[Debian-sponsors-discuss] Moving proposals to consensus, and starting next round.

[Brian Gupta]

My apologies for letting this sit for a few weeks longer than I
planned. I had initially wanted to give time for everyone to provide
additional feedback, then got sidetracked. At this point I've invited
all the groups mentioned to join the conversation, and am moving to
the next round of discussion.

All the proposals that weren't rejected I am considering "consensus"
and have removed the "proposed" notation in the wiki.
http://wiki.debian.org/Fundraising

Please don't consider this consensus immutable. If you disagree please
feel free to speak up now or later.

For the next round, I'd like to focus on one specific proposal that
was raised independently by tollef [1], zack [2] and luca [3], as it
was probably the most frequently raised, and will likely frame other
discussions. In particular, I am referring to the proposal to look to
the FreeBSDFoundation for inspiration as a model.

For those that like the freebsd foundation model, and/or raised it in
the discussion, can you please elaborate on what is being proposed.
Are we proposing to create a single-purpose Debian Foundation
non-profit? Or are we looking to model the attribute of the
FreeBSDFoundation of just having donors that have no tangible benefits
other than perhaps a tax writeoff and a logo for certain sized donors?
Having a million dollar budget? All of the above? Or something else?

[1] - http://lists.alioth.debian.org/pipermail/debian-sponsors-discuss/Week-of-Mon-20130304/000011.html
[2] - http://lists.alioth.debian.org/pipermail/debian-sponsors-discuss/Week-of-Mon-20130304/000006.html
[3] - http://lists.alioth.debian.org/pipermail/debian-sponsors-discuss/Week-of-Mon-20130225/000004.html

Thanks,
Brian

Consensus:
-----------------
* Why do companies and individuals support Debian financially?
** Make sure that project sustains that they are dependent on (bgupta)
** Need to influence project (manpower donations) (bgupta)
** Good will - charity (bgupta)
** Debian is a worthy cause (bgupta)
** Fans of debian (bgupta)
** To get known in the linux/debian/free software world (holger)
** Looking for new employees (holger)

What problems are we trying to solve?
** Current fundraising methods for DebConf are about as labor
intensive as they could possibly be (bgupta)
** Lack of project wide unity in approaching and recognizing sponsors (bgupta)
** Not a huge amount of continuity on fundraising teams (bgupta)
** Little recurring revenue streams (bgupta)
** Approaching big sponsors early enough for a given DebConf (holger)

What are we doing and what more can we do to reward companies and
individuals that are supporting Debian? (bgupta)
** Currently: DebConf sponsorship level rewards (recognition) (bgupta)
** Discounted or free tickets to Debian events (bgupta)
** Discounted event sponsorships (bgupta)
** Visibility, publically thanking them on web pages, etc. (tollef)
** Grow debian-companies initiative (feivel and zack)
** Give swag e.g. http://www.gnome.org/friends/ (lucas)
** mimicking http://www.freebsdfoundation.org/ (zack)
** Allow individual donors to decide their privacy settings (zack)

DONE: Which existing Debian teams and initiatives should we include in
overall fundraising?
** DONE: debconf-sponsors-team (bgupta)
** DONE: debian-companies (bgupta)
** DONE: debian-partners (bgupta)
** DONE: debian-auditor (bgupta)
** DONE: hardware-donations (lucas)
** DONE: debian-consultants (bgupta)

What does Debian need donations/sponsorship for? (bgupta, confirmed
with auditor)
** Events
*** Annual Debconf (by far the biggest recurring expense)
*** Local events
*** mini-confs
*** BSPs
*** Sprints
** Hardware/Infrastructure
*** Servers
*** Networking equipment
*** Video equipment (for events)
*** Audio equipment (for events)
** Hosting
*** Collocation
*** mirrors
** Services/registrations
*** Trademark registrations
*** Domain registrations
** Internships
*** GSoC (Technically not a cost, since Google pays students directly)
*** Outreach Program for Women

How do we decide how non-earmarked funds are spent? (Assuming DebConf
fundraising gets split between purpose-driven and general fundraising
efforts)
** Have Debian roughly match the discount we give to sponsors for
event sponsorships if needed (bgupta)