A Call for Sponsors / Should TCDrupal Sponsor Events?

Overall, I think year-long sponsorship is a very good idea and could bring in money from outside the community. Businesses like Acquia, Think Shout, or Palantir may be convinced that sponsoring at a high level has significantly greater value.

Some of my concerns:

1. The last thing I want is to hurt feelings in the TCDrupal community. Money is a touchy subject and I'd forfeit any claim to sponsorship for the sake of maintaining peace and unity. If a decision process is made, it needs to consider this issue carefully.
2. There are less than two weeks before our class, and I don't want to rush a decision through - especially if it would amplify concern #1.
3. Most other TCDrupal sponsorship opportunities assume the manpower is volunteer, but our breakdown includes $500 towards paying my salary for the prep work in advance of (and arguably during) the training. Would this be equivalent to sponsorship money paying for a keynote speaker? Does that make a difference?

Drew - did you want to set up a conference call so that we can all talk about this?

I thought we were on the path towards using TCDrupal as the primary sponsor, but we do need to get buy in from enough people I guess. I personally like the idea as well.

Another idea I heard floated (or maybe I did the floating) is to think about "TC Drupal" training sessions, with "sponsorship" from by someone like Enjoy Creativity. The thought there is to own and brand training as the TCDC organization, and give ample credit and resources to the people who are putting in on. Sort of the reverse of what we're doing now. Just a thought.

I like that idea Dan, but it could limit Enjoy Creativity's involvement as an organization (since we're a nonprofit and need the compensation). But this could make a lot of sense for community-led trainings to be free from an individual organization altogether and led directly by volunteers in the community.

I've considered open sourcing our beginner curriculum (or creating a licensing agreement that says it's available and free for use if the class itself is also open and free). I'd actually be very excited to get more people involved with training, so lets keep this conversation going once we figure out this immediate situation.

Anyone have more input on this?

On the chance I can't make the phone call, I have some additional thoughts on this.

I had been on board with this idea, but now I do not think TC Drupal should sponsor events like this. I appreciate David's time, and it's nothing against what he's doing...BUT a few reasons have swayed my opinion.

1. Our camp gets put on every year with hundreds? of volunteer hours by various folks, none of who get compensated for their time, and who could be doing paid work otherwise. So what makes David's training hours any different?

2. We have monthly meetups for Drupal that folks like AdvLabs have been putting on for years without compensation from outsiders.

3. Why should we put sponsor funds towards private companies to do something like training, which is used for free by outside organizations, some of whom could very well be paying for training?

4. We don't have a formal TC Drupal organization, so we should be careful with how we spend our money.

5. We could be using our surplus to make our camp better (fly in more speakers, keynotes, pay for parties, etc.) and feel financially secure.

Again, nothing against Enjoy Creativity, but unless it's a TC Drupal event, such as TC D'Oh, I do not support using TC Drupal money towards it.

Well, this is a bit of a sticky wicket, as they say... in certain parts of the world.

Unfortunately, I won't be able to make the call tomorrow, so here is my short assessment.

I totally support the training that David is doing. It is exactly the kind of offering that helps grow and evolve the community--which is why we are here, right? However, I do understand that the dynamics of sponsorship are a little complicated in this scenario. Perhaps we can get behind something like this as part of a planned effort, but judging from this thread we need more discussion as a group. In the end, it just has to be fair, and I think we can all agree on that.

Branding, to me, is a key element in this discussion. TCDrupal is easy to get behind, but a private brand may not have the same community support, especially if they are getting paid for their efforts beyond expenses.

Keep on Drupalin'

Just to make sure that we understand what we are talking about (or have decided).

Based upon conversations with David and others - it my understanding that pretty much everyone (including David) is in agreement that as a general principle, TC Drupal sponsored events should be:

1) Branded as TC Drupal
2) Volunteer efforts

It is my understanding that David is in agreement with this - looking forward.

The question being discussed today, is NOT whether or not the above are true, but whether or not we would make an exception now for this one event - that has already been planned with a budget and branding in place.

David's (Enjoy Creativity's) original request was - would it be better for the community if he continues to solicit private sponsorships for this particular training as he had planned (at the same time we are soliciting sponsorships from the same companies for TC Drupal Camp).

OR - Should we make an exception and support this ONE already planned training with Drupal Camp funds (to avoid the perceived conflict of soliciting the same sponsors twice). THEN - discuss changes in the future to rebrand the event and staff it with TC Drupal volunteers.

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There seems to be significant voices that believe:

1) That we would rather not make this one time exception.
2) That we understand that Enjoy Creativity will then go ahead soliciting those direct sponsorships at this time (again -- as was their original plan).

Personally - I understand the concerns that have been raised and would be willing to make the one time exception - BUT, only if we have broad consensus. It sounds like David agrees with that.

I think that Enjoy Creativity will be able to find local sponsorships for the event on their own, just as they did for the previous training. The biggest disadvantage is the pressure that this puts on local Drupal shops being solicited twice for support (I am not sure if that is an issue or not).

It is not entirely clear to me if David has pulled the request off the table - and/or whether or not there is still a reason to have a call on this topic. I am available and will participate if the call takes place.

Thanks to everyone for voicing your opinions. I wanted to give my own thoughts as well.

First of all, I think that everything we're doing in this community has the best interests of the community in everyone's sights. And I think that's highly valuable to all of us individually, but to the community as a whole.

I agree with Drew et al that it would be OK to use the TCDrupal funds to sponsor this event. I think that we can look at it as a marketing expense; and, also, I think it's important not to hit up sponsors of DrupalCamp again with sponsoring this event. I also think it's fair for David to be compensated -- this feels like a business transaction, and there should be some sort of renumeration, IMHO.

I am concerned that this is going to set a precedent, and I don't think we want it to do that. I also don't think we want it to be a sponsorship that is recurring and that can be counted on in the future. So, if this is a one time thing, and we look at it as pushing the marketing and interests of Camp, I am for it.

Thank you everyone who has left comments. This is huge for determining how things should go in the future.

I'm not comfortable rushing on a decision unless the group is unanimously in favor of it. Since that's clearly not the case, I think it would be a very bad idea to pursue TCDrupal sponsoring this particular event.

So no, let's not have a call and lets not move forward with TCDrupal sponsoring this time, but lets keep talking about what this should look like for future events so that there is a clear process.

There are other events in the pipeline (such as a fall training or fall D'OH) that will benefit from due process for making decisions about this.

While I don't share the concern about paying someone for their time for a presentation such as David's, I understand/accept that others do.

Would those of you who hold that position consider having TCDrupal sponsor only that portion of the costs that aren't compensation for the time of the person or group putting on presentation?

To use David as the specific example:

He mentioned a total cost of ~$850 - $500 is his time and the other $350 for materials and other physical costs. Would requiring a breakdown of labor vs fixed costs from those seeking sponsorship (such as he provided), then only considering the portion of those costs that were not compensation for time as "sponsorable" be a possiblility for those who object to paying for someone's time?

I saw David in action at his January Intro to Drupal as well as the materials students received in the class, and I can't imagine a more effective ambassador for the local community than him. If the community were to sponsor anyone it should be him and others who put on similar classes.

However, I also understand both the idea of precedent setting, and that not everyone who might seek sponsorship under any precedent set now will necessarily be as worthy of community support as David. Hence the attempt to discover root concerns - like paying for someone's time - and trying to address those concerns directly.

Jer, I'm curious about why you think the time involved to put the training on should be volunteer?

In general, it's a precedent we have set with most everything everyone has done within the community - and I think it's a good one to keep going forward.

Many of us have put hundreds of hours of our own time into supporting, building and working with the local community. Whether it's organizing camps, user groups, sprints, or even training. This community lives and thrives on the energy that's being put into it, and that has worked out very well for all of us. I think if we start paying people for time, it's breaking that tradition in a way. It's not going to keep me from doing what I've been doing, but it does change the dynamics overall.

The closest we've come to paying directly for someone's time is when we discussed making a donation to the Views in Core initiative. Ultimately the Drupal Association (our fiscal sponsor) put the kibosh on that, but that's another story and not relevant. The point of the donation though would have been to help fund an open source initiative with deliverables, and I can get behind that. I just have a harder time with paying for someone's time to produce a curriculum for their business. Granted, that's not exactly where David and Enjoy Creative falls, and as he mentioned up above, he's considering open sourcing some of his work. He's also registered as a non-profit, and putting these trainings on for free. But are all the trainings done with this curriculum free? What else is being done with the work we'd be funding? Do we agree with that, or not? Funding time towards class preparation and curriculum that's not truly open is something I have a hard time getting behind, in part because we really should ask more questions to make sure it's a good fit. Delivering something that is open is just easier to support.

I don't disagree at all about David being an excellent ambassador for this community, and I truly appreciate what he's doing. I'd like to see these discussions continue, and I'd like to see us start to form some governance practices around budgeting and decision making as we move forward.