Re: Scholarships
On Mon, Sep 8, 2014 at 4:09 AM, martin f krafft <madduck@debconf.org> wrote:
> Hey Brian,
>
> you had good objections to the idea of letting sponsors buy travel
> sponsorship, and I have removed the perk.
>
> Following many discussions with Molly de Blanc, Mika Matsuzika, and
> others about furthering diversity at our conference, a new idea was
> born: scholarships.
>
> Have a look at
> https://lists.debian.org/debconf15-team/2014/09/msg00046.html,
> please and let us know if this would be more acceptable to you.
Sorry this was sitting in my drafts...
I would say, let's not confuse the sponsors, with too many sponsoring
options, as it might risk diluting our general fundraising efforts. Our first
priority is to make sure we have enough money to host the conference
and then we fund attendees with need.
I believe there is an existing program in place for first-time DebConf
attendees. I also believe that it is underutilized. Perhaps there is your
answer? (I'm pretty sure the money allotted for travel sponsorship has
been underutilized the past couple of years at least, so increasing
diversity might just be a simple matter or making more people aware
of bursaries.)
I think what we need to do here, is tweak our existing bursaries process
so that decisions can be made sooner? This is a goal, i"m sure everyone
can get behind.
I'll also add that you should coordinate with the current OPW coordinators
about encouraging participants to attend (part of the funding we raise is
$500 towards travel to any Debian conference.)
Long story short, I don't really want to force sponsors into the uncomfortable
position of deciding how to split their funding between general DebConf
sponsorship funds and diversity scholarships.
-Brian
> Thanks,
>
> --
> .''`. martin f. krafft <madduck@debconf.org>
> : :' : DebConf orga team
> `. `'`
> `- DebConf14: Portland, OR, USA: http://debconf14.debconf.org
> DebConf15: Heidelberg, Germany: http://debconf15.debconf.org
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