What would you like to see the GNOME Foundation sponsor in 2009?

[Stormy Peters <stormy gnome org>]

If your local group needs money this year, or you have a great idea
for GNOME that could use some sponsorship money from the GNOME
Foundation, please let us know.

During the month of January we asked our corporate sponsors to let us
know what kind of funding they might be able to provide for GNOME in
2009. Working with those numbers and our existing plans, we are
working on finalizing our 2009 budget.

So we need you to tell the board how you'd like to spend the money.
"You" is really everyone in the community.  We are looking for the
community to let us know what events or activities they might be
asking the GNOME Foundation for funding in 2009. Here are some
examples of what we did last year:

 + we sponsored people to attend GNOME related conferences and to
attend other conferences and speak about GNOME

 + we helped some local groups so they could have some cool GNOME
stuff when they were representing GNOME on a booth or to help organize
some events (like Brazilian GNOME Forum and GNOME day at FOSS.IN)

 + we had several very successful hackfests from GTK+ to user experience

 + we sponsored the GNOME Outreach Program: Accessibility

Now is the time to try to tell us your ideas for what we should
sponsor for 2009.  A good proposal would be accompanied with a fairly
detailed breakdown of costs - for example, if you want to invite a
GNOME advocate to give a keynote at a local conference, an estimate of
the cost of the plane ticket, and a short description of the
conference, as well as what the speaker would talk about would be
appreciated.

Some ideas for things we've sponsored in the past (and we are always
open to new ones!):

 + small meetings or hackfests: it's useful to have a small group of
people get together in one place so they can work on a specific topic.
These were quite successful in 2008 and our corporate sponsors are
willing to continue to sponsor them in 2009. What we need is people
willing to suggest topics and coordinate people, venue and travel.
(Having a good idea of what you want to accomplish during the meeting
is also key to success.)

 + local groups: This might be an event (like a GNOME day at a larger
event or an entire event like GNOME Asia) or simply inviting someone
to do a GNOME related talk at an event. Sponsorship money for local
events has paid for things like t-shirts, posters, travel, etc.

Let us know what you are thinking about and what you'd like to see!

Stormy

--
Stormy Peters
Executive Director
GNOME Foundation