Re: Question to candidates: Best use of Trademark Fundraiser money?

[Cosimo Cecchi <cosimoc gnome org>]

Hi Andreas,

On Sun, May 24, 2015 at 10:23 AM, Andreas Nilsson <lists andreasn se> wrote:

As part of the GNOME Trademark Fundraiser [1], the Foundation raised $102 608 USD.
Since the trademark claims from the other part in the issue was withdrawn, it was never taken to court and the money was never spent on that.
What, in your mind, is the best use of these funds now? Kept as a War Chest [2] or spent on something specific?

It's hard to answer this question without a good understanding of the Foundation cash flow, and even then economics is not my best skill :-)

Having said that, assuming the Foundation has some cash reserves outside this "war chest", I don't think keeping the money in the bank is the best use of it, as it will quickly lose its value over time; I don't have a single specific idea in mind, but I would like the money to be spent "on people".

GNOME is in the unique position to be able to support and connect people with the same or converging interests. This can take many concrete shapes: outreach into new communities, bounties for features or fixes, conferences and many more.

In other words, I would love to see that money used in a way that leaves the GNOME community enriched with more human capital, and that criteria would guide my choices on how to spend it.

Cosimo