[FAmSCo] FY14 Budget update

[Christoph Wickert]

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?

Until now I thought it was all due to Max leaving, but it seems that's
only part of the problem as the budget continued to decline.

When Max was still the budget owner, we had 100k and he managed it very
well. Then he left and the budget was handed over to somebody else, who
obviously did not manage it well. Instead that person told us we were
out of money, so we had to cut our spending. It later turned out the
information was wrong and we had money left. While we were still unsure,
we continued to be conservative with our expenses.

As an event owner, I cut the budget for my events as far as possible:
Take Linux-Tag for example, one of the biggest events in EMEA. While we
still delivered a good show (and even free hotdogs) last year, we only
had 6 ambassadors there and spent ~3000 EUR. This is enough to run a
booth, but it turned out to have a negative impact on our community.
These events are not only about presenting Fedora but also about
bringing people together. Let them meet other community members, let
them discuss face to face, let them meet new people. This is what builds
a community and emerges new projects.

I recall years where we had 15-20 Ambassadors at Linux-Tag, some from
overseas, and spent nearly 15.000 EUR. I'm not saying we need to spend
that much again, but to grow our community, we need to invest some more
money than the bare minimum.
 
But instead our budget is cut year after year. If we save money, we
effectively lose it because we get less the following year. For me the
only logical consequence is: Spend all the money! Don't try to cut
costs, use everything you reasonably can use. Of course you need to
spend it wisely and not waste it, but if you think it helps our
community, go for it! I encourage all FAmSCo members, ambassadors and
contributors to do the same.

What I would like to know: How does Red Hat make the budget for Fedora?
How does decision making happen? What parties are involved? Do these
people really know Fedora, what we are doing and what they are doing to
the community? What numbers or assumptions is the budget based on? AFAIK
it cannot be based on previous budgets because we hardly have a clue how
much we've spent.

This means: We need strict accounting. We need to know how much we spent
and how much is left. And we need to know it in a timely manner. I don't
know if we ever had reliable numbers for FY11, if we will ever have some
for F12 and when we will see some for FY13. This needs to happen ASAP
please.

Robyn, Ruth, please share some insight on this. I don't want to point
fingers at anybody, but I want to understand what is going on and I want
the decision makers at Red Hat know what they are doing to their
project.

Kind regards,
Christoph