies if this was unclear) The wiki page you refer to contains the donations of Friends of GNOME not the Jaap On Mon, Jun 8, 2009 at 22:48, Stormy Peterssto...@gnome.org wrote: I had already put it in the wiki and removed my old spreadsheet on this page: http://live.gnome.org/GnomeMarketing/Tasks/FriendsOfGNOME We can also put it on the finance page. If you have access to that, that'd be great. (I can only modify the wiki ...) Thanks, Stormy On Mon, Jun 8, 2009 at 2:41 PM, Jaap A. Haitsma j...@haitsma.org wrote: Stormy, For creating more transparency (as many of the candidates that are running for the board want) can you make the corrected spreadsheet available on the web or wiki. I suggest we make it (and also the Friends of GNOME data which is now at http://live.gnome.org/GnomeMarketing/Tasks/FriendsOfGNOME ) available on http://foundation.gnome.org/finance/ I can give you a hand if you like Regards, Jaap On Tue, May 5, 2009 at 21:30, Stormy Petersstormy.pet...@gmail.com wrote: You're right. That $15,000 seems to be hard coded in and it should be pulling from the corporate contributions spreadsheet. I'll fix it. That said, the fix should probably be in the corporate contributions spreadsheet as many of the companies that expressed interest in sponsoring hackfests are no longer able or interested in doing so. Stormy On Sun, May 3, 2009 at 2:37 PM, Jaap A. Haitsma j...@haitsma.org wrote: Hi, I was looking at the spreadsheet and I think I might have spotted an error in the Budget Summary sheet. Shouldn't the projected income for hackfests be 35,000$ instead of 15,000$. In the sheet Corporate contributions the total contributions for hackfests is 35,000$. Regards Jaap On Thu, Apr 30, 2009 at 19:58, john palmieri john.j5.palmi...@gmail.com wrote: Dear Foundation Members, Attached is the 2009 budget put together by Stormy. Due to the economy our budget shows us eating into the surplus quite a bit. While we will remain solvent for 2009, it is a burn rate we will not be able to sustain in 2010 barring changes in funding level and/or reduction of ongoing expenditures. Those decisions will be made as the year progresses and we have a more complete picture of where we will be come December. As I have said we are in good shape for this year but we need to look to the future in order to find ways to best serve our members. On behalf of the board, John (J5) Palmieri ___ foundation-announce mailing list foundation-annou...@gnome.org http://mail.gnome.org/mailman/listinfo/foundation-announce ___ foundation-list mailing list foundation-list@gnome.org http://mail.gnome.org/mailman/listinfo/foundation-list -- blog: http://jaap.haitsma.org -- blog: http://jaap.haitsma.org ___ foundation-list mailing list foundation-list@gnome.org http://mail.gnome.org/mailman/listinfo/foundation-list
Re: 2009 Current Year Budget
2009-05-11 klockan 07:50 skrev Jaap A. Haitsma: However Openedhand and Imendio are as far as I know a commercial company. Don't they financially help the foundation in 2009? It seems to me both companies no longer exist: - Opened Hand was acquired by Intel [see 1]; - Imendio no longer exists, but its business has been (partly?) continued by former employees under a new name: Lanedo [see 2 and 3]. Perhaps those logos should be removed from the listing of foundation sponsors? — Wouter [1] http://imendio.com/ [2] http://o-hand.com/ [3] http://www.lanedo.com/ signature.asc Description: Digital signature ___ foundation-list mailing list foundation-list@gnome.org http://mail.gnome.org/mailman/listinfo/foundation-list
Re: 2009 Current Year Budget
Le mercredi 13 mai 2009, à 19:58 +0200, Wouter Bolsterlee a écrit : 2009-05-11 klockan 07:50 skrev Jaap A. Haitsma: However Openedhand and Imendio are as far as I know a commercial company. Don't they financially help the foundation in 2009? It seems to me both companies no longer exist: - Opened Hand was acquired by Intel [see 1]; - Imendio no longer exists, but its business has been (partly?) continued by former employees under a new name: Lanedo [see 2 and 3]. Perhaps those logos should be removed from the listing of foundation sponsors? I pushed the change, it will go live soon. Vincent -- Les gens heureux ne sont pas pressés. ___ foundation-list mailing list foundation-list@gnome.org http://mail.gnome.org/mailman/listinfo/foundation-list
Re: 2009 Current Year Budget
On 14/05/2009, at 5:58 AM, Wouter Bolsterlee wrote: 2009-05-11 klockan 07:50 skrev Jaap A. Haitsma: However Openedhand and Imendio are as far as I know a commercial company. Don't they financially help the foundation in 2009? It seems to me both companies no longer exist: - Opened Hand was acquired by Intel [see 1]; - Imendio no longer exists, but its business has been (partly?) continued by former employees under a new name: Lanedo [see 2 and 3]. Perhaps those logos should be removed from the listing of foundation sponsors? I think it depends on what the time frame was for their advisory board fees - if we've already gone into the new year, then it makes a lot of sense to remove. If we haven't, then I'd keep them up there and bask in their memory :) Glynn ___ foundation-list mailing list foundation-list@gnome.org http://mail.gnome.org/mailman/listinfo/foundation-list
Re: 2009 Current Year Budget
Hi Jaap, Jaap A. Haitsma wrote: If I compare the spreadsheet with the sponsors listed on http://foundation.gnome.org/ I see that not every sponsor pays a contribution. The foundation rules are: * Advisory board members are by invitation only * Non-profits pay no contribution to be on the advisory board - this rule applies to Debian, FSF, SFLC, MoFo, Sugar Labs. * For-profit companies pay an annual membership fee. * Large companies (50 employees): $10,000 * Small companies (50 employees): $ 5,000 I can imagine that non-profit do not have to pay to become a foundation member. Though I think a non profit like Mozilla has so much revenue that you could ask for a contribution I think. We do, we have. Mozilla is a regular generous supporter of the foundation - including a contribution to the Accessibility project last year, and regular sponsorship of GUADEC. However Openedhand and Imendio are as far as I know a commercial company. Don't they financially help the foundation in 2009? OpenedHand is now a subset of Intel, who are a paying member of the advisory board. Imendio has ceased operation; I believe that we have made contact with Lanedo, the company which has taken over most of Imendio's employees and clients. Cheers, Dave. -- Dave Neary GNOME Foundation member dne...@gnome.org ___ foundation-list mailing list foundation-list@gnome.org http://mail.gnome.org/mailman/listinfo/foundation-list
Re: 2009 Current Year Budget
Hi Stormy, If I compare the spreadsheet with the sponsors listed on http://foundation.gnome.org/ I see that not every sponsor pays a contribution. I can imagine that non-profit do not have to pay to become a foundation member. Though I think a non profit like Mozilla has so much revenue that you could ask for a contribution I think. However Openedhand and Imendio are as far as I know a commercial company. Don't they financially help the foundation in 2009? Jaap On Thu, Apr 30, 2009 at 19:58, john palmieri john.j5.palmi...@gmail.com wrote: Dear Foundation Members, Attached is the 2009 budget put together by Stormy. Due to the economy our budget shows us eating into the surplus quite a bit. While we will remain solvent for 2009, it is a burn rate we will not be able to sustain in 2010 barring changes in funding level and/or reduction of ongoing expenditures. Those decisions will be made as the year progresses and we have a more complete picture of where we will be come December. As I have said we are in good shape for this year but we need to look to the future in order to find ways to best serve our members. On behalf of the board, John (J5) Palmieri ___ foundation-announce mailing list foundation-annou...@gnome.org http://mail.gnome.org/mailman/listinfo/foundation-announce ___ foundation-list mailing list foundation-list@gnome.org http://mail.gnome.org/mailman/listinfo/foundation-list
Re: 2009 Current Year Budget
Hi, I was looking at the spreadsheet and I think I might have spotted an error in the Budget Summary sheet. Shouldn't the projected income for hackfests be 35,000$ instead of 15,000$. In the sheet Corporate contributions the total contributions for hackfests is 35,000$. Regards Jaap On Thu, Apr 30, 2009 at 19:58, john palmieri john.j5.palmi...@gmail.com wrote: Dear Foundation Members, Attached is the 2009 budget put together by Stormy. Due to the economy our budget shows us eating into the surplus quite a bit. While we will remain solvent for 2009, it is a burn rate we will not be able to sustain in 2010 barring changes in funding level and/or reduction of ongoing expenditures. Those decisions will be made as the year progresses and we have a more complete picture of where we will be come December. As I have said we are in good shape for this year but we need to look to the future in order to find ways to best serve our members. On behalf of the board, John (J5) Palmieri ___ foundation-announce mailing list foundation-annou...@gnome.org http://mail.gnome.org/mailman/listinfo/foundation-announce ___ foundation-list mailing list foundation-list@gnome.org http://mail.gnome.org/mailman/listinfo/foundation-list
Re: 2009 Current Year Budget
You're right. That $15,000 seems to be hard coded in and it should be pulling from the corporate contributions spreadsheet. I'll fix it. That said, the fix should probably be in the corporate contributions spreadsheet as many of the companies that expressed interest in sponsoring hackfests are no longer able or interested in doing so. Stormy On Sun, May 3, 2009 at 2:37 PM, Jaap A. Haitsma j...@haitsma.org wrote: Hi, I was looking at the spreadsheet and I think I might have spotted an error in the Budget Summary sheet. Shouldn't the projected income for hackfests be 35,000$ instead of 15,000$. In the sheet Corporate contributions the total contributions for hackfests is 35,000$. Regards Jaap On Thu, Apr 30, 2009 at 19:58, john palmieri john.j5.palmi...@gmail.com wrote: Dear Foundation Members, Attached is the 2009 budget put together by Stormy. Due to the economy our budget shows us eating into the surplus quite a bit. While we will remain solvent for 2009, it is a burn rate we will not be able to sustain in 2010 barring changes in funding level and/or reduction of ongoing expenditures. Those decisions will be made as the year progresses and we have a more complete picture of where we will be come December. As I have said we are in good shape for this year but we need to look to the future in order to find ways to best serve our members. On behalf of the board, John (J5) Palmieri ___ foundation-announce mailing list foundation-annou...@gnome.org http://mail.gnome.org/mailman/listinfo/foundation-announce ___ foundation-list mailing list foundation-list@gnome.org http://mail.gnome.org/mailman/listinfo/foundation-list ___ foundation-list mailing list foundation-list@gnome.org http://mail.gnome.org/mailman/listinfo/foundation-list
Re: 2009 Current Year Budget
Hi John, Thanks for publishing the budget. It's a very useful document to have. I have a few observations and questions (mostly the same ones I asked of the board before - but this is an opportunity for a more public discussion). john palmieri wrote: Attached is the 2009 budget put together by Stormy. Due to the economy our budget shows us eating into the surplus quite a bit. While we will remain solvent for 2009, it is a burn rate we will not be able to sustain in 2010 barring changes in funding level and/or reduction of ongoing expenditures. Those decisions will be made as the year progresses and we have a more complete picture of where we will be come December. As I have said we are in good shape for this year but we need to look to the future in order to find ways to best serve our members. One line I'm missing from the budget is Balance forward. You mention we're eating into our surplus, but you don't mention how much we have in the bank at the beginning of the year. Running a budget deficit of $83,000 seems a bit mad given the way things are going right now - shouldn't we be tightening our belts anywhere we can? I have some ideas how to get closer to a balanced budget. They mean tightening the belt this year, for the long-term health of the foundation, but I think that's worth doing. As I see it, our minimum expenditure during the year is: Stormy:$96,000 Zana: $27,500 Paychex:$2,400 Taxes: $6,043 Insurance: $2,200 Accountant: $3,500 Office: $592 Bank fees: $3,000 (is there a way to bring these down?) Total: $141,235 And undirected income (that is, income not specifically destined for programs): Advisory board fees: $110,000 Friends of GNOME: $20,000 (budgeted) Google SoC: $15,000 GUADEC 08:$20,000 (provisional) Total: $165,000 That gives us about $24K to play with, *if* we raise $20,000 from Friends of GNOME, everyone pays advisory board fees, and we do pretty well from GUADEC 08. What's unclear from the presentation of the budget is which activities are coming from the foundation surplus, and which will be run only if they're self-funding. As I understand it, hackfests are all conditional on sponsorship and/or financial participation of participants. I assume the same is true of the sysadmin? Given that we have $20,000 raised towards the sysadmin position already, and another $10,000 budgeted from the foundation, how much money do you feel the foundation will need to raise to make this hire? Is 6 months funds enough, or will you try to raise a year's worth before asking someone to commit to sysadminning? Is it to be a contract, or a permanent hire? Is this also the case for re-running the accessibility program? There is a line that $30,000 is money raised last year and unspent on the accessibility program - could that be removed from this year's budget as a budgetted expense, to allow things to be a little clearer on this year's income/expenditure? Other planned expenditures, which don't appear to have fundraising directly associated with them, are: * European US event box: $2,500 * Latin American Tour: $6,000 * Local group budget: $9,371 * Travel budget: $10,000 Could we cut down this budget this year, given the financial state of affairs elsewhere? If we had an overall community budget of, say, $13,000 I think that'd be great! $28,000 with no income matching up seems too much. Marketing budget: shouldn't we be cutting the expenditure of printing annual reports this year? $2,700 seems like a luxury we can't affort. One last overall remark: Looking at the cover sheet, we look like we're bleeding money, but when you look closer, a lot of the budgeted expenditure is contingent on fundraising. Doesn't it make sense to reflect this in the cover page? For example, programs shows -$28,000 and hackfests -$19,000 but they're not going to happen if they're being 100% funded by the foundation. Once you factor out these, you're back to -$35,000, and if you manage to trim the marketing budget, community budget and bank fees, we could even get down closer to -$20,000 for the year. Factor in the Summer of Code income, and we are close to a break-even budget - especially since I know that Stormy is being very careful with her travel budget and is requesting expenses where reasonable, so I am sure she will not spend all of the $20K travel budget allotted. Also, there is currently no budget line for GUADEC 2009 - isn't there a planned surplus from this year's event also to pay for some things like the Summit and maybe a hackfest? Anyway - I hope my comments are helpful, and reinforce the message that I think the foundation should absolutely try to balance the budget this year, even if that means spending less on travel than intended. The foundation should be building storing cash reserves for a potentially horrible 2010 if at all possible. Thanks again John! Cheers, Dave. -- Dave Neary GNOME Foundation member
