[Inpycon] Budget and sponsorship.

[Anand Chitipothu]

 As I start collating all this into a doc, this starts being a slightly dicey
> one.
>
> a) The exact amount is variable - which could be a slight issue for someone
> willing to commit
> b) Some of the issues I suspect are due to the fact that remittance could be
> in foreign exchange and part of the expenditure (eg. ticket but not the
> hotel) are in foreign exchange.

We can ask the sponsor to book the hotel via Cleartrip or some other
website. That way we don't have to worry about foreign exchange.

> c)  If the amount is not the same as standard slabs it becomes a little hard
> for us to figure out exactly what to offer for this - is this a new slab?
> How does one slot it between existing slabs etc.
>
> I instead propose that we allow any Gold or Platinum sponsor the following
> treatment :
>
> a) Also announce amount in $ slabs. ie. work out what a Gold or Platinum
> slab will cost in USD terms.
> b) Allow the sponsor to elect to pay for the speaker expenses. It should be
> fine if the speaker expenses include local stay and allowances as well in
> that amount so long as the speaker gets it directly from the sponsor and
> uses it for the local expenses. We should still grant the sponsor the
> equivalent treatment of the gold / platinum sponsor so long as they treat
> the remainder of the amount as a contribution towards Pycon India
> sponsorship. (ie. the exact sponsorship amount remitted to IPSS will be the
> difference between the slab and the speaker expenses directly reimbursed,
> though the sponsor will get the full benefits of the slab he chooses).
> c) My only slight reservation is that the speaker expenses could end up
> being > 1.5 lakhs if the rupee continues to depreciate further. So it might
> make sense to have the sponsorship $ amounts as being $3500 (instead of
> $2800 as per current exchange rate). One may want to consider raising the
> local sponsorship gold slab to 1.75 lakhs instead of the 1.5 lakhs and treat
> the equivalent foreign currency amount as USD 3500. Thats what I would
> recommend.
>
> In light of this suggestion, the sponsorship amounts will be
>
> Platiinum : 3,00,000 INR  or 6,000 USD for foreign sponsors
> Gold : 1,75,000 INR or 3,500 USD for foreign sponsors
> Silver: 1,00,000 INR or 2,000 USD for foreign sponsors

I'm not sure if we can accept remittence in USD. So suggesting a USD
equivalent and not being able to accept USD when a foreign sponsor is
ready won't be a good situation.

So we first need to find out what are the expenses that can be paid
directly by foreign sponsors. Travel and hotel is one of them.

If it is not possible to accept USD and if there are no other expenses
that can be paid directly in USD, there is no point specifying USD
equivalents. We can just create a new slab Travel Sponsorship.

Also, it may not be necessary to strictly match the local and foreign
sponsorship amounts. I don't see an issue with have Rs. 1.5L and $3500
as the amount for gold slab.

I think 3L for platinum might be too high. What Sreekanth suggest
sounds reasonable to me. May be we can push it a bit higher and
roundoff.

Silver: Rs. 75,000/- ($2000)
Gold: Rs. 1,50,000/- ($3500)
Platinum: Rs. 2,50,000/- ($5000)

Anand