2016 Hackfest Sponsorship

Resolution:

All four proposals approved.

Alex Valavanis is authorized to proceed with arrangements for the 2016 Hackfest in Leeds.

Proposals:

Your vote is needed on the planned Inkscape Hackfest for 2016:

  1. Hold the 2016 hackfest in Leeds on Apr 11-14 2016. (Refer to attached proposal document for details).
  1. Reimburse using a ranked system similar to last year, but with increased limits and relaxed contribution requirements, as detailed below.
  1. If a sponsoree does not hit their maximum reimbursement amount for the hackfest itself, can they apply the remainder against LGM expenses?
  1. The Inkscape Board sponsors a dinner event, to be funded from the Inkscape general fund (instead of the hackfest fund), for Hackfest attendees and guests.

Votes:

Board Member 1. 2. 3. 4.
Bryce Harrington a a Yes a
Josh Andler a a Yes a
Tavmjong Bah a a Yes a
Jon A. Cruz
Ted Gould a a Yes a
Krzysztof Kosiński a a Yes a
Martin Owens a a Yes a

Background:

After the success of the 2015 Hackfest, there is strong interest in sponsoring another one in 2016. Last year we co-located the event with LGM, which was convenient for Inkscape developers who wanted to attend LGM; we had a few LGM attendees stop by the hackfest which was nice but perhaps not as critical.

This year’s LGM is in London, and in order to achieve similar cross-over benefits this proposal suggests holding it nearby, but not necessarily (expensively) in London. Leeds is a short distance and we have an Inkscape developer in proximity who can organize it and handle logistics, so this seems like a sensible locale.

Last year’s fundraising brought in an amount well in excess of what we required, and indeed probably enough to cover most or all of the sponsorship for the 2016 hackfest. Due to this, we probably don’t need to allocate money from the general fund for this event. Even so, it is intended that we conduct another fundraiser; this will help establish certainty for a 2017 hackfest, and/or might be usable for another smaller (perhaps US-located) hackfest in 2016.

We established limits on the maximum sponsorship amounts last year, in order to ensure spreading the funds widely. However, since we underspent so significantly, and since attendance was below anticipated, this proposal suggests relaxing the requirements and increasing the limits:

Alex Valavanis has volunteered as event coordinator for the hackfest event.