[Inpycon] Pycon India 2018 Finance

[Noufal Ibrahim KV]

I have another suggestion. Can we ask for help from another non-profit
that helps with events and conferences? Just for this year? 

On Fri, Jul 06 2018, E Manivannan wrote:

> Hi Akkshay,
>            I wanted to address a few points raised by you.
>
> 1) About forming a new entity?
>       Yes. we wanted to form new entity however timeline to get it up &
> running would take too long and we are short of time.
>
> 2) About liability of AFROST entity?
>       AFROST entity has no transaction and no liability. MOU signed is not
> an issue as it's agreement/understanding of possible engagement and doesn't
> have any legal binding to execute - anyway we will get it annulled. Lastly,
> I would prefer to make decision based on logic instead of emotion and would
> recommend what this organization did do or didn't do in your time keep it
> out of context.
>
> 3) Transfer money from PSSI?
> I have dropped a note regarding this especially on money received via
> tickets sales. They are working on it b\c it has GST implications.
>
> 4) Asking sponsors to pay directly to vendors?
>   This is not viable option b\c of GST implications and sponsors are no
> longer interested in this mode. This is also another reason for need of an
> organization?
>
> 5) About other suggestions on structure & how organisations should
> functions?
>      Working committee & Directors will consider your suggestion and will
> come up appropriate decisions.
>
>
> Regards,
> Mani
>
>
> On Thu, Jul 5, 2018 at 7:14 PM qua non <akshayaurora at gmail.com> wrote:
>
>> *TLDR;*
>> *1) form a new organization to avoid issues with existing ones*
>> *2) Let's get payments directly from sponsors to vendors solving immediate
>> issue with PyCon 2018*
>> *3) Let's work on making a organization with a good structure right now
>> instead of later.*
>> *4) Let's involve the community in this whole process.*
>>
>> *That's the gist of what is below.*
>>
>> I would like to shed some light on the situation AFROST is in.
>>
>> Vipin & I, were among the directors(we helped form the org) of the company
>> when it started out, the main goal at the time was to support open source
>> communities.
>>
>> However as time went by it became clear that; that was not really the
>> case, AFROST has as yet not done anything to support any community in any
>> manner what so ever(look at the accounts they are "clean" even after more
>> than a year). This is despite numerous opportunities for the same and
>> despite me and Vipin explicitly asking for such support. The org was more
>> interested in applying for grants, activities that would be financially
>> positive.
>>
>> Needless to say both Vipin & I resigned about 2 months back.
>>
>> Existing liabilities:
>> There are MOU and MOA with IODA and AFROST which were done while filing
>> for some international grants, that have some responsibilities on AFROST to
>> take over certain tasks under those MOU/MOA.
>>
>> There are legal proceedings between IODA and The Organizers of Global
>> Blockchain Conference that does involve AFROST due to it's close ties and
>> collaboration with IODA and the fact that some of the Global Blockchain
>> Conference organizers were also part of AFROST at the time.
>>
>> *Form a new Organization! It would be better in the long run.*
>>
>> *Urgent Issues:*
>>
>> PSSI get's dissolved and does not renew beyond 7th July, so::
>>
>> *1) It needs to transfer existing money to some one who can help with
>> PyCon India 2018*
>>
>>     - Option 1: PSSI can pay existing money they have directly to vendors
>> for this year which solves the urgency issue.
>>       Cons: Involves a little bit more legwork trouble.
>>       Pros: This has worked for PyCon in the past
>>     - Option 2: PSSI can transfer money to a existing Org
>>       Cons: Existing liabilities and structure of org could come bite us.
>>       Pros: It's faster and given current urgency maybe the best solution
>> given the timeframe.
>>
>> *2) We need a organization that can raise invoices for sponsors to support
>> PyConIndia 2018*
>>
>>   - Option 1: Form a new non profit organization:
>>     Cons:  This could take a bit of time
>>     Pros:  Offers a `Clean Slate` where we know there would be no issues.
>>   - Option 2: Get Vendors for PyCon India to raise invoices directly to
>> the sponsors.
>>     Cons: Difficult to coordinate but still doable.
>>     Pros: This has historically worked out quite nicely for PyCon India.
>>
>> My Suggestion would be to take the option of getting the Sponsors and PSSI
>> to directly pay to vendors.
>> This solves all the urgent issues and allows the rest of the community to
>> work on making a formal organization properly without effecting PyCon India
>> 2018 .
>>
>> On Thu, Jul 5, 2018 at 12:01 AM Noufal Ibrahim KV <noufal at nibrahim.net.in>
>> wrote:
>>
>>>
>>> Hi Mani,
>>>    I have some reservations about this but given the situation, it's the
>>> best way forward.
>>>
>>
>> We have a habit of sweeping things under the rug for the sake of, "Current
>> Situation".
>> It would be hard but let's do this, "Right" now.  So we don't have such
>> situations later on.
>>
>>
>>>     To avoid the mistakes with IPSS and PSSI, I think it's prudent to
>>> keep the charter of this new organization as small as possible to limit
>>> the damage it can do.
>>
>>
>> Maybe the organization was not structured properly or tasks outgrew the
>> org.
>> It would be better to spend some time and structure the new organization
>> so it's better than before.
>>
>>
>>
>>> All of the PSSIs goals were noble (support
>>> multiple conferences, stipend for sending people for conferences abroad,
>>> etc) but I think the effort needed to keep all this under control was
>>> under estimated and that led to many ad-hoc decisions and the overall
>>> organisation unwavering.
>>>
>>
>> Let's outline the goals  and outline them publicly, list out the tasks and
>> what it would take to manage them.
>> Many people here are experienced product designers.
>>
>> Let's put our heads together and do this correctly.
>>
>> 1. let's outline the procedure as it was before, including task lists and
>> their flows.
>>     This would have to be done by those who were part of the organization
>> till now.
>>
>> 2. Identify issues with the current system.
>>     This would have to be a open survey as the organizers definitely do
>> not know all the failings.
>>
>> 3. Figure out what parts can be automated so it does not fall on a few to
>> do all the tasks
>> You would be surprised by all the tasks that can be automated and the
>> number of people available to help out.
>> Many open organizations  are moving to truly open everything being
>> automated and put up for public consumption through blockchain
>> https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Decentralized_autonomous_organization
>>
>> I will start a new thread for the organizational part if people are
>> interested in that.
>>
>> Regards
>> Akkshay
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
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-- 
Cordially,
Noufal
http://nibrahim.net.in