[Debian-sponsors-discuss] FreeBSD Foundation? (was: Moving proposals to consensus, and starting next round.)

[Brian Gupta]

On Wed, Jun 26, 2013 at 5:36 AM, Brian Gupta <brian.gupta at brandorr.com> wrote:
> 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?

Just pinging to see if folks saw this.

> [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)