The Inkscape Board has voted officially on the following issue:
Should the $500/mentor paid from GSoC be paid to the mentor, unless they specify otherwise?
For: 4 Against: 0 Abstain: 1 No Vote: 2
The $500 paid by Google should be paid to the mentors. The mentor can decline the payment, in which case it will be paid to Inkscape.
Ref.: http://sourceforge.net/mailarchive/forum.php?thread_name=20121126223614.GB27...
We are still collecting votes on the question of the 10% payment to the Conservacy. Several board members are leaning to Yes, but haven't cast a vote due to a question of what "earmarked funds" would cover. If we can get guidance from SFC on this, I think we can get the voting wrapped up on this question as well.
Bryce
On Tue, Nov 13, 2012 at 03:49:19PM -0800, Josh Andler wrote:
Hi Bradley,
In response to both issues. 1) As I've stated in the past, I am okay with the project paying mentors for their efforts. So, consider that an official "Yes" from me on this issue. 2) As for the 10% payment to the Conservancy, I am in favor of that as well. So, another "Yes" for the record on that issue too.
Cheers, Josh
On Tue, Nov 13, 2012 at 8:23 AM, Bradley M. Kuhn <bkuhn@...41...> wrote:
Inkscape Committee,
Conservancy is about to invoice for the GSoC funds for 2012. In the past, some Conservancy projects, including Inkscape, have decided to pay mentors the proceeds of the mentor payments to the mentors. This is not required by GSoC's program -- from Google's perspective, the money goes to Conservancy for Inkscape's earmarked account, since Conservancy is Inkscape's organization.
However, if Inkscape decides to pay a stipend to the mentors, this can be done, in thanks for their work mentoring students. Please let me know if you'd like to do this.
The amount can be anything between $0-$500. Google gives $500/mentor, and per our Fiscal Sponsorship Agreement between Conservancy and Inkscape, Conservancy gets 0% of any funds given to Inkscape [0], so, in this case, all of the funds could theoretically be given to the mentors in appreciation for their work.
Please let me know if you want to do this again. As always, it's entirely up to you; the funds can also just stay in Inkscape's earmarked account.
[0] Note that in another thread that's stalled, I raised the issue of giving back 10% to Conservancy; please see that other thread for details. I'd like to note that Conservancy puts a lot of work in coordinating the invoicing details with Google, and has done a pretty good job at it in previous years, in addition to the other services that Conservancy regularly gives to Inkscape. As it stands, I have to do all accounting/invoicing work myself, because Conservancy can't afford a bookkeeper. Our hope is to raise enough money to put some financial resources behind improving our bookkeeping, and asking projects to support Conservancy is part of that. I'm sorry to put such a fine point on this, but Conservancy is really hurting for resources and we'd appreciate your help. -- Bradley M. Kuhn, Executive Director, Software Freedom Conservancy