doc: first cut at sponsor agreements, and sponsor page documentation

[mhdawson]

No description provided.

[mhdawson]

@ovflowd I think this captures what we talked about today.

I think it captures an attempt at the process we'd need for the logos as well as what will go on the main nodejs.org landing page and the sponsor page without the logos.

I think it might be useful to add the sponsor page and links in the main landing page, even without sponsors (something like I have with the ? or this could be you. We can then fill it in as sponsors complete the required agreements.

Actually, I need to review the background on this a bit more

[jasnell]

Marking this as changes requested because I know I need to review this a bit more and I think there may be some conflicts in this approach with what the Foundation needs to do. Need to research a bit more

[mhdawson]

I should have mentioned that I've already looped in @bensternthal to suggest changes to bring the process into line with the experience from the foundation.

[mcollina]

Adding a soft block here, as there are a few aspects of this I need to investigate with the board. I’ll get back with a longer explanation.

[mhdawson]

I was informed today that the project is not allowed to raise funding in this way based on this wording in https://openjsf.org/projects.

Project Funding Opportunities
All funding received through OpenJS Foundation membership dues is used to support various programs that benefit our hosted projects, and to run the Foundation. This funding is administered by the Board of Directors, which is comprised of elected community leaders and member company representatives.

The OpenJS Foundation recognizes that in addition to supporting the general activities of the OpenJS Foundation (through membership, event sponsorship, and certification), some organizations may wish to contribute additional monetary funding to the OpenJS Foundation for activities that benefit specific projects or initiatives.

OpenJS Foundation members who are current on their annual dues may contribute additional amounts of incremental monetary funding to specific OpenJS Foundation initiatives, such as roadshows, Cross Project Council activities, or project infrastructure. Directed monetary funding activities must be approved by the OpenJS Executive Director, and are subject to the following annual limits:

Platinum members: No cap on directed monetary funding
Gold members: Capped at 50% of annual dues amount
Silver members: Capped at 25% of annual dues amount

The Board of Directors may approve exceptions on a case-by-case basis.

Please note that these limits only apply to incremental monetary funding contributed directly to the OpenJS Foundation.  Aside from OpenJS Foundation membership and the incremental monetary funding described above, we strongly encourage organizations to invest in the health and sustainability of the community at large by employing contributors, encouraging and supporting employees as they grow into leadership roles, running local meetups, and open sourcing their projects.

I am surprised since I did my best to share the approach and goals along the way in the collaborator summit and in documentation Nodejs-Funding-Sources.md
and had thought that the help from the Foundation in setting up GitHub sponsors and Open Collective meant it was a reasonable direction but that was obviously not the case.

It sounds like the issue will be taken to the board for discussion on March 17th and we may get some alternate suggestions.

[ljharb]

I'm confused; none of the quoted wording talks about anything except dues and directed contribution limits through the Foundation - is there a different clause that suggests that funding from non-member sources isn't allowed?

[mhdawson]

@ljharb no there is no other clause and it is the one I was quoted. I asked the same question but was told my interpretation was incorrect and that the clause applies in a way that prevents us from doing what's outlined.

[ljharb]

That wording then is wildly insufficient (and either way, it's just a random page, it's not like a charter or TOS or anything) so if that's actually the case it needs better documentation.

[mcollina]

I'm on this. I'll try to find some strategy that makes sense for the project.

I'm personally not aware of that direct funding ever be used, so maybe we can publicize that.

[ovflowd]

FYI that projects like Webpack and ESlint heavily depend on the ability of self funding to run and manage their operations -- including, somewhat, day to day maintenance.

[Balmasexy]

Marged together setup dashboard