Hi Michael, Big apologies for the delay in responding. I'm busy with personal stuff at the moment.
<mcatanz...@gnome.org> wrote: ... > How do you intend to ensure that the Foundation expansion occurs in a > sustainable manner? It would be unfortunate if this donation becomes > just a temporary windfall. That's a really good question. Ensuring that the expansion is sustainable is important for the existing board and for Neil, and it forms an important part of our existing plans. I'll therefore divide my answer into two parts: first, what I understand the existing plan to be, and second my personal perspective as a candidate in the board elections. My understanding of the existing plan: We want to avoid a situation where the Foundation expands its operations and subsequently has to contract. The existing plan is therefore to make any expansion self-sustaining. Some of the donation will be spent on increasing our income through other sources, and one of the first priorities will be fund-raising. We're aiming to increase income through a range of sources, including personal donations and grants. There are some sources of funding that haven't been an option due to the Foundation's small size that might become accessible once we've expanded. Another aspect to our plans is ensuring effective financial tracking and planning, and Neil and Rosanna have been working to upgrade our accounting systems for this reason. Neil has been taking the lead on our expansion planning, and he can answer questions if you have them. My personal view on the expansion: The board is obviously going to have to keep a close eye on the budget. Directors will need to ensure that accounts and budget projections are scrutinized whenever major financial decisions are made. They're going to have to plan and think long-term. The board is also going to have to support its staff during this transition. This means empowering Neil to take the lead as well as ensuring effective oversight. Long-term, the hope is that the board will be able to offload some of its existing duties to staff members, but in the short-term, we're going to have to keep an eye on everyday activities, to make sure that areas aren't neglected as we ramp up. I think I can personally contribute to this process: I'm conscious of the need to plan the Foundation's finances over the long-term and want to see us develop accounting and budgetary processes that effectively inform any budget decisions we make. I have a good overview of the Foundation's operations, as well as the project's requirements more generally, and I'm able to jump in and fill gaps as necessary. I think I've also got an understanding of where the Foundation needs to head organisationally, with the board shifting to a more high-level governance role and passing operational functions to staff. I hope that makes sense. I'm sure I've missed some things, but it hopefully covers some of the important points. Allan _______________________________________________ foundation-list mailing list foundation-list@gnome.org https://mail.gnome.org/mailman/listinfo/foundation-list
