Minutes of the board meeting of February 11, 2019

[philip chimento gmail com]

Wiki location: https://wiki.gnome.org/FoundationBoard/Minutes/20190211

= Foundation Board Minutes for Monday 11 February, 2019, 16:30 UTC =

== Attending ==

 * AllanDay
 * CarlosSoriano
 * NeilMcGovern
 * NuritziSanchez
 * RosannaYuen
 * PhilipChimento
 * FedericoMenaQuintero
 * RobMcQueen
 * KatGerasimova

== Agenda ==

 * Travel sponsorship policy (Philip)
 * Executive Director report (Neil)

== Minutes ==

 * Travel sponsorship policy
   * Points to discuss:
     * Fare search screenshots - We'd like to have people submit a screenshot of their airline fare search with their application. This way the travel committee doesn't have to duplicate everyone's searches, but can just look at the screenshot and verify that the flight is within the guidelines. For hotels and accommodations we'd like to do something similar, but are not sure how exactly to implement that.
     * Financial assistance package - We'd like to offer a "financial assistance package" which will be extended to sponsored individuals who wouln't otherwise be able to attend the event without sponsorship for meals and incidental expenses. In these cases the board would approve the extra spending on a case by case basis.
     * Small local events - We aren't quite sure how large an event needs to be in order to be covered. For example, two people who live on opposite sides of a metro area could meet in the middle to hack for a day, and rent a coworking desk or pay for a train ticket or parking. Should we sponsor this?
     * What is a GNOME event?
   * Allan: What does the board need to discuss about the above points?
     * Philip: The fare search and the financial assistance package are the largest departures from the existing sponsorship policy, so I expect people will want to discuss that and ask questions about it. The small events is still an open question that I'd like to resolve. The "What is a GNOME event" question is not one that will block the implementation of the new policy, but the board should be aware that it influences travel sponsorships.
   * Federico: Regarding small local events, the engagement committee has a budget for such events. Is the question about that?
     * Nuritzi: Sometimes there are travel expenses related to small local events, such as parking for the participants. Should they be able to request travel sponsorship for such things? Currently the travel committee sponsors only large events like conferences and hackfests.
     * Kat: I think the travel committee should be able to handle these small events as well.
     * Carlos: I think it's better for the engagement committee to handle small events and let the travel committee handle the large events.
     * Allan: At what point would the Engagement committee have to defer this to the Travel committee — if there are flights involved, for example?
     * Federico: Does the engagement committee have a maximum per event?
       * Nuritzi: No, the way it currently works is that someone requests a budget for an event. For example: "We need snacks for 15 people and decorations, it will cost up to USD 150."
   * Neil: Regarding hotels, you could use the Foundation travel policy's guidelines for what's a reasonable hotel price.
     * Nuritzi: We found those per-diem guidelines a bit on the high side.
     * Philip: From what we understood they are almost never reached in practice, so we don't want to give them as a maximum.
   * Neil: Regarding financial assistance package, I could do those approvals on a case-by-case basis or the board could delegate it to the travel committee.
   * Nuritzi: What are the next steps?
     * Philip: I need to fill in the remaining gap regarding hotel searches; clarify a few minor points; then the draft will be ready to vote on.

 * ED Report
   * Neil presented his report for February. The Foundation is busy with onboarding and supporting the new staff members as they start their positions, as well as end-of-year fiscal preparations. We had a discussion about what is the proper role for the board members in interactions with the new Foundation staff.