[Ambassadors] VISA fee reimbursement

[Jaroslav Reznik]

----- Original Message -----
> On 13 July 2015 at 23:21, Danishka Navin <snavin at fedoraproject.org> wrote:
> > As all of us know we have an issue with funds for events.
> > Do we really need to  reimburse VISA fee?
> 
> I have a more pragmatic view of this.  We did not promise visa fee
> reimbursement for FUDCon Pune.  In fact we did not promise
> reimbursements under specific cost heads (cab fare, visa, airfare,
> etc.) and instead went for allocation based on what we had.  More
> importantly we made sure that the subsidies we gave justified the
> people coming in, i.e. specifically for contributors and speakers and
> then just distributed based on what we had.
> 
> In the end, we have some left over from the budget and if it helps a
> fellow contributor (especially in APAC where an $80 visa fee means a
> lot of money) then why not?  But I agree, not as a policy.
> 
> > For example, If 10 guys requesting for 50$ if VISA fee, we have to allocate
> > 500$.
> > * This amount may help on either one or two guys to flying to an event
> > * This amount may really good enought to run several low budget events.
> 
> Sure, that is a valid point, but like I said, some people (students
> for example) just cannot afford the visa fees and if we have budget
> left over and we really want them to come over, then I don't see any
> harm in helping out if we have room in the budget.
> 
> > As Fedora is not a travel agency, should we continue this practise?
> 
> It's not and in that case we should help with travel at all (by
> booking tickets, helping with transit, etc.), but we do.  Subsidies as
> I understand, depend on the contribution the requestor could
> potentially make to the event and if the organizers believe that their
> event would benefit greatly from a specific attending the event,
> they're (rightly) free to spend whatever money they can to get them
> there as long as it is within the budget and is within ethical
> guidelines.

+1, exactly my thoughts. There are folks, we'd like to see at Fedora
events but even amount of money we consider as nothing could be a deal
breaker. I'm very grateful to folks who helped me to get budget for my
first trip to FUDCon in Toronto - right after school when I spent most
of money I earned on home appliances and the cost would be too high for
me. And it changed my whole career. I still remember John Poelstra 
working on the schedule on that huge screen and I was fascinated with
it and a few years later it was me who created schedules for Fedora
release (but not on that huge screen). Now I'm in a different situation
and I try to avoid using Fedora funds as much as possible to make 
sure more money are left to other folks who needs it.

So I'm not saying we should automatically reimburse every single 
payment but help, where and when needed.  

Jaroslav

> 
> Siddhesh
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