Re: [Fsfe-uk] RFC: Sponsorship

[MJ Ray]

On 2003-10-16 03:17:43 +0100 Ciaran O'Riordan <address@hidden> 
wrote:
> I've been rac king

Thanks.

> Here's my suggestion:
> create a donors page with a short URL, maybe list them in
> order of monetary donation, and at the bottom of *all* leaflets
> say:
>    "AFFS is funded by membership dues, and donations.  A list
>     of donors can be found at http://www.affs.org.uk/donors/";
> or:
>    "AFFS thanks it's donors for providing printing costs, a
>     list of donors can be found at http://www.affs.org.uk/donors/";
>
> The donors page should also be linked from the home page.  A note
> at the top of the donors page should mention that listing does not
> imply AFFS endorsement.

I can see practical problems with this.  First, we are approached with 
offers of sponsorship (where they offer to produce, fund and/or donate 
materials or services to us) which are not offers to donate money.  
Maybe we should have a donors page, quite apart from any sponsorships. 
 In future, I will ask donors if they wish to be listed.

Secondly, how long will donor messages last for?  Because we don't 
keep track of materials after we distribute them, we cannot tell if a 
sponsored print run (for example) is still in circulation somewhere.  
If list sponsors for a fixed time, we may have them listed long after 
their sponsorship is over, or when we would have junked their material 
to avoid bad publicity (I'm thinking of certain projects sponsored by 
SCO here).  Alternatively, we may remove their listing while their 
sponsored work is still in use.  Neither seems particularly just to 
me.

Finally, won't the donors page become a ghetto?  Who would visit it?  
Will it be attractive to sponsors anyway.

> Rationale:
> * Printing company names/logos on leaflets may cause confusion as
>   to who "really" runs AFFS.  Remember that the target audience of
>   leaflets is people that don't already know about AFFS.

The 5% clause was aimed at minimising this, but probably a clearer 
statement on the web site is required.  People who are suspicious tend 
to go digging anyway, with list archives, whois and similar.

> * Leaflet content could never be out of date, only the donors
>   page needs updating.
> * An equal distribution of credit is ensured to donors.

Not all donations are equal, IMO.

> * No policing necessary ("is company/department X a true Free
>   Software company/department?")
> * It makes it possible for AFFS to accept donations from any company
>   since we wouldn't be giving them ad-space, and we'd mention that
>   no endorsement is implied.

I don't see why this is less necessary for a donors register on our 
web site than a sponsored publicity item.

> Does this sound like a good approach?

I'm not sure.  Are there solutions to the practical problems, or do 
people think that they are worthwhile?

--
MJR/slef     My Opinion Only and possibly not of any group I know.
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