[foundation-board] OKF-DE proposal

Sat Dec 17 10:48:21 UTC 2011

Hi all

Further to our discussion of the OKF-DE proposal at this week's Board
meeting, here's the feedback I would propose we send to OKF-DE. As
discussed, I am in Berlin later this month, and happy to connect with
Daniel Dietrich if that's helpful for OKF-DE to understand our
concerns.

The proposal I'm talking about is here:
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1fKvdB7r0a3QpADFt72UCPmJgXAf4-M3qq-clsLST6HA/edit?hl=en_GB
(shared with okfn.board)

Since the meeting, I've also had a chance to look at the proposed
budget for the project here, which was linked to from the document:
https://docs.google.com/spreadsheet/ccc?key=0ApbQZxbNri2RdFZEdE9XMmoxdWpqR01RempLTW1GX1E&hl=en_GB#gid=0

Sidenote: I missed the budget initially, as it was just a link in the
document. I'd prefer it if all vital information the Board needs to
review for any given proposal is contained in a single document.

Okay, so here's the feedback:

1) The proposal needs to be clearer about what it's asking for, and
what it intends to deliver against that. Right at the top it needs to
say "We're asking for x euros to fund us for y time to achieve z" This
is not just window-dressing - OKF Board central need to be able to
look at this document at the end of 2012 and evaluate whether the work
following from this proposal was successful. Clarity here will aid
accountability down the line.
---Having dived into the materials, it's still not clear to me how
much they want and what they're going to do with it. There's a
document called "2 year operational plan" (why 2 years, when the grant
is for one year?), linked out to from the proposal
(https://docs.google.com/spreadsheet/ccc?key=0AtMts_R3W2qxdEpHdFR4b20ycG12S183VDk5ZUJBZFE&hl=en_GB#gid=0)
that is cryptic to me. And the budget appears to suggest that in the
worst case we give them 60K Euros in 2012, and in the best, we give
them that plus 37.5K euros for a chapter coordinator in 2012.

2) Matching the funding: Looking at the budget, OKF-DE appear to be
saying they have guaranteed income of 35K euros from two organisations
labelled KfW and OIW. They also think it's possible to raise a maximum
of 120K euros from other organisations. But they don't appear willing
to adjust their outgoings depending on how successful they are.
Instead, they posit that in the worst case scenario, they will lose
41.25K euros, and in the best, they'll end the year 116.24K euros in
the black. The former seems unfeasible and the latter seems like a lot
of cash to be sitting on. I don't think they've thought this through.

My recommendation is that we ask the OKF-De team to address the
proposal in these two areas. Essentially, we probably want them to
come back with a proposal that is shorter and clearer more generally
plus a budget that adds up in the worst case scenario.

We also need to think about how to encourage sustainability. One idea
might be to release the budget in two tranches, with the second
tranche contingent on them achieving the matched income they say they
can achieve from KfW and OIW. This could be a principle we apply more
generally in making grants to chapters

Two things that someone closer to the ground needs to do on our side
before we can progress this is:
-Provide the Board with a rough breakdown of the demands they expect
on the Omidyar pot in 2012 (how many other chapters do we want/need to
fund in that year? How much are we reserving for core?) - Is Kat the
best person to approach here?
-Get clarity on whether we need a change to the Omidyar contract in
order to fund chapters like this - Is Jason the best person to
approach here?

If Rufus is confident that the two points above are actionable, then
we can undertake them in parallel to advising OKF-DE on their revised
proposal.

Finally, if we expect to receive proposals like this from other
chapters over the coming years, I'd be pleased to work with Kat on
developing guidelines for how they should be structured, so that this
process can be as painless as possible for all concerned in the
future.

Cheers

Becky