Coordinating Debian Fundraising

Over the last several years, there have been discussions regarding the desire to rationalize fundraising activities between DebConf and Debian.

From the DebConf side, there’s an appreciation that asking the local teams to raise funds is not efficient.

From the Debian side, there’s a desire to achieve a sustained income stream.

Laura (larjona) and I have recently been working on revamping how Debian Partners, works. That said, this effort is about acknowledging organizations (and individuals) who are contributing, not about launching a coherent fund raising campaign.

Daniel (DLange) convinced me that an ad-hoc BoF session might be appropriate. The purpose of this session is to discuss: (1) What expenditures should Debian fund (hardware, hosting, services, sprints, etc.)? We need to have objectives so that we can clearly communicate with sponsors. Members of the Debian community might be uncomfortable with funding things like LTS. We should make these determinations before the campaign. (2) How should a fundraising campaign be structured? We need to determine whether a pan-Debian (ie, Debian, DebConf, etc.) effort is appropriate and sustainable. How much governance is required? Who might be willing to participate? (3) What can donors expect? Is an entry in Debian Partners enough? Should branding come into play? What about hardware certifications? Should they get annual reports indicating progress on published goals, etc.

Let’s get together and bounce around some ideas!