[1] We have $75,367.72 in the bank but FYI Sugar Labs' spending in 2017 has been higher than any other year on record in Sugar Labs' 9-year history (estimated $14105.73 so far, with almost one quarter of the year remaining). This despite dramatically fewer trips than the year before, according to our summarized financial ledger just posted. Depending how you estimate it, Sugar Labs has posted a $5653.67 or $7805.73 loss[*] for the year to date:
2017 https://wiki.sugarlabs.org/go/Finance#2017-01-01_to_2017-10-06 Last year income was somewhat ahead of expenses by either $117.62 or $1462.25[*] in the final analysis: 2016 https://wiki.sugarlabs.org/go/Finance#2016-01-01_to_2016-12-31 [*] Depending on calendar year etc: some transactions happen many months after they first post. Also critical amendments/clarifications might be necessary above, as new information comes to light. Clarif on April 2011: that $145,000.00 pass-through expense for Durham Cycling (sponsorship) was a clerical anomaly more than an actual expense: https://wiki.sugarlabs.org/go/Finance#April_2011 [2] Currently the legal owner of the XO Trademark is (presumably) OLPC INC. If Sugar Labs seeks to protect itself and its learning constituents from possibly less scrupulous future owners of the XO mark in the coming decades (who might conceivably resist or charge for community licensing of the XO artwork/symbol, if the trademark should ever change hands, a change of ownership having happened twice[*] on our watch already during Sugar Labs' 9 year history) board members interested in safeguarding future decades' opportunities can review the following documents for completeness and clarification: $ ls Sugar/Agreements/Relicensing_sugar-artwork_files Benjamin-Berg-consent.eml Manuel-Quinones-consent.eml Christian-Marc-Schmidt-consent.eml Marco-Presenti-Gritti-consent.eml C-Scott-Ananian-consent.eml Martin-Abente-consent.eml Dan-Williams-consent.eml Record-of-Contributor-approvals.ods Eben-Eliason-consent.eml Simon-Schampijer-consent.eml Gary-Martin-consent.eml Tomeu-Vizoso-consent.eml Gonzalo-Odiard-consent.eml Walter-Bender-consent.eml The above documents are available to all board members who request access via svn (subversion) from the SFConservancy. There is absolutely no rush here as the board clarified its broad opinion ( https://wiki.sugarlabs.org/go/Oversight_Board/Decisions#2017-09-15). However during the next meeting on November 3rd after the board election, it might be prudent & precautionary to wrap up this matter by briefly outlining a more forward-looking-statement (September's public discussions were a very useful start) as to how we might work with and assist OLPC (or any subsequent holder of the XO and similar trademarks) in protecting Sugar's heritage across different global communities in 25 years from now as much as 10 years from now...*and possibly much longer.* Legal advice from different lawyers can be very helpful (I happen to know a lot, and yes they like to be paid for their work just like underappreciated accountants: as such an experienced lawyer recently admitted to me "let's be very honest, we lawyers have different opinions, and the Internet is often the best lawyer, even when your funds are not constrained...") In any case, Sugar Labs has not budgeted for detailed, paid legal research at this time, for a subtle/complex case like this especially. The XO trademark and common law / community uses of it have an intricate history of more than 10 years already, likely going substantially beyond SFConservancy's responsibility to do basic legal/accounting work for Sugar Labs. *As such we should be thankful that SFC General Counsel Tony Sebro & Bradley Kuhn have already helped us repeatedly on this matter: let me reiterate a Profound Thanks go to the entire SFC for its diligence beyond what most anybody is aware, on all matters!* [*] or so one presumes, that the XO trademark has changed hands from the OLPC Fdtn to the OLPC Assoc and then from the OLPC Assoc to OLPC Inc, as OLPC itself has evolved into a different entity several times. Similarly Sugar Labs might want to do basic legal and market research on protecting the Sugarizer name and concept, to protect Lionel and all, as the world continually changes around us! *[3] W h y W e ' r e H e r e* *Sugar Labs' 1st official transactions both took place on December 17th 2008 in an earlier era when Trump was just a playing card, Obama was not a president, and Tweeting truly was for the birds...* *Donations on that 1st day came from Bernie Innocenti ($10) and Caroline Meeks ($50) towards building a completely new kind of more purposeful Lego, opening minds for a completely new century if not civilization. Shall we honor that dream? Honor their funds?? Or keep repeating ourselves???* Here are some of the people who donated during those very 1st days in that more innocent era at the end of 2008 there, when several of our current board members were just 9-years-old: Paulo Drummond, Nicolas Spalinger, Sarah Elkins, Mark Lee, Samuel Klein, Jr, Michael Massey, Frederick Grose, David T Farning, Mr G C Martin, Bernardo Innocenti (another donation), Walter Bender, Nathan Ridderman, Bartolome Vizoso Estrades (and almost every one of those were 3-digit donations of $100 or higher!) Now it's become to time re-evaluate and re-center this arc of our collaborative mission - still atune to our above founders' spirit - but also wakening to quickly changing realities yet again, as we soon enter another decade once again now. Humbly taking stock of our mistakes, too-perfect ideas that were too-large, culling dead-end governance & implementation approaches that somehow didn't take root 9 years later. Yes honoring a sacred trajectory, but facing essential -> existential tuning up, even when it can definitely hurt! Thank you e-v-e-r-y-o-n-e for instrospecting, re-assessing and committing to working outside of the limelight to do exactly that: neither ritualizing crop rotation nor "action as distraction" because, well, we've always done it that way. Reseeding The Garden. Finding Its Common Threads Across IQ-Rich AND Bandwidth-Poor. Each in our own way now / each patiently / each conscientiously / each deliberating without ego. Until our most vivid learning-as-exploration -> kids-constructing-for-all -> Blossoms Arise. ReGreening and ReConstructing into a Spring Earth we don't yet fully know or even recognize ~ but whose soil is silently alive (and definitely constructing our joint future) right below our very feet.......
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