2011/6/27 Stefano Zacchiroli <lea...@debian.org> > On Fri, Jun 24, 2011 at 06:49:44PM -0400, Richard Darst wrote: > > - Getting money in from sponsors to be able to have money to send out > > again. This can sometimes take months after DebConf, though we > > should be in a better than normal position this year. > > > > One possibility to work around the second problem is to use general > > Debian funds as a buffer. We could reimburse attendees from Debian > > general funds, and then in a month or two, replenish Debian funds from > > our sponsor money. > > From a principle point of view, I see no problem with that. We---as in > DPL + DebConf team---have agreed that DebConf budget is, year after > year, temporary. It gets "forked off" Debian budget at the first > expenditure for a specific DebConf and then "merged back" into Debian > budget ASAP after the end of the conference. As long as the money used > for reimbursements will be accounted for in the DebConf budget---which > has ambition of being "amortized 0 costs" across several DebConf > editions---Debian's / not DebConf money can easily be used to anticipate > reimbursements. > > An annoyance in doing that would be that such an expenditure will need > to be approved by the DPL, whereas during the time window of existence > of the DebConf budget, the DebConf chairs are autonomous in approving > expenses. In some sense, that would reduce some of the advantages of the > delegation and induce a bit more work on the DPL (and auditors). That's > not a blocker per se, as long as the goal you are proposing is worth > pursuing. > > > I am watching DebConf finances closely enough that I think that we > > could track and manage such an arrangement. Thus, my question to you > > all is: > > > > --> Is this worth pursuing? > > I've been dealing with reimbursements, as a scholar waiting for those > reimbursements, for several years now. IME there are two major classes > of needs wrt when ones get reimbursed. Either you need the money > *before* a specific event, because otherwise you simply won't be able to > attend (e.g. you cannot afford the ticket costs). Or you can anticipate > the money yourself and be reimbursed later. > > I've been in both categories depending on the occasion. But when I've > been in the latter category (i.e. able to afford anticipating ticket > costs); it didn't matter much to me whether the delay was 1, 2, or 3 > months. This is, of course, just personal experience, not necessarily > representative of the needs of others. But *if* it is representative, > I'm not sure this part of your proposal is worth pursuing (while I think > the other one, collecting receipts earlier/more easily, is totally worth > pursuing). > > Hi there! IMHO:
If someone knowstaht he/she cannot affford the ticket cost and there is a possibility of getting money before the event, first of all this person will be able to attend the event. Everyday you wait to buy a ticket it gets more expensive, if a person receives money early and buys a cheaper ticket more money is saved and can be allocated faster. Regards > I do *not* know what Debian's non-DebConf assets are, and where they > > are. Before anyone agrees to this idea, of course we must know the > > details of where money is money is and how much buffer we have (of > > Debian funds, but also sure enough that we will get sufficient sponsor > > money) that this is fiscally responsible. > > The auditors (Cc:-ed) have been working on producing periodic, public, > and comprehensive reports since a while now. While I know they are > proceeding, as of now there is no visible outcome yet (do I need to add > here that the auditors would probably welcome your help? :-)). > > As of now, most part of Debian's money are held by SPI and are reported > monthly in the reports you've already found (they are linked starting > from <http://wiki.debian.org/Teams/Auditor>). The other big chunk is > held by FFIS, whose reports are accessible only by the auditors and the > DPL. At the time of writing, Debian balance at FFIS is 33912.56 EUR. > > Note, however, that bank balances are not enough to understand the state > of Debian finances. Most notably, recent cash flow might be missing, as > well as already approved expenses which have not been paid yet. > > Hope this helps, > Cheers. > -- > Stefano Zacchiroli -o- PhD in Computer Science \ PostDoc @ Univ. Paris 7 > zack@{upsilon.cc,pps.jussieu.fr,debian.org} -<>- http://upsilon.cc/zack/ > Quando anche i santi ti voltano le spalle, | . |. I've fans everywhere > ti resta John Fante -- V. Capossela .......| ..: |.......... -- C. Adams > > _______________________________________________ > Debconf-team mailing list > Debconf-team@lists.debconf.org > http://lists.debconf.org/mailman/listinfo/debconf-team > > -- Marcelo Gutierrez Team POSOL http://podcast.softwarelibre.org.ni Linux User: 448194 Ubuntu User: 26821 http://mmgc84.taygon.com
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