Re: Membership dues [ was: Re: Advisory Board Letter ]

[Havoc Pennington <hp redhat com>]

Bart Decrem <bart@eazel.com> writes:
> So I propose that we have the following membership fee structure: $0
> for non-profit organizations, companies with less than 10 employees and other
> companies who request a fee waiver; $10,000 for other corporate members.
> This addresses many of the concerns people have raised:
> 1- it ensures that we're never going to exclude companies or organizations
> from joining the advisory board based on their ability to pay
> 2- it reduces the total amount of money that will be available, thereby
> limiting our ability to hire staff or otherwise create bureaucracy, and
> making sure this foundation doesn't become a money-hungry beast

We are talking about a quantitative rather than qualitative change
though, if enough companies pay the $10k we are right back with the
same problem...

> 3- it still gives us funds that we can use as necessary.  I suspect this
> membership structure would probably generate $70,000 or so in the first
> year.  We'll end up spending that money on conference calls, computers, legal
> fees, press conferences etc. If we have a hard time spending this money, we
> can always donate it to the FSF :)
>

Right now all these costs are being covered without a foundation - and
there's something healthy about that, even. I guess the fundamental
issue is that I'm willing to believe we don't _need_ the money, and
because I can see actively bad things the money could cause, if we
don't need it it would be good to avoid it.

We do have _some_ money from the beanie award, etc., we can use if we
ever really _need_ it, and we could add a membership fee later if that
money went away...
 
> How does that sound?
> 

Another idea, I'm not sure I like it more, but worth proposing:

   Every year the board creates a budget which plans the amount of
   money to be spent that year. It would not be terribly detailed,
   just something like:

     5 shows attended, for each show:
       CDs     $1000
       travel  $2000
            
     5 * 3000 = $15,000

     10 computers for hackers, 10 * 1500 = $15,000

     2 servers and some random hardware: $6000
   
     Legal fees: $2000

     Conference calls: $5000

     Incidentals: $5000

   etc., whatever. Somewhat more detailed than that, but along those
   lines. So say the total is $50,000 for the annual expected needs of
   the foundation. We divide 50k by the number of corporate members at
   the beginning of the year, and ask each to pay that much.  Put a
   cap on it, such as $10,000 per company. If a company joins
   mid-year, they pay whatever the other companies paid at the start
   of the year.

   Money that doesn't get spent on the budget will be deducted from 
   the amount needed the next year. Money from awards such as the 
   Beanie award can be considered "bonus" money to be used for 
   special events, fun stuff like buying everyone a T-shirt, or kept
   in the bank as insurance and for unexpected incidentals.

This way we can see what the money will be used for, at least. And the
board needs to plan spending in this way anyway, rather than just
saying "well we have 70k how can we get rid of it?"

Another possibility is to take 10,000 as seed money now, and then do
the budget thing in future years once we have an elected board.

Havoc