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

[Allan Day <allanpday gmail com>]

Hey Andreas,

Andreas Nilsson <lists andreasn se> wrote:
> Dear candidates. Thank you all for running!
>
> 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 Since the trademark claims from the other part in the issue was withdrawn,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?

Really good question. From my perspective, there are two critical issues here:

1. It is important that people who have donated money see that it is
being put to good use. If they don't, they might not be willing to
donate again in the future.
2. We don't want donors to feel that they have been tricked, or that
the money is being spent in a different spirit to how it was donated.

Therefore, my view is that we need to speak publicly about the funding
as quickly as possible, so people know what is happening with it, and
we need to identify a use for the funds that reflects the goals of the
fund-raising campaign - defending GNOME. Investing it in ways that
strengthens the legal position of the project would make sense here,
and we could seek advice on this. That said, I don't have a
particularly strong opinion on what the money should be specifically
spent on (and we don't have to spend it all on one thing). What I do
believe is that we need to act to ensure that people feel that their
donation is being put to good use.

Allan