On Thu, Jul 17, 2003 at 06:38:05PM -0400, Barry King wrote: > I came across this today (below) and wonder if there is room in the > OSI's ITC initiative for helping to realize the Debian-NP > distribution(s) and some tailoring of packages to specifically support > open/civil society NGOs. > > Not to get hopes up, as a whole Linux distribution may not mesh with > their needs exactly, but on cost-for-quality, utility and > sustainability, Debian has a lot going for it. I have two sets of feelings about this. First, I think it's *essential* to create a viable volunteer project first. I want the software's value to come from within, not from the fact that someone plopped a pile of money down. Volunteer labor and institutional independence are one way to assure that. We should be careful with how we get and spend money. That said, getting money for these self-valorizing projects sounds thrilling. There is software we need to write (new applications) that will be difficult to write in any short amount of time without paying developers for their time. I say this because some of us have been waiting for years already. I don't have a lot of experience writing grant proposals but it's something I'd be very interested in getting involved in if there are people on the lists interested in doing this. If there are people that have experience writing grants and can help, I would be thrilled to work with you on this. The money is for infrastructures, meetings, etc or for focused development in the most simple case. > I'd like to help sound it out/draft a proposal if we can define a clear > target or two. Is there anyone at SPI who could administer it if a > 501c3 status (U.S. charitable corporation) is required? I am on the SPI board of directors. I can't make decisions on my own but I can certainly brings things to the rest of the board. :) Regards, Mako -- Benj. Mako Hill mako@debian.org http://mako.yukidoke.org/
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