All, nice to have this discussion brought on table, finally. Some local chapters already collect fees for their membership. So OSGeo may collect a percentage of perceived fees. Obviously, this should be discussed and defined by local chapters. It may lead to increasing the current membership price...
Best, Le 23 juin 2014 à 16:57, Basques, Bob (CI-StPaul) <bob.basq...@ci.stpaul.mn.us> a écrit : > On 6/23/14 9:25 AM, Bart van den Eijnden 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. >> > All, > > I also agree whole heartily with Howard. > > Regarding the notion that the membership fees need to be different for > different areas on the globe, what about using a chapter mechanism to set the > membership fees according to the locally perceived best pricing model. Might > help solidify local chapters by allowing them to capture a percentage of the > membership fees based on members and new members being pulled in through > their chapter. > > bobb > >> 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 Gérald Fenoy gerald.fe...@geolabs.fr
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