[volunteers] potential new sponsor for SVLUG

[mark weisler]

On Monday 29 January 2007 12:28, Paul Reiber wrote:
> Hi there, SVLUG Volunteers!
>
> My contact at Robert Half Technology mentioned that she'd like to have
> RHT be an SVLUG sponsor.
>
> She didn't have a specific idea in mind, but rather asked what we
> need.  So... I'm asking all of you - what do you think?
>
> RHT - http://www.roberthalftechnology.com - is a placement firm.
> There are all SORTS of ways that SVLUG might benefit from their
> skills.  I have a few ideas in mind already, but I want to collect
> ideas from the group as well.
>
> So... think outside the box, inside the box, and around the box - how
> would YOU recommend that RHT help as an SVLUG sponsor?
>
> Thanks in advance!
> -Paul Reiber
> President, SVLUG
> http://svlug.org/~pbr
Some thoughts...

* we could use another sponsor. While our needs are modest, a sponsor's 
contribution of cash could help us pay for some of the electricity to run our 
servers.

* what form would the sponsorship take? Monetary contribution? If so, what 
would we use the money for?

* if we begin taking money how would that change  things? Would we need a 
treasurer, bank account, etc.? Probably.

* Some sponsors can give us goods or services that we directly use in SVLUG. A 
current example is the donation of rack space, power, and Internet access by 
Via.net in Palo Alto. An indirect example is the donation of rackable server 
hardware by Alvin Oga and Linux Consulting to the members of SVLUG at past 
meetings. Or the recent contributions of hardware by Drew Bertola and Eric 
Nalor.  Or the contribution of pizza at meetings by Open Country. But some 
potential sponsors might not have goods or services that we can make direct 
use of and may want to contribute cash. What should we do in this case? We 
might ask such prospective sponsors to buy the good for us (disk drives for 
example) or pay a service provider (such as Via.net) for something we could 
make good use of. This can relieve us from needing to form treasury functions 
and allow us to remain the relatively simple organization we have been.

* I know little about Robert Half Technology but I think that they are players 
in the open source world. And the organization has been present in the valley 
for many decades.

* we need to give some thought to whether taking on someone as a sponsor means 
we are endorsing them, even a little. Sponsorship might be looked upon as 
mutual, i.e., two-way, endorsement. For example, I know that on 
http://linuxmafia.com/bale/other.html one of our distinguished open source 
enthusiasts gives a list of Bay Area enterprises that can be of genuine use 
to the open source community and have some role in that community. To remain 
on that linuxmafia list implies good citizenship and I think similar 
principles should apply as we enter into a sponsor relationship.

* recognizing sponsors. We do this now and I think reasonably well but we need 
to review this periodically.

-- 
Mark Weisler