----- Original Message -----
From: "Ankur Sinha" <sanjay.ankur(a)gmail.com>
To: ambassadors(a)lists.fedoraproject.org
Sent: Sunday, December 30, 2012 12:50:55 PM
Subject: Re: [Ambassadors] APAC Budget preparation for FY 2013
On Wed, 2012-12-19 at 07:01 +0530, Buddhike Kurera wrote:
> Hello APAC FAms,
> I know as per the current situation it is hard to make such a budget
> because sometimes special needs may arises. However we need to manage
> his challenge. Therefore it is required to get information from the
> FAms and plan. Tuan will also help me on this.
>
> Following has been identified as main areas that we need funding.
>
> x Media production
> x SWAG production
> x Expenses for Release parties
> x Event sponsorships
> x Event attendee subsidy
> x Special projects/ policies
> x Others
>
> The process will follow like this, if you planning to do something for
> next year under above categories please prepare a rough budget and
> update the ticket. Please include in ticket[1] what is it (which
> category it belongs), expected quarter* and amount required(good if it
> can have a cost breakdown). Do mention the estimated rough cost.
> Margin for unexpected expenses will be considered later at the budget
> preparing stage.
I'm a little unsure about how many tickets/comments you'll get here. The
year is a *long* time. Only the FUDCons require long term planning and
therefore have a detailed budget chalked out quite in advance. For
smaller events, such as unconferences, workshops, even quite a few FADs
(not included in this budget), the planning phase hardly takes a
fortnight. In fact, we encourage folks to make up quick plans, get
together, have a small event (and in the process meet up and get some
work done). A majority of the workshops also depend on other events such
as technology festivals in various educational institutes. Our
contributions to such events only come in once a call for participation
has been made.
From what I can gather, at this stage, the only information that can be
collected will be based on:
* Release parties (since these should've already been planned by now)
* Swag production for ambassadors (not event based, just regular swag
production for the cycle)
* Media production (again, not event based, just regular media
production for the cycle)
* Event sponsorships/attendee subsidy/special projects: very difficult
to ascertain at the time, even for half a year.
I agree with Ankur, although not completely. Planning for the whole year
is such a difficult task.
At my side, I can plan for release parties (most clear), swags, media,
event sponsorships and event attendee subsidy, but just a part, not all.
However, although it is difficult, we need to make it as complete as
possible. I need to have a bigger picture to allocate our money more
effective. Without it, it's more difficult for us to review/approve
fund requests. With it, at least we can have a guide what we should do.
Unplanned requests, tasks could be considered, of course they could be
done in a easier situation (we can *insert* them into the existing ones,
for instance, and compare them)
Therefore, the budget, if planned on this limited information will
not
be fit for the entire year. I would rather suggest that the yearly
budget be based on yesteryears' expenditures:
* How much did we spend in the last few years?
* Is there an incremental/decremental trend?(Why?)
* Plan a budget based on extrapolations of this trend, may be including
a "buffer" or 20% extra as backup, or with the intention of getting more
ambassadors to hold events.
We usually know how much money we have for all stuffs. Look at the reply
from Harish to Christoph [1], you can see the actual spent amount last
FY2012 (3/2011-2/2012) and some information of budget allocated for this
FY2013 (3/2012-2/2013)
In FY2013, we got a commitment of $200k support. In that, about over 20k
for APAC region ( = regional-support/4 !?). We need more statistics
(Buddhike, could you please amend this!). However I am not sure that we
spend that support the most effective.
A lot of things could be improved more. And I think, at first, we should
make the budget plan. It could be difficult for this year but it would be
easier and easier next years. We always have got the first time.
> Deadline for the entries = 2013 Jan 04, 23:59 UTC
>
> Once the budget is prepared I ll present it next APAC FAm meeting and
> once it is agreed I can forward it to FAmSCo.
>
> FY13 Q1 (March 2012 - May 2012)
> FY13 Q2 (June 2012 - Aug 2012)
> FY13 Q3 (Sept 2012 - Nov 2012)
> FY13 Q4 (Dec 2012 - Feb 2013)
>
> Thanks for your support and please do contact me if you need more help
> or clarification.
>
> [1]
https://fedorahosted.org/fedora-apac/ticket/49
>
I'm sorry I didn't jump in earlier. I'm supposed to be on vacation till
Jan 10th[1]. It's only by a matter of chance that I checked my mail and
caught this announcement. From the limited response to the thread and
the ticket, I feel a lot of other ambassadors are also busy holidaying
currently. It might be worth extending the dead line some this time (and
maybe working on this at a different time next cycle so we don't clash
with the holidays)?
I would also like to point out that the plan for us Ambassadors[2] could
probably be expanded to include such deadlines, details. May also be
something that we can look into. I could come up with a plan template,
only once I'm done holidaying though ;)
Have a great holiday everyone! I'll at least check my mail regularly to
follow this thread now :D
+1. We could/should extend the deadline.
However, The next FY2014 is 1/3/2013 (FAmSCo set deadline of 14th of Jan
for this discussion. It is so close so we should not extend it too far.
I suggest we can slip by a week, extend APAC deadline to 11th of Jan and
FAmSCo deadline to 21st of Jan (I will propose this in the next FAmSCo
meeting. Everything should be in place (at APAC and FAmSCo side) before
the end of Jan.
[1]
http://lists.fedoraproject.org/pipermail/famsco/2012-February/001003.html
Rgds,
Tuan