GNOME Travel Committee
Contents
The GNOME Foundation supports the GNOME project and one important way of doing that is sponsoring contributors to travel to GNOME events like conferences and hackfests. The sponsored travel is meant to help those that would like to attend GNOME related events but are unable to do so for financial reasons. All GNOME contributors are always encouraged to apply.
Current Committee
- Rosanna Yuen
Travel Policy
We sponsor travel to further the development of GNOME and to spread the word about GNOME.
Currently the Travel Committee reimburses only for travel costs (plane ticket, train ticket) and lodging costs (hotel, hostel) for GNOME Foundation members needing travel assistance to GNOME related events. Food, taxes, extra charges for credit cards, visas, etc. are not reimbursed.
Please be responsible and always choose the most economical option whenever possible. The GNOME Foundation spends a large portion of its budget on sponsoring travel for its members and still has to turn down applicants. The Travel Committee might look for more economical options and use it as a reference when deciding on a sponsorship.
Remember, the money you save is the money that can help someone else travel and participate. It also means we might be able to help you again in the future.
Duties of people who receive sponsorships
Write a report about the conference, its importance for GNOME and your participation. You can include talks you attended, activities you participated in, new people you met, how this event changes or encourages your involvement in GNOME, and so on. Your report can be written as one or several blog posts or as a summary in an email. You must write about the event and your attendance and let us know because:
- Your report will help us to justify our investment in you.
- Your report also help us show potential sponsors the impact of sponsoring travel which helps us raise money for future travel.
- Your report will help spread the word of GNOME and accomplish the GNOME mission of providing a free and accessible desktop.
Blog about being sponsored. Please use one of the badges in your blog post (badge with shadow, simple badge).
- Be available to have a coffee or meet with one of the advisory board members or sponsoring company employees who is not yet part of the community. Help them feel welcome in the community. With their help we are sponsoring contributors like you. Your feedback is also good for them.
- Be available to educate or mentor other people who want to get involved with GNOME.
Exceptions
As an exception, the GNOME Foundation may occasionally sponsor people that are not GNOME Foundation members. It is expected that those people will become a GNOME Foundation member within the next year. (Remember that representing GNOME at events counts as a contribution to GNOME and can be included in your application for membership.)
Examples of exceptions:
- Google Summer of Code students who have a good track record in their projects and have the support of GNOME GSoC administrators may be partially sponsored to attend to a GNOME event.
- Contributors who are on their way to become a GNOME Foundation member or who are working actively on a relevant project for GNOME (and so expected to become a contributor and GNOME Foundation member).
How to apply for sponsorship
Things to keep in mind during the process
- Be patient, we are volunteers
- If it's taking too long and you see prices could significantly raise -or something similar- please ping a member of the committee.
DO NOT BUY ANYTHING UNTIL YOU GET A VERY CLEAR CONFIRMATION, applying does not mean you are approved, and silence does not mean approval.
Try to get the best fares for tickets and lodging, look at various airlines and routes and try to avoid agencies since they usually charge 10% or 20% extra in every ticket. (Sites like Kayak can help find reasonable fares.)
- Please find a roommate to save on lodging costs where possible.
- Ask for only what you need. If you can afford to pay for some of your ticket or lodging, we would really appreciate it as that means we can help more people.
Be responsible, the money you save is the money we will use to fund someone else or even yourself again.
The process
- First, make sure the conference or event is relevant for GNOME. If it's not an announced one like GUADEC or a Hackfest, please explain us why would you like to go and what are the benefits you think we would all get from your presence there (promotion, contacts, etc)
Now, fill the application form with the relevant information
Send the filled form to <travel-committee AT gnome DOT org>, this is a private list that will be visible only to the Travel Committee members and possibly GNOME's Board of Directors
- Wait patiently to get questions or suggestions about your request
- Expect a confirmation of your approval soon, or if it's taking too long, feel free to ask in IRC to any member of the commmittee
Now that you got complete confirmation buy your tickets and/or make your reservation
- After the event, you have 2 weeks to mail us the appropriate receipts for tickets, lodging, etc; if they are not in English or the receipt has a lot of information, please clearly mark the total and the purpose.
- Your reimbursement will be ready no more than 4 weeks after the receipts deadline
GNOME Travel Committee Workflow for a GNOME Event
Here's how the Travel Committee works, when a new GNOME event is planned:
Before the event
- The event planners will indicate to the travel committee what their travel budget is and if there are any special circumstances like invited speakers or a specific attendee that they would like to make sure comes.
- The travel committee puts out a notice to the foundation-list announcing that they are now taking applications for travel assistance. They will include an application deadline and a date by which decisions will be made.
Developers who would like sponsored travel apply by filling out the application form and emailing to <travel-committee AT gnome DOT org>.
- At the deadline, the travel committee will weigh in on all the applications.
- Two weeks after the application deadline, the travel committee should notify all applicants of whether their travel has been approved for sponsorship or not, the amount of sponsorship, and point all approved applicants to the policy for reimbursement and the deadline for submitting expenses.
After the event
After the event, all sponsored developers should submit their receipts within 2 weeks. They must be sent to <travel-committee AT gnome DOT org> (Receipts sent after this date may not be reimbursed and will definitely take more time to approve.)
- Checks should be mailed within four weeks after the expenses deadline.
