Minutes of the board meeting of July 15, 2019

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Wiki location: https://wiki.gnome.org/FoundationBoard/Minutes/20190715

=3D Foundation Board Minutes for Monday 15th July 2019, 15:30 UTC =3D

=3D=3D Attending =3D=3D

 * AllanDay
 * NuritziSanchez
 * TristanVanBerkom
 * RobMcQueen
 * PhilipChimento
 * RosannaYuen
 * BrittYazel
 * CarlosSoriano
 * AleixPol (guest for part of the LAS bid discussion)

=3D=3D Regrets =3D=3D

 * NeilMcGovern

=3D=3D Missing =3D=3D

 * KatGerasimova
 * FedericoMenaQuintero

=3D=3D Agenda =3D=3D

 * LAS bid

=3D=3D Minutes =3D=3D

 * LAS bid
   * Nuritzi: Aleix Pol is a member of the board of directors of KDE. He
met up with Nuritzi and other GNOME members at LAS last year which is where
they started discussing a jointly organized LAS. We will go over the bid (
https://gitlab.gnome.org/Teams/Board/issues/93). Aleix is here to help
answer any questions, and has been the one working most directly with the
local team.
     * Philip: Note that due to vacation I haven't had a chance to read the
bid yet.
   * Nuritzi: Relative to the dates mentioned in the bid, the conference
has now been moved one week earlier, to November 12=E2=80=9314, with the BO=
F day on
November 15, because of a QT contributors conference in Berlin on the
original dates, that the organizers weren't aware of.
   * Aleix: The venue is a community hub available until 6 PM. We are
considering having one track for the conferences. Admission costs are still
up for discussion, we are considering charging for admission. Video
recording is available via the local free software organization although it
could be scaled up or down.
   * Nuritzi: The fee for the venue varies depending on whether we charge
for admission. We have been considering charging because in previous
editions of LAS where we didn't charge, people signed up and didn't show,
and when we did charge, about the same number of people showed. Options for
video recording are to rent a camera for EUR 200 or on the other end to
have someone come in and record all the talks professionally which would be
EUR 3000. The amount we could spend on refreshments also varies, since the
conference has a corporate tone we are considering spending more. We have a
budget for attendance (speakers, etc.) and above that a travel sponsorship
budget. The travel sponsorship budget should be a bit higher due to the new
GNOME travel policy and because we want a media presence and are
considering sponsoring media members to attend.
   * Philip: What's the relation between the budget in the bid PDF and the
one in the spreadsheet?
     * Nuritzi: The one in the PDF is submitted by the local team making
the bid, and the one in the spreadsheet is an expanded version of it from
the LAS team including things like travel sponsorship.
   * Allan: What is the commitment you are looking for at this point?
     * Aleix: We would like to know whether to move forward, so this is the
chance to ask questions and clear up any doubts. We think that approving a
budget will help move things forward.
     * Allan: Are you looking for us to approve a certain figure?
     * Nuritzi: Yes, the budget includes a figure that each organization
commits to sponsoring.
     * Allan: From a Foundation point of view I would like to have clarity
about the amounts of money we are committing to.
     * Nuritzi: Expenditure is linked to the fundraising in bands.
Initially, both GNOME and KDE are committing to meet 50% of the "expected"
sponsorship income, unless there is a common sponsor (e.g. OpenSUSE) who
normally sponsors both organisations, whose sponsorship would reduce the
overall amount (i.e. the commitment from both halves equally). As each
fundraising level is exceeded (low, expected, high) the expenditure limit
is raised to the next level, so the maximum approved / possible overspend
is limited.
   * Tristan: As I understand, there is no precedent for a co-organized
conference with a concept of shared sponsorship?
     * Aleix: The desktop summit was a precedent for this, although I
wasn't around at the time.
     * Nuritzi: On this topic, we had reached an agreement with the
previous board on how the shared sponsorship would work.
   * Tristan: How does the shared fundraising work logistically?
     * Nuritzi: Once both organizations commit, Neil will be able to start
fundraising. Foundation staff will be involved with keeping track of the
funds.
     * Allan: We need a formula for when funds will be released.
   * Nuritzi: The next step after approving would be to announce the dates
and the location. Last time we did a blog post from both GNOME and KDE. We
are hoping to do this as soon as possible, because last time we received
the feedback that there were a number of app-related organizations wanting
to attend but didn't have enough time to plan their attendance.
   * Carlos: How do we separate out GNOME travel sponsorees from KDE travel
sponsorees? Membership of which foundation?
     * Aleix: GNOME should be able to sponsor who they want without asking
permission from KDE and vice versa.
     * Carlos: I'm also considering those who aren't members of the GNOME
Foundation but might be sponsored anyway, I assume KDE has similar
contributors. Would they go into the shared budget?
       * Aleix: I suggest that the LAS organizers decide who goes into the
shared travel budget.
     * Rob: Who has authority over the shared travel budget? If the LAS
organizers, do you have a policy for who would be sponsored with that money=
?
       * Aleix: GNOME and KDE should decide who they want to sponsor from
their parts of the travel budget. For the shared funds, we will have to
have a conference-specific metric.
     * Philip: The EUR 6000=E2=80=938000 figure is the shared travel budget=
? Is the
sponsorship commitment including the EUR 5000 each from GNOME and KDE?
       * Nuritzi: Correct.
   * [ Aleix leaves ]
   * Nuritzi: Is this something you would feel comfortable voting on now?
     * Tristan: I don't have experience reviewing conference bids, but I
feel it's an event worth supporting.
     * Allan: I would also like to support the event but if we were to vote
now, I feel that I wouldn't understand what I would be voting on
financially. I would like to see a clearer formula of what we are
committing to.
   * Allan: What happens if we are unable to meet the sponsorship
commitment? Do we have to pay that money to LAS anyway? Normally our events
spend up to the amount of raised funds and cannot make a loss unless we
approve it.
   * Allan: Are we transferring the raised sponsorship to another
organization? Are we authorizing someone within the Foundation to spend
that money?
     * Nuritzi: If the conference is in Europe, it makes the most sense for
KDE to be the entity paying the invoices and such.
     * Rosanna: Does KDE (a German organization) have nonprofit status in
Spain? We will have to look into this. We need a local organization that is
a nonprofit to send the funds to.
   * Allan: Are we basically voting to transfer EUR 13350 to KDE? That
would be a valid question but it needs to be clear.
     * Nuritzi: In any case it would be EUR 8350 because the EUR 5000 of
travel sponsorship wouldn't be spent if the conference couldn't be
organized.
   * Rob: I agree, the relationship between income and expenses should be
clearer. One idea would be to approve the lowest level and when more funds
are raised, approve expenditure up to the amount of the raised funds.
Effectively that would be approving a float of a few thousand euros and the
float always sits on top of the raised funds.
     * Allan: We would need a reciprocal agreement from KDE to do that.
     * Carlos: This seems like a blocker to voting on the budget.
     * Rob: We could include these conditions in the vote.
   * Allan: I would like the bid we vote on to include other things such as
an accounting at the end of the conference, code of conduct, etc.
     * Rob: A version of the Contributor Covenant is included in the joint
document and on the conference website.
   * Nuritzi: If it were to be a conditional vote as Rob describes, would
you be able to vote today? We are trying to make the announcement of the
location and dates as soon as possible, and that is blocked on this.
     * Carlos: A vote today means going ahead with the conference.
     * Allan: The situation we don't want, would be to announce LAS and
then find out we don't have a suitable local organization.
     * Nuritzi: On the other hand, the risk is announcing it too late for
some companies to join.
     * Tristan: Are we able to commit human resources into the necessary
investigations regarding these blockers to our vote, and, Are we sure this
is going to be possible by next week?
     * We decide to leave the vote until next time, pending certain
requirements that we will work with the LAS team to list out.

Deferred until next time:
   * Officer elections
   * Approve minutes of July 8

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<div dir=3D"ltr"><div>Wiki location: <a href=3D"https://wiki.gnome.org/Foun=
dationBoard/Minutes/20190715">https://wiki.gnome.org/FoundationBoard/Minute=
s/20190715</a></div><div><br></div><div>=3D Foundation Board Minutes for Mo=
nday 15th July 2019, 15:30 UTC =3D<br><br>=3D=3D Attending =3D=3D<br><br>=
=C2=A0* AllanDay<br>=C2=A0* NuritziSanchez<br>=C2=A0* TristanVanBerkom<br>=
=C2=A0* RobMcQueen<br>=C2=A0* PhilipChimento<br>=C2=A0* RosannaYuen<br>=C2=
=A0* BrittYazel<br>=C2=A0* CarlosSoriano<br>=C2=A0* AleixPol (guest for par=
t of the LAS bid discussion)<br><br>=3D=3D Regrets =3D=3D<br><br>=C2=A0* Ne=
ilMcGovern<br><br>=3D=3D Missing =3D=3D<br><br>=C2=A0* KatGerasimova<br>=C2=
=A0* FedericoMenaQuintero<br><br>=3D=3D Agenda =3D=3D<br><br>=C2=A0* LAS bi=
d<br><br>=3D=3D Minutes =3D=3D<br><br>=C2=A0* LAS bid<br>=C2=A0 =C2=A0* Nur=
itzi: Aleix Pol is a member of the board of directors of KDE. He met up wit=
h Nuritzi and other GNOME members at LAS last year which is where they star=
ted discussing a jointly organized LAS. We will go over the bid (<a href=3D=
"https://gitlab.gnome.org/Teams/Board/issues/93">https://gitlab.gnome.org/T=
eams/Board/issues/93</a>). Aleix is here to help answer any questions, and =
has been the one working most directly with the local team.<br>=C2=A0 =C2=
=A0 =C2=A0* Philip: Note that due to vacation I haven&#39;t had a chance to=
 read the bid yet.<br>=C2=A0 =C2=A0* Nuritzi: Relative to the dates mention=
ed in the bid, the conference has now been moved one week earlier, to Novem=
ber 12=E2=80=9314, with the BOF day on November 15, because of a QT contrib=
utors conference in Berlin on the original dates, that the organizers weren=
&#39;t aware of.<br>=C2=A0 =C2=A0* Aleix: The venue is a community hub avai=
lable until 6 PM. We are considering having one track for the conferences. =
Admission costs are still up for discussion, we are considering charging fo=
r admission. Video recording is available via the local free software organ=
ization although it could be scaled up or down.<br>=C2=A0 =C2=A0* Nuritzi: =
The fee for the venue varies depending on whether we charge for admission. =
We have been considering charging because in previous editions of LAS where=
 we didn&#39;t charge, people signed up and didn&#39;t show, and when we di=
d charge, about the same number of people showed. Options for video recordi=
ng are to rent a camera for EUR 200 or on the other end to have someone com=
e in and record all the talks professionally which would be EUR 3000. The a=
mount we could spend on refreshments also varies, since the conference has =
a corporate tone we are considering spending more. We have a budget for att=
endance (speakers, etc.) and above that a travel sponsorship budget. The tr=
avel sponsorship budget should be a bit higher due to the new GNOME travel =
policy and because we want a media presence and are considering sponsoring =
media members to attend.<br>=C2=A0 =C2=A0* Philip: What&#39;s the relation =
between the budget in the bid PDF and the one in the spreadsheet?<br>=C2=A0=
 =C2=A0 =C2=A0* Nuritzi: The one in the PDF is submitted by the local team =
making the bid, and the one in the spreadsheet is an expanded version of it=
 from the LAS team including things like travel sponsorship.<br>=C2=A0 =C2=
=A0* Allan: What is the commitment you are looking for at this point?<br>=
=C2=A0 =C2=A0 =C2=A0* Aleix: We would like to know whether to move forward,=
 so this is the chance to ask questions and clear up any doubts. We think t=
hat approving a budget will help move things forward.<br>=C2=A0 =C2=A0 =C2=
=A0* Allan: Are you looking for us to approve a certain figure?<br>=C2=A0 =
=C2=A0 =C2=A0* Nuritzi: Yes, the budget includes a figure that each organiz=
ation commits to sponsoring.<br>=C2=A0 =C2=A0 =C2=A0* Allan: From a Foundat=
ion point of view I would like to have clarity about the amounts of money w=
e are committing to.<br>=C2=A0 =C2=A0 =C2=A0* Nuritzi: Expenditure is linke=
d to the fundraising in bands. Initially, both GNOME and KDE are committing=
 to meet 50% of the &quot;expected&quot; sponsorship income, unless there i=
s a common sponsor (e.g. OpenSUSE) who normally sponsors both organisations=
, whose sponsorship would reduce the overall amount (i.e. the commitment fr=
om both halves equally). As each fundraising level is exceeded (low, expect=
ed, high) the expenditure limit is raised to the next level, so the maximum=
 approved / possible overspend is limited.<br>=C2=A0 =C2=A0* Tristan: As I =
understand, there is no precedent for a co-organized conference with a conc=
ept of shared sponsorship?<br>=C2=A0 =C2=A0 =C2=A0* Aleix: The desktop summ=
it was a precedent for this, although I wasn&#39;t around at the time.<br>=
=C2=A0 =C2=A0 =C2=A0* Nuritzi: On this topic, we had reached an agreement w=
ith the previous board on how the shared sponsorship would work.<br>=C2=A0 =
=C2=A0* Tristan: How does the shared fundraising work logistically?<br>=C2=
=A0 =C2=A0 =C2=A0* Nuritzi: Once both organizations commit, Neil will be ab=
le to start fundraising. Foundation staff will be involved with keeping tra=
ck of the funds.<br>=C2=A0 =C2=A0 =C2=A0* Allan: We need a formula for when=
 funds will be released.<br>=C2=A0 =C2=A0* Nuritzi: The next step after app=
roving would be to announce the dates and the location. Last time we did a =
blog post from both GNOME and KDE. We are hoping to do this as soon as poss=
ible, because last time we received the feedback that there were a number o=
f app-related organizations wanting to attend but didn&#39;t have enough ti=
me to plan their attendance.<br>=C2=A0 =C2=A0* Carlos: How do we separate o=
ut GNOME travel sponsorees from KDE travel sponsorees? Membership of which =
foundation?<br>=C2=A0 =C2=A0 =C2=A0* Aleix: GNOME should be able to sponsor=
 who they want without asking permission from KDE and vice versa.<br>=C2=A0=
 =C2=A0 =C2=A0* Carlos: I&#39;m also considering those who aren&#39;t membe=
rs of the GNOME Foundation but might be sponsored anyway, I assume KDE has =
similar contributors. Would they go into the shared budget?<br>=C2=A0 =C2=
=A0 =C2=A0 =C2=A0* Aleix: I suggest that the LAS organizers decide who goes=
 into the shared travel budget.<br>=C2=A0 =C2=A0 =C2=A0* Rob: Who has autho=
rity over the shared travel budget? If the LAS organizers, do you have a po=
licy for who would be sponsored with that money?<br>=C2=A0 =C2=A0 =C2=A0 =
=C2=A0* Aleix: GNOME and KDE should decide who they want to sponsor from th=
eir parts of the travel budget. For the shared funds, we will have to have =
a conference-specific metric.<br>=C2=A0 =C2=A0 =C2=A0* Philip: The EUR 6000=
=E2=80=938000 figure is the shared travel budget? Is the sponsorship commit=
ment including the EUR 5000 each from GNOME and KDE?<br>=C2=A0 =C2=A0 =C2=
=A0 =C2=A0* Nuritzi: Correct.<br>=C2=A0 =C2=A0* [ Aleix leaves ]<br>=C2=A0 =
=C2=A0* Nuritzi: Is this something you would feel comfortable voting on now=
?<br>=C2=A0 =C2=A0 =C2=A0* Tristan: I don&#39;t have experience reviewing c=
onference bids, but I feel it&#39;s an event worth supporting.<br>=C2=A0 =
=C2=A0 =C2=A0* Allan: I would also like to support the event but if we were=
 to vote now, I feel that I wouldn&#39;t understand what I would be voting =
on financially. I would like to see a clearer formula of what we are commit=
ting to.<br>=C2=A0 =C2=A0* Allan: What happens if we are unable to meet the=
 sponsorship commitment? Do we have to pay that money to LAS anyway? Normal=
ly our events spend up to the amount of raised funds and cannot make a loss=
 unless we approve it.<br>=C2=A0 =C2=A0* Allan: Are we transferring the rai=
sed sponsorship to another organization? Are we authorizing someone within =
the Foundation to spend that money?<br>=C2=A0 =C2=A0 =C2=A0* Nuritzi: If th=
e conference is in Europe, it makes the most sense for KDE to be the entity=
 paying the invoices and such.<br>=C2=A0 =C2=A0 =C2=A0* Rosanna: Does KDE (=
a German organization) have nonprofit status in Spain? We will have to look=
 into this. We need a local organization that is a nonprofit to send the fu=
nds to.<br>=C2=A0 =C2=A0* Allan: Are we basically voting to transfer EUR 13=
350 to KDE? That would be a valid question but it needs to be clear.<br>=C2=
=A0 =C2=A0 =C2=A0* Nuritzi: In any case it would be EUR 8350 because the EU=
R 5000 of travel sponsorship wouldn&#39;t be spent if the conference couldn=
&#39;t be organized.<br>=C2=A0 =C2=A0* Rob: I agree, the relationship betwe=
en income and expenses should be clearer. One idea would be to approve the =
lowest level and when more funds are raised, approve expenditure up to the =
amount of the raised funds. Effectively that would be approving a float of =
a few thousand euros and the float always sits on top of the raised funds.<=
br>=C2=A0 =C2=A0 =C2=A0* Allan: We would need a reciprocal agreement from K=
DE to do that.<br>=C2=A0 =C2=A0 =C2=A0* Carlos: This seems like a blocker t=
o voting on the budget.<br>=C2=A0 =C2=A0 =C2=A0* Rob: We could include thes=
e conditions in the vote.<br>=C2=A0 =C2=A0* Allan: I would like the bid we =
vote on to include other things such as an accounting at the end of the con=
ference, code of conduct, etc.<br>=C2=A0 =C2=A0 =C2=A0* Rob: A version of t=
he Contributor Covenant is included in the joint document and on the confer=
ence website.<br>=C2=A0 =C2=A0* Nuritzi: If it were to be a conditional vot=
e as Rob describes, would you be able to vote today? We are trying to make =
the announcement of the location and dates as soon as possible, and that is=
 blocked on this.<br>=C2=A0 =C2=A0 =C2=A0* Carlos: A vote today means going=
 ahead with the conference.<br>=C2=A0 =C2=A0 =C2=A0* Allan: The situation w=
e don&#39;t want, would be to announce LAS and then find out we don&#39;t h=
ave a suitable local organization.<br>=C2=A0 =C2=A0 =C2=A0* Nuritzi: On the=
 other hand, the risk is announcing it too late for some companies to join.=
<br>=C2=A0 =C2=A0 =C2=A0* Tristan: Are we able to commit human resources in=
to the necessary investigations regarding these blockers to our vote, and, =
Are we sure this is going to be possible by next week?<br>=C2=A0 =C2=A0 =C2=
=A0* We decide to leave the vote until next time, pending certain requireme=
nts that we will work with the LAS team to list out.<br><br>Deferred until =
next time:<br>=C2=A0 =C2=A0* Officer elections<br>=C2=A0 =C2=A0* Approve mi=
nutes of July 8<br></div></div>

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