[CREATE] [LGF] Some goals, aims or objectives !

[Gregory Pittman]

On 06/05/2010 04:19 AM, Camille Bissuel wrote:
> So everyone agree with all this goals ?
> I don't believe it !
>
> There's another point to discuss too : when to start each goals ?
> Louis have suggested to start a network and to wait to be ready to set 
> up any founding, which sound wise.
I don't have any objections to these various proposals, but as we say in 
the US, it's hard to be against something that sounds like "Mom and 
apple pie."

Having been involved with a local group that began a nonprofit 
organization (this one for increasing awareness of stroke), we rather 
painstaking went through such a process of creating a charter, filing 
the appropriate papers, and eventually cranking it through the 
governmental approval process, and then found ourselves with a real 
organization having some really good ideas about what we wanted to do in 
the form of where we saw ourselves in the future, recognized as a source 
for various information, awash with the money that would surely come 
flowing in, which we would carefully dole out for a variety of worthy 
reasons.

But then real reality hits, when you realize that all of this 
discussion, planning, and final agreements about the charter and so 
forth are the easiest part.

As I mentioned in the BOF, we should also begin thinking about how it is 
that LGA justifies its existence. First and foremost, do we know that 
the major and minor projects think LGA is good for them? How? What would 
they see an LGA accomplishing that they can't do themselves? How are 
they willing to support LGA? Would LGA perhaps be some kind of threat to 
them? It's problematic if they might only see LGA as a source of money, 
but otherwise want to be left alone.

And what would users appreciate about LGA? Especially considering that 
users are a large silent unseen body of people out there, this could be 
difficult to ascertain.

Finally, what about donors? Donors who are constantly approached for 
donations, who must choose where to spread out those donations that they 
do make. There will be a certain amount of no-brainer donating that will 
come from many sources in small amounts, but clearly we have to seek out 
and satisfy the potential large donors, not just because of the amount 
of money they might donate, but more importantly the magnifying effect 
this would have. There is a reputation and attention that comes from 
getting a major donation from a Google, or who knows, maybe even an 
Oracle or Adobe. Smaller donors use these as cues that someone with the 
resources has vetted this organization and found it worthy. Likewise, 
getting smaller donations from well-respected open source foundations 
can be very valuable.

You may think that this is too early to think about these issues, but if 
you don't you may find yourselves out in the desert with an empty tank 
before you realize it.

Greg