[Ambassadors] clarity regarding budget (was Re: Meeting minutes FAmSCo 2010-2-19)

[Max Spevack]

On Sun, 20 Feb 2011, inode0 wrote:

> FAmSCo gets its authority over the funding it now has authority over 
> from the source of that funding, the Red Hat Community Architecture 
> team. Asking a body that has no authority over the budget to give 
> FAmSCo authority over another part of the budget that the body has no 
> authority over really makes no sense to me.

I'm a bit late to this thread, and I'm going to attempt to lower the 
temperature of all the notes by trying to make a few very clear 
statements.

(1) When we look at the money that is spent directly on the Fedora 
Community during the year, we see it coming from the following places:

* Red Hat's Community Architecture team, which is the budget that I 
manage transparently here (https://fedoraproject.org/wiki/Accounting).

* Red Hat Engineering, which has set aside some money for FUDCon NA over 
the past few years, which is added to the budget that comes from 
Community Architecture for FUDCon NA.

* Other companies that choose to sponsor a chunk of FUDCon, which has 
happened in the past.

(2) Which of those chunks of money does the Fedora community have any 
direct control over?

* Only the subset of the Community Architecture budget that is 
specifically delegated out to the community for management.  Money 
exists for Premier Fedora events (FUDCons and FADs) which is allocated 
to the organizational teams for those events.  Money also exists for 
Regional Support, which has traditionally been managed by FAMSCo.

(3) Does the Fedora Board have any direct funding?

* Not really.  Though there is some discretionary money in the Community 
Architecture Fedora budget that the Board, or the FPL, can make use of 
when needed.

=================

I think the topic that we're trying to discuss here is how we can do a 
more efficient job of allocating that "regional support" chunk of 
budget.

Typically the vast majority of it is spent on media, swag, and 
Ambassador-related travel.

I think there is a general desire to make sure that budget can also be 
spent to continue to facilitate non-ambassador work in regions.

Want an example?  Ok.  Here's one:

Ambassadors who are organizing events should desire that there is at 
least one TECHNICAL talk being given at each event by a Fedora 
contributor.

Why not make sure that the event owners are thinking about what 
technical talks would be good -- based on the Fedora talking points, 
features, etc -- and making sure that the most qualified person to give 
that talk in the area gets the talk submitted, and if it is accepted, 
gets some travel funding to give the talk?

That's an expanded use of regional support money, that relates not only 
to the evangelization and marketing side of Fedora in the region, but 
also makes sure that technical contributors are getting a chance to meet 
other Fedora folks, interact with the community, etc.

--Max