On 6 June 2014 03:52, Germán Poo-Caamaño <g...@gnome.org> wrote: > Hi Fidencio, > > I'm short of time at this moment, so I'm sorry I could not make my > answer shorter: > > On Fri, 2014-06-06 at 01:00 +0200, Fabiano Fidêncio wrote: >> Howdy! >> >> Since I became a Foundation member (1.5 years ago) I've been interested to >> understand how does work the process to sponsor someone for an event. I've >> looked for some info and found almost nothing about the criterias used to >> sponsor someone (apart from: Foundation Member: yes/no. GSoC/OPW student: >> yes/no. Speaker/Keynoter: yes/no). > > The sponsorship is a privilege for foundation members. Everyone else is > an exception, as stated in > https://wiki.gnome.org/Travel#Travel.2BAC8-Policy.Exceptions > > There were some policies that were more relaxed at the beginning, but > less relaxed lately, such as: > * The one for exceptions who should become foundation members in > the short time > * Requiring to write about the event people were sponsored before > proceeding with the reimbursement > > Nothing hard to achieve, to be honest. > >> So, I'd like to have it clear since now, I do *not* have any specific >> complaints about the Travel Committee and I do *not* have any specific >> problem about being or not sponsored by GNOME Foundation for an event. >> >> So, why would I like to have access to these info? >> Basically because someone could be interested in. >> >> Why would someone be interested in? >> 1) Learn how the process work > > The process is explained here: > https://wiki.gnome.org/Travel/Request > >> 2) Learn how the decisions are taken > > This is a two fold decision. The board approves funds, and the Travel > Committee "manages it". > > For hackfests, the way it "has worked" as the event planner ask for a > budget to the board, the board approves it, and let the Travel Committee > knows the decision in order to handle the forms. Theoretically, the > board (or ED) would find sponsors for the hackfest. > > ("has worked" between quotation marks, if you read the minutes and > latest announcements, you will get an idea). > > At that point, the decision was only taken by the board and the event > planner who decide who would attend to the hackfest. You can look at the > list of people asking for sponsorship for hackfests in: > https://wiki.gnome.org/Hackfests/ > > And the process is documented here: > https://wiki.gnome.org/Hackfests/New > > However, events like GNOME.Asia and GUADEC, the funds available are > smaller than requested. For example, if GNOME Foundation wanted to > sponsor whatever people asked for GUADEC 2014, it would need US$57,500; > but the funds available are US$42,900. If we think we really need more > funds, we request it to the board, but we have to present a good case, > and... rarely we have gotten more funds. > > Who gets priority then? Who are we going to sponsor? and to what extent? > which I think goes in line with, what I suppose, is your original > question: when and why somebody gets sponsored for X% and not Y%? > > First at all, for travel fares, if we find cheaper fares and yet > reasonable trips, we will consider that ones as reference (it is > documented in the archives and the wiki page). > > This is not black and white, and there are many cases to consider. The > higher priority will be for foundation members who are also speakers. > > This does not mean full sponsorship. Because if, for example, everybody > makes an effort and can afford $200 out of what they need (or the > reference fare), with those bunch of $200, we can sponsor more people. > > Foundation members requesting partial sponsorship (for example, only > accommodation), are likely to get accepted what they ask for, because > they are already making an effort. For airfares, still the reference > fare rules. > > Non-foundation members who have been sponsored in the past, are likely > to be rejected, because they should have become foundation members (at > least there is a good explanation). > > Interns (GSoC/OPW) are likely to receive only partial sponsorship. > Usually accommodation, and *maybe* part of the ticket (likely less than > 50%). In the past, interns have counted with $500 for event stipends. > Unfortunately, not this year. > > Non-foundation members, who are not interns nor speakers, have the lower > priority. If they get sponsored, likely accommodation and *maybe* part > of the ticket. > > And people requesting sponsorship after the deadline, lower priority > (and again, considering if foundation, and any other explanation). > > And still there are more cases, people who are students, or volunteers > who are taking vacations to attend. Or what happens if contributors > affiliated to a company request more funds (in total) than the amount > the company is sponsoring? And what if the company has divisions, and > they are not part of them? or even if they get no permission and are > taking holidays instead? If the budget is very tight, then: when was the > last time somebody was sponsored? was it full or partial? and so on. > What if they are also organizing a workshop or hackfest? Or if they are > board candidates and must attend to the meetings? > > So, many of them are solved in a case-by-case basis. > >> 3) Check if the values spent are okay > > Here I am unsure what you are asking for. I published summaries in the > past regarding to GUADEC, for example (Sorry for my English, it was > rustier than now): > http://calcifer.org/notes/2009/05/status-of-guadecs-sponsorship-requests.html > http://calcifer.org/notes/2010/04/guadec-status-of-travel-sponsorship-requests.html
Also at: http://blogs.gnome.org/kittykat/2013/06/07/sponsorships-for-guadec-2013/ > If you are asking for details of how much we have sponsored per every > individual, it was decided at the very beginning to keep that > information private. It was also part of the announcement (see the > links below): > > "Any information you send the TC will be private" > > If we provide the names and numbers, there will be missing contextual > information to explain some things. And this could refrain people of > requesting sponsorship. So, there is a trade-off between transparency > and privacy. > > And this is mostly the case for GUADEC and GNOME.Asia. For hackfests, > you still have the wiki page that has that information. Something that > might change once we start having a fixed amount for the hackfests > altogether. > >> Although I'm not the one who would like to dig into these data, I'd feel >> really more comfortable knowing that I can do this, if I'd like to. >> Does it make sense? Am I asking too much? > >> Please, as I told before, I'm kind-of new here. So, If this discussion >> already happened in the past, please, point me some links and I'll be happy >> reading them and trying to understand why this process is not transparent >> for all the Foundation members. (Seriously, I'm not trying to put my finger >> in anyone's face about how the money is or should be spend. Just would love >> to understand how the process works) > > The Travel Committee was proposed and discussed in 2009. You can see the > original proposal in the following link: > https://mail.gnome.org/archives/foundation-list/2009-February/msg00007.html > > This was lengthly discussed, see for example the archives of February > 2009: > https://mail.gnome.org/archives/foundation-list/2009-February/thread.html > > And you can see a follow-up on March on a related topic ("Sponsoring > hackfests"): > https://mail.gnome.org/archives/foundation-list/2009-March/thread.html > > And the announcement in April: > https://mail.gnome.org/archives/foundation-list/2009-April/msg00012.html > >> With my thoughts and my doubts, yesterday I approached the Treasurer (who >> is also member of the Travel Committee) and asked her about those things >> and I'd like to share my disappointment with the answers. >> [comments deleted] >> After that, I was told to raise it with the Foundation, and that's the >> motivation for my email :-) There is indeed lack of context here. You strongly implied that the board and the travel-committee was corrupt, which is an opinion that you have every right to hold. If you do truly think that this is the case, then it is my opinion that you should indeed raise the matter with the membership rather than keeping quiet. Regarding the travel committee issues and taking quotes out of context, I would prefer to be clear on the matter: You asked me where the amounts of sponsorship were recorded, I responded by saying on hackfest pages and in board minutes. You asked me for exact amounts that every individual has been sponsored for, I responded by explaining that you can make an educated estimate from the above two resources. You asked me why the exact amounts of sponsorship for each individual are not published, I explained that one of the reasons is that they would make little sense without context and context is not ours to publish. I also assured you that they are recorded properly, as that seemed to be of concern to you, and the board also has access to them in case the board ever wants to audit them. I believe you when you say that you have no agenda, but you have yet to give me a good reason for telling the world (you were asking me in a public IRC channel) on which service to try guessing a travel committee member's password and where to look for sponsorship details which, as Germán pointed out, the travel committee does promise to keep private. I know that I do use secure passwords and I do make sure to remind travel committee and board members to do the same, but I cannot vouch for those others that they have definitely taken the same precautions as me. > I lack the context for the quotations here, but I assume people mean > well. If this started by asking for naming the people and the amount > funded, I explained it above. > > Regardless, when we have taken a decision we try to explain it > -shortly-. And in the rare cases that people require more explanation of > a decision, we try to provide more. > > All in all, before 2009, the number of people sponsored was lower for > the same amount of money (reasons likely explained in the links). And > hackfests were uncommon back then. > > Regards, > > -- > Germán Poo-Caamaño > http://calcifer.org/ > > _______________________________________________ > foundation-list mailing list > foundation-list@gnome.org > https://mail.gnome.org/mailman/listinfo/foundation-list > _______________________________________________ foundation-list mailing list foundation-list@gnome.org https://mail.gnome.org/mailman/listinfo/foundation-list
