Re: Request for budget to update the event box contents

[Ekaterina Gerasimova <kittykat3756 gmail com>]

On 8 February 2018 at 03:06, Nuritzi Sanchez <nuritzi gnome org> wrote:
> On Wed, Feb 7, 2018 at 1:01 PM, Ekaterina Gerasimova
> <kittykat3756 gmail com> wrote:
> > Laptop: up to £1800
> > Cables and other hardware: up to £100
> > Pens, markers, stationary and storage solutions: up to £100
> > Banner and other display materials: up to £200
> > 1 shipping of the box from UK to France with UPS or DHL for JDLL: up to
> > £150
>
> This request comes at a good time since we were planning on surfacing some
> other budget requests this year for conferences and events (see our last
> meeting notes https://etherpad.gnome.org/p/engagement-team-meetings).
>
> We have been given a budget of $5,000 USD for marketing purposes, so we'll
> need to request additional funds for this.

I was under the impression that I was asked to break down the costs so
that they could be approved individually?

> Knowing about this request and
> helping you process it will help us maintain travel boxes in the future. For
> future budgeting purposes, how often do you have to replace items in the
> travel box?

It's complicated because of how the boxes have been updated and
re-stocked since I started curating the first one 8 years ago. What we
actually need and use in the boxes has also changed in that time quite
considerably.

I would estimate that the hardware should be replaced every 4-5 years.
Good quality banners every 5-10 years, but cheap ones every 2-3 years.
Stationery gets a small update every year, but we've reached a point
where most of it needs to be replaced.

> We had also thought about creating a travel box for the US at some point
> since the one we had years ago got lost so it's really helpful to see how
> much you're planning on spending for the European one.

There was already one in the US when I was on the board, what's happened to it?

https://wiki.gnome.org/Events/Box/NorthAmerica

Also, you should consider what you need for events in the US. It may
be different from what we need in Europe. Also, keep the weight and
the size of the box in mind. The bigger European one needs two people
for moving it around. I can handle the smaller one on my own, but I
would struggle without help.

> By the way, what color banner are you planning on buying? Since the
> Foundation color is green and the project color is blue, we have been
> encouraging people to try to go for blue when getting banners and things for
> booths. This isn't a formal policy of course and it'd be great to hear your
> thoughts on this.

Our table cloth is green because we wanted to use the Foundation
colour. The roller banner is blue. One of the old banners is green and
the other is blue. As we're next to the KDE stand, if we have only
blue banners, we blend in too much and it looks weird. Also, we do
represent the Foundation rather than just the project at FOSDEM. i.e.
we talk about the Foundaiton and the work that it does, we've signed
people up for FoG before, etc. I don't know how much this is the case
at other events though.

> For print outs, we are trying to have more of a consistent brand. To help
> with that we have these draft brand guidelines for designers:
> https://raw.githubusercontent.com/gnome-design-team/gnome-marketing/master/brand/style-guide.png
> and
> https://raw.githubusercontent.com/gnome-design-team/gnome-marketing/master/brand/style-examples.png

Can these please be moved to GNOME infrastructure? It's weird that our
official branding guidelines are not hosted by us.

> We also have some flyers people can print out here:
> https://cloud.gnome.org/index.php/s/sKIAXUjmNYgI9rc in case you're
> interested.

Thanks

> > I am somewhat unclear on who needs to actually make the approval for
> > this request and how to get reimbursement. If anyone knows, tell me!
>
>
> I'm the current budget holder, but we'll soon be making a committee to
> handle requests moving forward so that it's not just one person.
>
> Here are instructions for how to ask for reimbursement after you have made
> the purchases: https://wiki.gnome.org/Engagement/Reimbursements.
> Note: this page needs to be slightly updated, but is mostly correct. In this
> case, you can send the reimbursement request to nuritzi gnome org and cc
> zana gnome org.

I think it's better all round to share reimbursement details with as
few people as possible. Can the process be changed so that Rosanna
gets the ack about the funds being approved and the reimbursement
(bank) details are only sent to her?

As the former treasurer, I am also interested in how you are keeping
track of the budget. Are you using a spreadsheet? I actually manage
similar sorts of budgets at work and would be happy to share how we
separate the reimbursements from the approval and our processes.

> > I would like to update the box contents in time for JDLL without
> > having a mad rush to get it done at the last second. The board is
> > deciding on what would need to be done with the old contents.
>
>
> Ok, it looks like JDLL is in late March so we have about 1 - 2 weeks to get
> this sorted out. Please keep us updated on any other relevant deadlines.
>
> Thank you for doing all of this, Kat!
>
> --
> Nuritzi Sanchez
> GNOME Foundation
> President, Board of Directors