Re: Questions for candidates - board processes & significance

[Dave Neary <dneary gnome org>]

Hi,

On 05/31/11 01:12, Andrea Veri wrote:
> I wasn't aware of this bad situation so I can't provide a good and well-motivated comment, but I can tell you
> that I will do my best to fulfil my duties, I'll take care of critic situations where needed and I won't leave anything
> behind: what happened with the LGM group should never happen again within the GNOME Foundation, that's for
> sure.

Since a number of candidates aren't aware of this situation, perhaps I 
should give a few details.

LGM has an annual budget which is pretty tiny - in the region of $20,000 
to $30,000 per year, including a big chunk going to sponsored travel.

For a number of reasons, a small number of the sponsored attendees at 
the Libre Graphics Meeting 2009 in Montreal were not reimbursed their 
travel costs until May 2010. Then in 2010, a number of attendees were 
not reimbursed until just before LGM 2011, which was held in May this year.

In addition, there were issues in 2008 which had nothing to do with the 
GNOME Foundation (but I believe the foundation helped resolve them at 
the time), due to dealing with a Polish non-profit for the event.

In the light of these continued difficulties, Louis (lead organiser for 
the past 5 years of LGM) proposed that the Quebecois LUG of which he's 
president could take over the management of the funds. And finalising 
the transfer of funds from the GNOME Foundation took several months of 
over & back with the board & the lawyers.

Cheers,
Dave.

--
Dave Neary
GNOME Foundation member
dneary gnome org
Jabber: nearyd gmail com