[FAmSCo] Budget information, updates.

[Robyn Bergeron]

On 07/24/2012 10:43 AM, Christoph Wickert wrote:
> Hi Robyn,
>
> thanks a lot for all your work cleaning up the mess and doing the
> transition to OSAS. Really appreciated, however there is one thing that
> makes me sad:
>
> Am Dienstag, den 24.07.2012, 10:09 -0400 schrieb Robyn Bergeron:
>
>> For FY12, which ended in February: We spent, as shown on the wiki,
>> ~$138k for the year, well below the estimated budget of $185k.
>>
>> [...]
>>
>> Because we did not spend the entire budget for
>> last year, this year's budget was smaller than last year's budget.
> FAmSCo had to dramatically cut costs in Q4 of FY12 because we were told
> we were more or less out of money. We postponed whatever was possible
> and only spent money on sending people to events or reimbursing them,
> but all swag production had come to a stop. Here in EMEA we are out of
> swag except stickers and cheatcubes ad people beg for shirts and stuff.
I totally understand - though I can't recall if it was that we were told 
that we were out of money, or just that the lack of updates to the 
budget made it hard for us to tell if we were close, or not, or... what, 
and I know that we have always been very careful with spending.

And there are also details from last year such as budgeting $15k for the 
FUDCon in APAC, but only spending $6k because the Red Hat office in Pune 
was kind enough to pick up a significant portion of the support - but 
that shouldn't mean that the budget going forward should shrink.

>
> There is no use complaining but I think we need to get back to the old
> budget and old level of swag production ASAP. Of course this requires
> strict accounting, we can only spend the money that we have.
>
> What else is needed to get back to the old budget? Will we need to spend
> all money and have the budget increase over time (years!) or is there a
> quicker way to restore the previous state?
As I noted in the previous mail - I think the best way is to probably 
spend (responsibly) as close to the budget as we can, and if we have 
absolute needs this year, we do have some room to grow beyond the amount 
that was handed over, and I'm wanting to set that whole number for the 
rest of the year so we know for sure what the total amount is.  The 
numbers I have put together show an amount that is about 20k over what 
was received (iirc) (and of course is not set in stone as to what it has 
to be spent on).  And I expect that as we approach the end of the year 
we will have a much better idea of what we have or have not spent, so 
that we don't wind up again in a use-it-or-lose-it budget situation.

For future years - I think we absolutely can grow the budget, especially 
if we have a reasonable, concrete plan for who we want to reach, what we 
want to spend, etc., what kind of increase we want. In particular, I 
think that we are going to continue to see our needs for spending 
increasing probably more rapidly in APAC and LATAM - simply because we 
spend so little currently, and I think that those regions are continuing 
to expand and mature. EMEA and NA certainly have their needs increasing 
as well, but I think we have good coverage on major events right now, 
where we may not have as much coverage in the other areas. So, 
definitely - as we get towards the end of the year - thinking about 
maybe doing things that are new and strategic, and thinking about how 
much that would cost - as well as considering how our basic needs around 
the world are increasing - are things we want to do.

So I guess to answer that more concisely: Unless we have a serious 
emergency or critical need, I think an increase is going to be not 
absolutely immediate, but I think that it's certainly something we can 
hope to get back to sooner than over a period of years, and I think that 
the more detail we have around planning for next year, the more likely 
we are to be able to enhance it.

-Robyn
>
> Kind regards,
> Christoph
>
>
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