Subject: LAS GNOME budget update and potential Board vote
Dear fellow Board members,
I’m writing to send an update on the status of the 2016 LAS GNOME conference. The planning committee has been meeting regularly each week, and as a part of our meeting, we evaluate our progress and troubleshoot next steps. This week we decided to remove the $100 registration fee and we want the Board’s approval before proceeding with the registration fee change since it affects the budget. The new budget is attached, for your perusal.
We believe that removing the $100 registration fee is important in order to make this event more accessible to the general public and inclusive of the Portland community. We want to encourage diversity at the conference, and believe that such a high registration fee will limit the conference’s reach.
We would like to instead ask for donations for the event, the same way we collect donations at GUADEC. Since this is a US-based conference, we can make people’s donations tax-deductible, which we hope will encourage more people to make a financial contribution.
We ask the Board to consider this conference as an investment. This conference is a way for the GNOME Foundation to support Flatpak and the beginning of a true Linux application ecosystem.
We ask the Board to acknowledge the budget change and let us know if we can proceed with the registration fee changes. We can discuss this during next week’s meeting and vote if necessary.
Thank you!