Dear members of LibreOffice native language communities,
We are going through challenging times, for reasons which have nothing
to do with free open source software. The pandemic is hitting hard every
geography, and as a consequence all activities are slowed down or delayed.
In 2020, we were supposed to organize events and other face-to-face
meetings, and this was reflected by approved budget requests. Because of
the situation, the majority of the budget has not been spent.
On the other hand, we want to support your community and marketing
activities under the new conditions, where the majority of countries is
under partial or total lockdowns, or – in the best of cases – with
constrained mobility.
The situation is not going to change for the foreseeable future, so for
the first six months of 2021, if not for the entire year.
So, we have to schedule in advance marketing/community activities, to
approve the budget as soon as possible – hopefully before the end of
2020 or very early in 2021 – and have the time to get organized.
We are therefore asking native language communities to provide the
following:
1. A list of objectives you would like to pursue in 2021. Please avoid
wishful thinking, and stick to achievable objectives. A few examples:
organize a virtual meeting with public administrations to educate them
about LibreOffice and ODF; organize a local Virtual LibreOffice
Conference; support local groups organizing activities – from remote –
in schools and universities; etc.
2. For each objective, provide a rationale and a sensible amount of
money. Again, we are spending donations money, and we must be extremely
cautious both with requests and with approvals. Requests missing a
rationale or spending details (easy to understand) will not be approved.
3. For requests equal or exceeding 1,000 euro, you must provide the
outline of a project, because a large amount of money is probably
covering different expense chapters (infrastructure, suppliers, OOP
money) and budget approvers should be allowed to have a clear picture of
what they approve.
Examples of activities which TDF will provide a budget for:
1. virtual community events (aimed at getting face-time for contributors)
2. marketing activities (aimed at representing the project to the
outside world)
3. community events in presence (only if possible according to the local
law)
4. targeted projects (for instance, promoting LibreOffice in schools)
In addition, we ask you to provide a list, if any, of infrastructure
related requests, such as - for example - additional computing power or
new services for your native language community.
The idea is to have a good plan for 2021 as soon as possible, while
keeping the administrative overhead low, and have two authorizers
responsible for the final approval of the budget.
TDF BoD will provide a budget bucket for marketing and a budget bucket
for community. Budget requests will be associated to the relevant
budget, and then approved by budget approvers (according to the
availability of funds).