Dear members, I am announcing my intention to stand for re-election to the GNOME Foundation board of directors in the upcoming 2022-24 election. My employer affiliation is Endless OS Foundation.
In brief, I would like to make sure the GNOME Foundation is well set-up with a new Executive Director; continue supporting efforts to bring diverse contributors and make the Linux desktop attractive to users; and use my and others experience on the board to make sure the Foundation is governed and run effectively. As I am already serving on the board as President, on the Executive and Finance Committees and managing the Executive Director, some members may already be aware with what I've been working on and why. Should I be re-elected, my top priorities would be as follows: 1. Ensure a smooth transition to the new Executive Director In February I announced together with Neil McGovern that he would be moving on from his role of Executive Director of the GNOME Foundation this year. For the board this is a key time in terms of ensuring the Foundation is set up for success with another strong leader who can carry our vision and strategy forward, support the team, guide the community and represent the Foundation externally to build up new partnership and funding opportunities. As President I am working with Neil and Thibault as the Chair to launch the search process - we have been working on better articulation of our strategy so that it's clear to candidates what the board is hoping for them to achieve, consulting with recruitment agencies who will help the Foundation cast the net a little wider for potential applicants, and we've prepared a draft job description ready to launch the search in the next couple of weeks. It's my hope that if re-elected and I have the ongoing support of the board, I can continue my part in this process and help maintain consistency for the board and get the Foundation well set up with a new Executive Director in place for the coming years. 2. Complete the next phase of setup for Flathub The Linux desktop has had commercial investment coming and going in waves over the past 20 years, depending on what’s been happening in the tech sector. Throughout that time, one thing that has not been possible – and is possible on every other successful device platform – is for developers to build apps which add value to the to the platform, and get paid for their work. The consequence of this is a barrier that prevents individuals from diverse backgrounds from engaging in and remaining in our community, if they are not lucky enough to have a salaried role to work on the desktop, or not otherwise supported with time/money to spare to contribute more altruistically. Thanks to support from Endless Philanthropy, the GNOME Foundation has been sponsoring work to add transactions and donations to Flathub to bring direct financial incentives to participants in our community, work which I have been closely involved in specifying and managing as one of the individuals that helped to set Flathub up 5 years ago. We hope to reduce friction for retaining contributors from different backgrounds, as well as boosting the availability of apps to attract and retain users on the Linux desktop more broadly. In parallel with the development, I have been working with Neil and a nascent Flathub governance team including representatives from KDE and the Flathub community to work out the accounting, legal and governance questions which arise when Flathub starts handling funds on behalf of application developers. I'd like to see this through, and make sure that Flathub is set up in a way that allows it to handle payments safely from a legal/liability/financial perpective, has clear and transparent governance that reassures participants and sponsors, and ideally raises funds so that we can invest in improving the security, end-user story and developer experience. 3. Promote good governance of the Foundation As a former company founder and current nonprofit CEO with several years of experience sitting on nonprofit boards, I'm comfortable and familiar with the legal and financial aspects of 501(c)(3) compliance, overseeing the Foundation's finances and inputting into the budget as part of the Finance Committee, helping to guide the board and highlighting when we need to seek professional advice. I've also helped to establish the Executive Committee to help move some of the week to week issues out of the regular board meetings, freeing time for more in-depth conversations and reducing the time commitment for other directors. I'm comfortable in saying I am not able to do this alone; the whole point of having multiple directors on the board is that mine should just be one voice in a far more detailed conversation, but I believe I have useful perspectives and experience to share with the board, and as you've seen I've been working to try and bring new perspectives into our discussions as well. I'd like to continue supporting and improving governance of the Foundation through the board and committees, work with Neil and the subsequent Executive Director to set up our new initiatives, increase partnerships and fundraising for the Foundation, and ensure that the Foundation uses our funds effectively to advocate for and contribute to the GNOME project. Many thanks for your consideration. Regards, Rob _______________________________________________ foundation-announce mailing list foundation-announce@gnome.org https://mail.gnome.org/mailman/listinfo/foundation-announce