On Mon, Dec 05, 2011 at 03:35:17PM -0500, Bradley M. Kuhn wrote:
> Ted Gould wrote on the 23th of November:
> > +1, I don't see any reason not to give Google a loan, they seem like
> > they might be reliable.
>
> I haven't heard from anyone else on this, and Ted is opining only on the
> issue of fronting the money for Google, not whether or not we should pay
> mentors the funds, although I suppose he's implicitly endorsing that
> idea.
>
> Note that I wrote back on the 21st of November:
> >>> It is indeed the project's leadership discretion about sending funds
> >>> out to the mentors. From Google's perspective, the mentor payments
> >>> are a donation to the project. That said, I think it's a good idea
> >>> for the project to use the money to pay the mentor, but note that's
> >>> not because Google wants it to be so. I think there is some
> >>> confusion about this namong mentors: there seems to be a belief
> >>> among mentors that the money is theirs to keep in any event, when in
> >>> fact it belongs to the project, who then decides (quite correctly,
> >>> IMO) to pay the mentor the funds. It's a subtle distinction that I
> >>> think is worth bringing up again so that expectations are set
> >>> correctly.
>
> Can you all confirm that you want the Inkscape Project to give the
> mentors the option to receive $500/each for mentoring in the SoC in
> 2011?
As a mentor from previous years I would like to say that the time(s?
I can't remember now) when I've been paid the money was very much
appreciated. I'm not convinced the money going to the inkscape kitty
has much direct value for the project - mentors put in a lot of work
for the $500 which in turn leads to successful SoCs which lead to a)
better inkscape and b) a higher chance of continued involvement from
the student and the mentor. We're not paying oncosts or a mortgage,
so sitting on cash doesn't really make sense, it is better to spend it
while it still has value.
njh
