Last week we sent out the budget agreements for 2015 and in this article we are going to explain how the budgets have been assigned for the year and the motivations for the decisions.
Introduction
A few months ago we announced the process for receiving funds from the TYPO3 Association.
The application phase was <link https: forge.typo3.org projects t3a-eab-budget2015>followed by a discussion and a poll by the members. The results of this poll are meant to give the Expert Advisory Board (EAB) a guideline on how the members want to see the money spent.
Availability
For this year the TYPO3 Association has received budget applications for a total of 1.300.000 EUR (2014: 825.000 EUR) whilst we expect an income of 560.000 EUR (2014: 530.000 EUR) throughout 2015. We have decided to add 125.000 EUR from the stock for two reasons:
- There are some projects which we see as necessary one-time investments.
- We expect that not all of the budgets will be 100% utilised.
Based on the members' poll the EAB discussed all budget applications in detail on the 24th and 25th of November 2014. The output of these negotiations is the complete budget for 2015 which is attached to this article.
In the weeks following this meeting we informed the budget applicants about the status of their application. It took some time but last week we finally sent the budget agreements to all budget owners.
The Business Control Committee (BCC) has also received a copy of the granted budgets. The EAB will continue to work with the BCC and the TYPO3 Association's cashier to ensure the correct usage of the granted funds.
Application overview
To organize the projects we have assigned them into one of five budget categories:
- Research & Development
- Marketing & Communication
- Education & Events
- Management
- Investments
Research & Development
We have accepted the following applications as is:
- PHPUnit TYPO3 extension
- Automated Performance monitoring for TYPO3 CMS
- Maintenance and improvement of docs.typo3.org
- Documentation & Documentation Tools for Neos/Flow
- TYPO3 Neos UX research
- TYPO3 Security Team
The following budgets were granted partly:
- TYPO3 CMS
- TYPO3 Neos Code Sprints and Quality Assurance
In the end both of the above applications have been cut to 60% of the requested sums.
The budgets for our two biggest software projects are equally important to us: Both have a promising future and are totally worthy of funding, yet we had to cut expenses for both projects in favour of marketing and communication investments. The success of the TYPO3 project relies on improved marketing and communication and therefore we are convinced that this decision will lead to increased funding in the future and thus further accelerate development.
In the meantime we would like to ask you to raise your support of the TYPO3 project by reviewing and upgrading your membership or by giving one-time-sponsorships to the TYPO3 Association.
In both cases you are welcome to <link>contact us.
- Fluid Powered TYPO3
- GridElements Code Sprints 2015 Parts I + II
While we think these initiatives should be supported by agencies, we also want to provide a starting point for them by granting 50% of their requested sums.
- TYPO3 User Experience Week 2015 – T3UXW15
The budget was cut to 50% and we hope that the remaining amounts will be <link http: www.t3uxw.org donate _blank>covered through sponsorship.
- TYPO3 Quality Assurance Team
- TYPO3 Server Team
Both teams are very important, not only for ongoing development. We are still not able to grant 100% for them and so both applications were cut to 70% of their requested sums.
The following applications from the research & development section will not receive funds from the TYPO3 Association in 2015:
- Basic TypoScript Plugin for Eclipse
- Refactor / improve frontend editing
- Google Summer of Code Participation
- Bug Bounty Program
Nevertheless we hope that some of these projects will be adopted and funded by sponsors. If you are interested in sponsoring any of these projects please <link>get in touch with us.
Marketing & Communication
- Editorial Team - typo3.org content refresh and improval Sprints in Q2 and Q4
The application was accepted as is.
- General Communications Budget
- TYPO3 Marketing
Although we would have liked to grant 100% we are only able to grant 60% of the required amount. This will give the teams the chance to base their efforts on a solid foundation.
- Internationalization Committee
Internationalization is important as it opens up the doors for the markets outside of Europe. The topic has not been addressed thoroughly in the past and we are very much looking for a good start here. Nevertheless we could only grant 50% of the budget and again if you think this is worth further investment please <link>drop us a line.
- Community Working Group
- Community Management
We have seen the call for concepts for community management in late 2014 by the TYPO3 Association Board. All concepts we received have not convinced us to spend a substantial amount of money for community management in 2015 and therefore we decided not to fund a full time community manager at this time. We have decided to fund the application of the Community Working Group but without paying any working time.
- Professional Services Listing (PSL)
The professional services listing (PSL) will be maintained but not developed further and will see a conceptional overhaul this year (see further below). Therefore we have removed all expenses except costs for the review of new entries.
The following applications from the marketing and communication section will not receive funds from the TYPO3 Association in 2015:
- Community Management (see above)
- TYPO3 Outreach and Promotion
- Media Team
- Distribution: Craftman
- Distribution: Medical
- Distribution: Lawyers
Education & Events
We learned from the Event Committee that the calculations were very conservative and as such we raised the expected income to have a 50.000 EUR win from the T3CON.
The following applications were granted as is:
- Event Committee
- Event Manager
- TYPO3 Developer Days 2015
- TYPO3 Association Certification Team
Some applications were only partly granted:
- Education Committee / TYPO3 Campus (60%)
- T3CON 2015 travel and hotel (50%)
- First International TYPO3 Award
A small number of projects could not be funded, though we hope that they can still be supported through sponsorship:
Management
Most of the administrative projects are considered by us as must-have projects. They need to be covered even if the result of the members poll was not always in support of them.
The following applications were granted as is:
- Expenses Accounting
- Expenses Lawyer
- Back Office (Formerly Board Assistance)
- Memberships in other organisations
- BCC Meeting and travel costs
- Executive Secretary of the TYPO3 Association
- Licensing Team
- Expert Advisory Board (EAB)
The following applications were cut to 50% of their applied sums:
- General Assembly 2015
- QSA (= Quarterly Summit of the T3A, ex CEBAB) Meetings 2015 Travel and Hotel
Investments
Finally there are some projects which are one-time investments. With their help we plan to save time and money in the future. We have decided to pay for these projects with money from the stock:
- Expenses for Realisation of new Membership System (100%)
- Enhancements for voting.typo3.org (100%)
- New concept for the typo3.org PSL section (100%)
- Strategy of the TYPO3 Association (50%)
The following investment has not been granted yet:
- Implementing visibility for Agencies on TYPO3.org
We hope to be able to raise funds here and to implement the new concept in 2015.
Final Remarks
All decisions were taken in full consent and with the best expectations.
The applications for this budget period have been significantly higher in number and in amounts than last year: They nearly doubled. As a result they overshot the raise in our income considerably. Whilst this is a good sign of high activity within the projects it is also the reason we could not fund all applications we would have liked.
We would like to ask you to consider upgrading your membership or sponsor one of these listed projects directly. If you need further information on how to proceed, feel free to contact our Executive Secretary, <link>Naike Schulthess-Beggiato.
On behalf of the Expert Advisory Board,
Michael Stucki
