[FAmSCo] FY14 Budget update

[inode0]

On Tue, Apr 2, 2013 at 8:00 AM, Jiří Eischmann <eischmann at redhat.com> wrote:
> Christoph Wickert píše v Út 02. 04. 2013 v 14:13 +0200:
>> Am Donnerstag, den 28.03.2013, 06:39 -0700 schrieb Robyn Bergeron:
>>
>> > The total amount for FY14 regional support is $91,600; for reference,
>> > the budget in FY2013 was $71,500; in FY2012 was $80,000; in FY11 was
>> > $100,000.
>>
>> Why is our budget declining year after year?

Our budget increased this year after a period of declining budgets. I
can't explain those declines but I'm not surprised by them since
budgets just about everywhere during those years declined.

I haven't heard yet what the level of funding is for Fedora premier
events but I suspect that also increased this year, perhaps
dramatically. And given the vague plans I have heard for this year's
premier events I won't be surprised if those increases in our budget
were simply viewed as where Red Hat felt they would get the most out
of their investment in Fedora.

>>
>> ... snip ...
>>
> I agree with you. It's going to have an impact on our community. When we
> planned the EMEA budget, we didn't leave much fat aiming the most honest
> budget, so any cuts harm the scope and quality of our activities. I
> hoped that this year would give a spin to the EMEA community. We finally
> had a clear plan and we'd know how much we could spend. But all I've
> been thinking about in the recent days is how we're going to maintain
> the last year's level of activity after such a budget cut.

I'm sure you didn't mean your remarks here this way but these remarks
and others I've read do give me the impression that people think the
FAmNA budget was cleverly full of unnecessary fat intended to trick
Red Hat into giving us more funding. FAmNA was not being clever with
its proposed budget. It was an honest budget requesting sustaining
funding to do the things FAmNA has been doing for years at the levels
required. Additionally, FAmNA did what is commonly done in budget
proposals and requested new funding for reasonable planned growth.
This would shore up some areas where we are currently funded but not
at comfortable levels and would allow FAmNA to try some entirely new
things to promote Fedora.

> Yes, I agree that the only way to make the budget bigger next year is to
> spend all the money we've been given. And I think EMEA won't have a
> problem to spend all $22,100 if we planned to spend $30,000. What I
> don't agree with is that we should make any expense if we think it is
> reasonable and has a positive impact on Fedora without reflecting the
> financial situation. Red Hat trusts us enough to give us money to spend
> without asking for it every time we want to make an expense. We have to
> be responsible and spend only what we've been given. We can't spend $30k
> if we got $22.1k although we know the $30k is what we need for our
> plans. So yes, let's spend every penny of the money we've been given to
> have a valid argument when asking for more next time. Let's not spend
> more money than we've been given just because we think we ought to get
> more.

I understand this concern and I keep trying to help calm the worries
by explaining how this has been done historically. FAmNA at times has
been out of quarterly budget (FAmNA is the only group that has been
exposed to this in the past with a bit of an unofficial budget cap set
by Max). In those cases we would request the amount we needed with an
explanation of why we needed it and Max would try to shuffle funds
from either other unused regional funds or from other sources
available to him. Sometimes we would be told no, but normally if the
request was for something really important funding would be arranged.

I agree it is important to do our best to be responsible in our
spending and trying to conserve where it doesn't negatively impact our
presence at EMEA events is a good thing. But I don't think EMEA should
cut so deeply into planned events as to substantially hurt them. When
you get toward the end of a quarter where you need additional funding
for an important event let's just work together to move funds around
to accommodate your needs as best we can. And where we can't do that
let's just request additional help from our friends at Red Hat. I
don't think a major event in EMEA will go unfunded despite the way the
budget might look to us today.

> ... snip ...

John