Minutes of the Board meeting of November, 14th, 2017

= Foundation Board Minutes for Tue, November 14th 2017, 17:00 UTC =

Next meeting date Tue, November 21th 2017, 17:00 UTC

Wiki: https://wiki.gnome.org/FoundationBoard/Minutes/20171114

== Attending ==

 * Alexandre Franke
 * Carlos Soriano
 * Zeeshan Ali
 * Meg Ford
 * Rosanna Yuen
 * Neil McGovern

== Regrets ==

 * Allan Day
 * Cosimo Cecchi
 * Nuritzi Sanchez

== Missing ==


== Agenda ==

 * Follow-up on "Reviving Free Software Macedonia"
 * Review outgoing items

== Minutes ==

 * Follow-up on "Reviving Free Software Macedonia"
  * Monthly rental fee for the place where they meet (€300)
  * They seem to have a lead for sponsors, but would like us to help
bootstrap
  * Not clear what their ask is.
  * We recommend they come up with a clear plan and specific outcomes for
GNOME, then take it to the engagement budget holder

== Ongoing ==

'''This section includes items which have seen an update in the last 30
days. Format is "YYYY-MM-DD, action|discussion|abstract" for this and
subsequent minutes sections'''

 * Check in about budget and policies roll out
  * Blocking on a couple action items from Neil, hopefully sorted out today
  * Neil will then announce it, as well as TransferWise being an option
  * 2017-11-14:
   * Waiting for Nuritzi to come back from her trip so she can review
drafts before they are sent out

 * Conference spending policy updates
  * The current policy would allow organizers to spend money they haven’t
raised yet, which could lead to a loss
  * Carlos suggested to approve two complementary budgets
   * a part that can only be spent if raised
   * a part that can be spent even if not raised, to make sure the
conference happens
  * Organizers are expected to make a profit, but a small loss would not be
a problem
  * The main goal should be to make a good conference
  * How does the organizers forecast the amount they’ll raise?
  * How does the newly appointed sponsorship committee tie in with that?
   * Coordination between the two is expected
  * VOTE: approve new policy with 2 budgets for conferences (minimal +
extras depending on money raised)
   +1 Carlos, -1 Allan, Meg. Abstained: Alexandre. VOTE DOESN’T PASS
  * VOTE: conference organizers should be required to have a new budget
approved by the board if they raised less than 70% of their budgeted income
   +1 Allan, Meg, Abstained: Carlos, Alexandre. VOTE PASSED
  * 70% by what time? The problem is that conferences often don't know what
their income is going to be until very late - sponsors are often confirmed
at the last minute.
  * VOTE: invalidate the previously passed vote (let's give this more time
to see if we can find a good solution)
   +1 Alexandre, Allan, Carlos, Abstained: Meg. VOTE PASSED
  * 20171031 - Neil suggests new rule that allows to limit the loss and
gives organizers a bit of leeway, taking into account the evolving nature
of account balance
   * ACTION: Allan to prepare a new proposal to revisit this at a later
meeting

 * Privacy campaign funds
  * 2016-09-27
   * Draft is out for the Board to review and give feedback
   * ACTION: Cosimo to try and form a committee to review internship
proposals
  * 2016-10-26
   * We are aiming for an internship round in spring 2017
  * 2017-07-26
   * Carlos and Zeeshan are taking this over -- the plan is still to do
internships
    * 2017-10-14
     * Carlos created wiki page at https://wiki.gnome.org/Internships

 * Name for internships for privacy funds
  * If there is no contract it is not technically an internship
  * Discussion needs to continue on list
  * 2017-10-24
   * GSoC are not called internships and there is no contract with the
student
    * The organising entity also does not have authority over the
participants, the project entity does
   * Outreachy on the other hand is called internship and there is a
contract
    * Same kind of relationship
   * We could try and reuse the contracts from Outreachy
   * ACTION: Zana to get a copy of the contract
    * Done
   * ACTION: Neil to ask Karen
    * 20171031 - Done, karen says steal away.
   * ACTION: Carlos to prepare a version for us

 * Payment authorization policy
  *
https://wiki.gnome.org/FoundationBoardPrivate/Budget#Payment_authorization
  * VOTE: approve the new Payment authorization policy as specified on the
private budget wiki page
   * +1 Allan, Nuritzi, Carlos, Cosimo, Meg, Alexandre, Zeeshan - VOTE
PASSES
  * ACTION: Allan to make the page public (with ACL to prevent
modifications from anyone else than the board)
   * 2017-10-08 - page has been made public but Allan isn't certain what to
do about the ACL
  * ACTION: Nuritzi to ensure that this is announced to the Foundation

 * Intention to create marketing committee
  * To dispense money for small events and marketing line items
  * In the meantime, we would have an individual budget holder
  * VOTE: appoint Nuritzi as the temporary budget holder
   * +1 Nem con. VOTE PASSES
  * There are concerns about the correct course of action.
  * ACTION: Nuritzi to come up with a charter for the proposed committee

 * Zazzle store
  * We have a link on the page where we list vendors
  * Andreas confirmed that Stormy is the one with access
  * ACTION: Allan to try to reach out to Stormy
   * 2017-10-08 - Allan got in touch with Stormy and got some login
information, but he still can't access the account. More followup is
required.
  * ACTION: Nuritzi to assess the quality and check whether we want to
continue using them

 * Using TransferWise or some other payment system
  * This has been recommended to us as a good alternative to Paypal that is
cheaper and works in certain countries where Paypal does not work
  * 2017-09-19
   * Since Rosanna and Neil would be the main users of this, a good next
step would be for them to review options and report to the Board
   * ACTION: Neil will look into this and coordinate with Rosanna when
she's back
  * 2017-10-08
   * This is now set up
   * Need to put this into travel sponsorship form
   * ACTION: Alexandre to talk to the travel committee to add this to the
options
   * ACTION: Nuritzi to add this option to the small events reimbursement
page
   * ACTION: Rosanna to test if it works well
     * 2017-10-24 - DONE. Tested two separate payments that both went
through
   * ACTION: Nuritzi to announce it to foundation-list

 * Looking for sponsorship for GitLab runners
  * To increase our Continuous Integration capacity on the GNOME GitLab
server, we'll need to provision some more servers, as we migrate more
projects there
  * We could ask for help to our Advisory Board, or use our network to ask
for support from other companies
   * It would make more sense to ask for hardware/cycles directly, rather
than fundraising, since server bandwidth is a recurring cost
  * 2017-10-08
   * Neil is waiting for verification before this can proceed further
   * 2017-10-31 - we're verified! Neil to talk to sysadmin
  * ACTION: Neil to talk with Andrea Veri about this
  * ACTION: once done, Neil to announce it

 * Calls with committees
  * Twice a year with each committee, once after the board elections (end
June/early July and then late November-early January).
  * The call is a touch point - a way of checking in. Needs to stimulate
ongoing conversations and ad hoc problem solving. Committees will be
invited to calls with the whole Board to problem solve around specific
things.
  * One board member and the ED meet with each committee (or a board member
and the director of operations if there's no ED).
  * Where possible the same board member should be consistent.
  * Board representatives then feed back to the rest of the board.
  * 2017-10-08
   * First meetings in the sequence to happen in November. Should focus on
collaboratively setting goals and identifying issues.
   * Once the
   * ACTION: Carlos to meet with membership committee, see if we should
update committee charter https://wiki.gnome.org/MembershipCommittee
   * ACTION: Alexandre to meet with the travel committee, see if we should
update committee charter https://wiki.gnome.org/Travel/Committee
   * ACTION: Cosimo to meet with the sponsorship committee

 * Foundation support for Flathub
  * 2017-05-09
   * The Board voted to try and use some of our pro-bono counsel time
towards the Flathub legal framework, provided our lawyers agree
   * ACTION: Neil to connect to Luis
  * 2017-05-16 - Exact questions to ask Luis are being worked up
  * 2017-06-06 - Questions sent to Luis, being looked at.
  * 2017-09-05 - Being passed to Karen now, discussions have stalled a
little, Neil chasing up
  * 2017-10-08
   * Neil and Rob are going to meet Karen at Freenode Live and try to talk
about this
  * 2017-10-31 - Rob got sent to Indonesia, Neil to set up call with
Karen/Rob to discuss
  * 2017-11-14 - Prodding email sent
  * ACTION: Neil to send another email to Luis and check if he’s available.
  * ACTION: Meg to ask Karen whether she can recommend someone

 * Hackfest process documentation
  * 2017-02-14
   * ACTION: Nuritzi to take a stab at updating the documentation for the
process to request a hackfest and responsibilities between Board and TC
  * 2017-05-02
   * Nuritzi will work on this by end of May, check in then
  * 2017-09-05: Nuritzi updated the wiki about a week ago but we should go
over this in Berlin.
  * 2017-10-08
   * Part of this was done at the hackfest, we'll need to update the wiki
page
   * Another part is pending reply from Pam about how an event can use the
GNOME wordmark
   * ACTION: Nuritzi to update the wiki page, including Alexandre's
proposed statement about openness of hackfests

 * Friends of GNOME
  * 2016-08-10
   * ACTION: Allan to get in touch with Tobi and the sysadmin team to
migrate the FoG infrastructure over to GNOME
  * 2017-03-07
   * Allan will pass this on to Neil, and connect him to Tobi
  * 2017-04-18 - Neil has CRM working (ish) on the gnome website, we're
looking at how to move the PayPal IPN to CiviCRM
   * At sysadmin meeting at GUADEC
  * 2017-10-31 - Should happen around december

=== Ongoing but stalled ===

'''This section includes items which haven't seen an update in the last 30
days.'''

 * Dropping dates in copyright claims on our websites
  * 2016-12-06
   * ACTION: Alexandre to send an email to foundation-list with a proposal
for discussion
  * 2016-12-20
   * Next step seems to be to reach out to Creative Commons to get advice
on what exactly can and should be done
  * 2017-01-24
   * Alexandre reached out to Creative commons
  * 2017-02-28
   * Alexandre will try alternative channels
  * 2017-05-02
   * We got a reply, Alexandre to follow up
  * 2017-05-30
   * Two options
    * Have terms of use on the website that state that linking to a page is
sufficient attribution
    * Require contributors to assign their attribution to the GNOME
Foundation

 * Paypal Giving Fund
  * Alexandre suggested in december 2015 to get us enrolled in the program
   * That would give us exposure. For example Humble bundle allows to
direct the charity part of purchases towards any of their participants
  * Zana tried to get us in sometime before may 2016, we never heard back.
  * 2016-09-06
   * ACTION: Zana to look into it

=== Ongoing but no director assigned ===

'''This section includes items which haven't seen an update in the last 30
days and have no Director assigned'''


== Nice to have ==

'''This section includes items which we would love to see happen at some
point but lack the time to effectively become reality'''

 * Contract template for future use organizations for which we handle money
  * Kat to draft this
  * Alexandre took over
  * 2017-07-26
   * This is close to being done

 * Privacy policy for GNOME services
  * Current draft is at https://wiki.gnome.org/Foundation/Privacy
  * Sysadmin Team's NDA should also be covered when dealing with this item
  * Kat or Allan to write up the policy
  * Kat or Allan to write up recommended wording for distribution privacy
policies, regarding the behaviour of GNOME software
  * 2017-07-26
   * Allan is still working on this, but with low priority

== Discussed on the mailing list ==


== Completed actions ==

 * Nextcloud shared calendar for the board
  * 2016-08-10
   * Cosimo tested creating an event, but with mixed results
   * ACTION: Cosimo to take it on from here
  * 2016-09-06 - Allan has started a list of reoccuring events on the wiki
- https://wiki.gnome.org/FoundationBoardPrivate/Minutes/UpcomingAgenda
  * 2017-03-07
   * Neil is looking into a similar calendar so will take over
  * 2017-07-26
   * (Neil) can someone else have this? Alexandre volunteers.
#challengeaccepted
  * 2017-08-19
   * Alexandre tested the shared calendar that Allan set up a while back on
nextcloud, seems to work well
   * We are entering beta phase with some directors opting in
  * 2017-10-31
   * Positive feedback from those who used it
   * Would be used for meetings (to avoid e.g. people getting off because
of DST), away time, reminders (e.g. call for GUADEC bids)
  * 2017-11-07
   * It's up and running and we should use it.
   * Add things like time that you'll be away, recurring events like
renewals and trademark filings, AdBoard meetings, etc.
   * There is a list of reoccuring events that we might want to include in
the calendar on the wiki -
https://wiki.gnome.org/FoundationBoardPrivate/Minutes/UpcomingAgenda#Reoccurring_Events

 * Julita’s new programme
  * Programme to get students ready for outreach programme applications
  * Budget request for $? for 3 events
   * We should probably approve a budget for the whole programme, 6 events
   * To be taken out of the GNOME events budget, held by Nuritzi
  * Questions collected on the list
  * Budget holders to keep records under
https://wiki.gnome.org/Foundation/Budget/ , or perhaps in a spreadsheet on
cloud.gnome.org?

 * Reviving Free Software Macedonia
  * Zeeshan met with Jovanka Gulicoska
  * The activity has come to a halt for lack of funding
  * Seems to fall under our GNOME events budget, deferred to budget holder

 * Budget for FY2018
  * VOTE: approve the budget as presented by Neil
   * +1 Unanimous. VOTE PASSES
  * ACTION: Neil to communicate with Shaun
  * ACTION: Neil to put the budget spreadsheet into cloud.gnome.org and
link to it from appropriate places, including a written version of the
reserves policy
  * 2017-11-14: Done!

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