AAG has a sliding income scale, no reason something like that, or a "hamburger index" multiplier, can't be used to fix that up.
http://www.economist.com/content/big-mac-index P. On Mon, Jun 23, 2014 at 7:25 AM, Bart van den Eijnden <bart...@osgis.nl> wrote: > Good food for thought Howard, can’t say I disagree with anything you say here. > > The only thing we need to consider is that for some countries 50 or 70 USD > can still be a lot of money. > > Best regards, > Bart > > On 23 Jun 2014, at 16:12, Howard Butler <how...@hobu.co> wrote: > >> >> On Jun 20, 2014, at 7:38 AM, Cameron Shorter <cameron.shor...@gmail.com> >> wrote: >> >>> Thanks Paul, Dimitris and Peter for your thoughts. >>> >>> Comments inline. >>> >>> On 20/06/2014 4:31 am, Paul Ramsey wrote: >>>> http://www.aag.org/cs/membership/individual_membership >>>> http://www.aag.org/cs/membership/individual_membership/dues >>>> >>>> >>>> Both simpler, and better for the bottom line of OSGeo, if you want to >>>> be a member, sign up as a member, collect your t-shirt, see you @ >>>> foss4g. >>>> >>> Yes Paul, "pay for membership" is simple, but I'd argue that the value of >>> OSGeo and OSGeo communities is the volunteer time we contribute, and "pay >>> membership" wouldn't capture that. >> >> This property is the nature of a professional organization, which in my >> opinion, OSGeo clearly is. There are a number of strong reasons why small >> annual fees for membership are very attractive. The first is there's no >> struggling with members who've dropped off, haven't voted, are no longer >> participating. Second, anyone who wants to associate themselves can simply >> do so by paying dues. Finally, a consistent, if small, operating revenue. >> >> The voting process has been an ad-hoc affair since the beginnings of the >> organization. Every year it the rules are tweaked. Every year members who've >> dropped off need to be nagged. Every year we end up just taking everyone >> who's nominated anyway. It's a lot of overhead and volunteer cost for very >> little gain. >> >> It is certain there are people who wish to be professionally associated with >> OSGeo who are unable to become members because they haven't generated enough >> public profile to be nominated. You can't nominate yourself. It's a chicken >> and egg problem that simply dissolves with paid-but-small membership dues. >> >> OSGeo's main revenue stream is the FOSS4G conference. It is an event run on >> the backs of local chapter volunteers. Please correct me otherwise, but I do >> not think any local chapter who has hosted FOSS4G has ever put in a proposal >> to host it again. This well may eventually run dry. Or, it may run dry for a >> year or two. 80-100k/year (~$50-70/year * 1500 persons) of membership dues >> is plenty to keep the lights on through droughts and still allow the >> organization to move forward. >> >> At the inception of the organization, a driving factor toward our current >> membership structure is because OSGeo is a volunteer organization, it >> shouldn't require members to pay money. I think this is misguided. Every >> other professional organization of which I'm a member requires membership >> dues. As an IRS classification, a professional organization has a clear path >> forward. >> >> I am a professional open source Geo/GIS software developer. I want to belong >> to a professional organization that represents me. I would be happy to pay >> some nominal membership dues that a) signify my membership, b) provide >> financial buffer for the organization to achieve its mission, and 3) clearly >> signal what the rules are to become a member. >> >> My $0.02. >> >> Howard >> >> >> _______________________________________________ >> Discuss mailing list >> Discuss@lists.osgeo.org >> http://lists.osgeo.org/mailman/listinfo/discuss > > _______________________________________________ > Discuss mailing list > Discuss@lists.osgeo.org > http://lists.osgeo.org/mailman/listinfo/discuss _______________________________________________ Discuss mailing list Discuss@lists.osgeo.org http://lists.osgeo.org/mailman/listinfo/discuss
