On 10 October 2012 13:13, Rob Weir <robw...@apache.org> wrote: > On Wed, Oct 10, 2012 at 5:23 AM, Ian Lynch <ianrly...@gmail.com> wrote: >>> >>> >>> > +1, this is just brainstorming about something of common interest so at >>> > this stage its best to be as public as possible. If there is a clear >>> > proposal outside the scope of ASF then we should move it outside. >>> >>> OK. >>> >>> > The issue of funding people to take part in marketing has always been an >>> > issue since the start of OOo. It might well be out of the scope of ASF >>> but >>> > it is certainly no disadvantage to be able to fund experienced people to >>> > speak at important events. Is AOO different from other ASF projects in >>> that >>> > respect? Probably a) because of its size and b) because of its end-user >>> > focus. >>> >>> In the spirit of brainstorming the, lets consider. I can imagine >>> someone looking to fund development work, if they desire the outcome >>> of that work. Ditto for translations. Maybe even a crowd-funded >>> documentation effort. In all the cases their is a return to the >>> person funding. But I'm having a hard time imagining a business model >>> based on person A giving money to person B to market to person C. >>> >> >> EU give a grant to person B to educate people (people C) about the benefits >> of Open Source. This is just one possible example. We ran an EU learner >> workshop a couple of weeks ago on the subject of digital audio recording. >> https://theingots.org/community/GLWS Grant was just under 30,000 Euro for >> putting on the event and paying travel expenses of 12 delegates from 4 >> countries. These are one way of getting funding into marketing. There are >> probably many others but they need people with expertise and people with >> time to make applications because it's not straightforward. But then again >> neither is developing AOO code ;-) >> > > This makes sense. > > It is worth also considering the relationship between the ASF and > Google when we participate in Google Summer of Code. If that is > possible, what else is possible?
The ASF doesn't receive the money for the development the student does. It is paid directly to the Student, not to the ASF. Google has no influence over which projects are accepted or how we run them. So, looking at GSoC is a reasonably good model, there is no formal relationship between the ASF and Google - that model works. > Could the ASF be the recipient of > grants? IMHO, No. The ASF will only accept donations without strings. Most grants, certainly the kind Ian is discussing, have strings (in the form of defined work packages, deliverables and reporting requirements). Ross
