Re: Current state of Foundation finances

[Ekaterina Gerasimova <kittykat3756 gmail com>]

On 14 April 2014 05:19, Jim Campbell <jcampbell gnome org> wrote:
> Hi All,
>
> On Sat, Apr 12, 2014 at 7:45 AM, Ekaterina Gerasimova
> <kittykat3756 gmail com> wrote:
> > On 12 April 2014 05:29, Sindhu S <sindhus live in> wrote:
> > > On Sat, Apr 12, 2014 at 5:02 AM, Ekaterina Gerasimova
> > > <kittykat3756 gmail com> wrote:
> > > > The board expects that you may have some questions or would like to
> > > > know more details about the problem, please read
> > > > https://wiki.gnome.org/FoundationBoard/CurrentBudgetFAQ and contact
> > > > the board at board-list gnome org if you have any further questions.
> > >
> > >
> > > I want to ask questions.
> > >
> > > Was this situation visible or known before or at the time funds for Dev
> > > X
> > > Hackfest were being allocated?
> >
> > No, it wasn't know. If it had been known, spending would have been
> > frozen by then and a budget for the hackfest would not have been
> > approved.
>
>
> The email and the FAQ do not address the impact of the spending freeze on
> previously-approved hackfests [0]. Could the board address whether
> previously-approved hackfests will proceed or not? It would also be helpful
> to address the impact of this "go / no go" decision on intended hackfest
> participants (regardless of whether or not they had been approved for a
> GNOME-sponsored travel stipend).

Hi, I assume that you would like me to expand on "All Foundation
members who expect to receive reimbursements within the next three
months have already been informed of the issue and most have responded
positively. The board will prioritise these pending reimbursements
over other expenses." from the first email in this thread:

The hackfests will proceed, and all the sponsored attendees were
informed on Tuesday-Friday last week that their reimbursements will be
later than expected.

There are currently two outstanding reimbursements which were due to
be paid last week, and these will be our priority as soon as we have
enough cash to cover operational costs for April.

There will be 18 reimbursements due for events happening now and at
the end of April. Of these 18 reimbursements, 2 have requested that
their reimbursements are sent as soon as possible and will be
prioritized next.

There will be an additional 19 reimbursements due at the start of
June. All of those that have replied have said that they are happy to
wait for reimbursements until the Foundation has more cash reserves.

The board is currently not voting on any event expenses, but will
continue voting on events to be designated as official GNOME events.
For example, the Location hackfest was approved at the last meeting
and it will currently not be affected by the freeze as no budget was
requested for the hackfest at the time.

> Also, in reviewing recent board meeting minutes, I do not see details that
> would give an indication of overall financial status. Even if they aren't
> disclosed publicly as part of the minutes, are things like "aging summaries"
> provided or discussed as part of a treasurer's report during the meetings?

There are a number of items in the minutes since October 2013 that
indicate that there has been no budget for the 2014 financial year.
Looking at the public minutes, it is mentioned in minutes from
2013-11, 2013-12, 2014-01 and 2014-02. The board spent 2013-03 meeting
for two hours on a weekly basis to ensure that the Executive Director
leaving will not affect the running of the Foundation. I did bring up
the lack of budget during some of those meetings as well. There is
also mention of the budget in private minutes from 2013-09 and
2013-10.

The treasurer is supposed to present the board with a monthly budget,
but this was not possible as I did not have the necessary information.
I pointed this out almost every time that there was a vote for
spending. As the treasurer, I did warn the board when votes came up
with that we did not have a budget for the expense. In general, votes
for hackfests and events proceeded, while votes for other types of
expenses did not proceed.

> Thanks,
>
> Jim
>
> [0] https://wiki.gnome.org/Hackfests/