Re: Board of Directors Election 2014 - Candidacy - J ean-François Fortin Tam

[Ekaterina Gerasimova <kittykat3756 gmail com>]

On 21 May 2014 06:03, Jeff Fortin <nekohayo gmail com> wrote:
> Le lundi 19 mai 2014 à 16:34 +0100, Ekaterina Gerasimova a écrit :
>
> > As can be seen from the board meeting agenda for 2014-05-06 and will
> > be visible from the agenda for 2014-05-20, there is an item called
> > "PiTiVi funds statement". GNOME handles money for PiTiVi and this item
> > is related to a finer point of the interpretation of the contract
> > between PiTiVi and GNOME which was signed by you and two others on
> > behalf of PiTiVi. As a board member, you would always be expected to
> > take an active role in defending GNOME's interests. How would you be
> > handling this issue if you were currently on the board given that you
> > have a conflict of interest?
>
> While it is true that I am one of the Pitivi project maintainers, I am,
> however, not a direct beneficiary of the fundraiser campaign - I am not
> making a cent out of it, it was agreed that Mathieu and Thibault were
> the ones that would be the ones undertaking the work depending on the
> amount raised. The only "benefit" I get is the experience from having
> helped organize it and the enjoyment of the technical improvements that
> are to be accomplished as a result this campaign. I do not conceive much
> conflict of interest there.
>
> My role is defined as follows: "an authorized representative of which
> who is independent from [Mathieu and Thibault] (the “Authorized
> Representative”) is a signatory hereto, desires that [Mathieu and
> Thibault] and GNOME conduct the Pitivi Campaign as described in this
> Agreement". This is what the contract says, and as such I have always
> approached this relationship with the outlook of a mediator, or, so to
> speak, the "eye of GNOME". I was nominated in this role, I did not
> actively seek it - and I have actually been accused of being too much on
> GNOME's side during the negotiations ;)
>
> Quite obviously, I would voluntarily abstain from voting on any board
> decisions regarding Pitivi or its fundraising campaign. I may provide
> context through discussion if this is allowed and desirable (ie:
> requested), but would rather avoid what could be considered lobbying.
>
> I hope my clarifications and pledge above are sufficient.
>
>
>
> > As the board is rarely involved in the development and technical
> > aspects of the Foundation, how would being a board member help you
> > achieve this?
>
> Ah yes, I may have gotten carried away there and forgot that the board
> is generally removed from technical matters. I mentioned those topics as
> they are areas of interest to me - if activities as part of the
> Foundation Board allow me to spend some time interacting with other
> teams, thinking and discussing ideas for potential "GNOME Goals", I'll
> be happy to do so - if the opportunity or scope does not allow it, well,
> too bad.
>
> On the other hand, even if one is not directly involved in the
> implementation, having an understanding/affinity with technical matters
> is certainly beneficial.
>
>
>
> Regarding financial analysis:
>
> > As the current treasurer, I have had to do something to this effect
> > during my year on the board. I would like to know how you would aim to
> > get to know the process without disrupting the workflow of our
> > employees, especially given that our administrative assistant's
> > workload is currently very high.
>
> Beyond the publicly visible annual report and 2013 financial summary,
> certainly there are many internal documents that the board members have
> access to for such analysis purposes, without requiring complicated
> procedures/administrative overhead? Having to answer to the IRS' audits,
> surely there is a wealth of information out there that can help one have
> a more fine-grained assessment of the situation?

Thank you for your answers Jeff, it is interesting to see how you
would approach these issues.

Regarding the finances, the Foundation primarily relies on the GnuCash
file, which should (and currently it does) contain correct accounts to
within the last couple of weeks and all sent invoices. As the
treasurer, I extract a simplified version of the account statement for
the board on a monthly basis. There is also information about advisory
board fees and OPW invoices available elsewhere, which is easier to
track for those who are not familiar with accounting software. Apart
from that, there is considerable "paperwork" to justify the
Foundation's spending which is essential if the Foundation is ever
questioned about it, such as receipts and reports. The latter is
mostly available publicly in the form of blogposts as it's rare for
foundation members to choose to keep their reports private. Apart from
that, the remaining "paperwork" is tax returns, of which the 990 form
is public after it has been filed, and are some more detailed forms
produced from our accounts which cannot be made public for privacy
reasons.

Various individuals have access to some of the Foundation's accounts,
but this is an exception for the sake of having a backup person for
those and the information should be available in our GnuCash file
anyway.

> And hopefully, as a new board member, I would be able to ask senior
> board members (if they are willing to bear with me) for a bit of their
> thoughts and guidance on these matters, to avoid overburdening the
> administrative assistant? Besides asking individuals directly, these
> inquiries might also be brought to board meetings if considered
> relevant.

Indeed, finances have in some way ended up being discussed at almost
every meeting.

> Basically:
> 1) Read and study the documents newly available to me
> 2) If #1 is insufficient, ask some questions,
>    sharing the load between closely-involved volunteers
>    and the employee(s).