[NGO] Fwd: [NOSI discussion] money for OSS

Tue Jun 6 16:02:04 UTC 2006

Hi all,

Paul (Everitt) mentioned this to me last week, and it has been in the
back of my mind since then, but has not formed into anything concrete.

We would definitely like to submit a proposal as Friends of the Earth
International, for some plone development. But, we'd like the proposal
to contribute towards a product that would benefit the whole plone
community, not just our organisation.

At the moment, I'm most interested in getting some money to contribute
to the further development of Listen, the mailing list software.

One of my primary interests in Listen is that it will enable our members
to combine using a mailing list with using a forum for internal
communications. So far this is the best online offline communication
method I have seen. One thing that I think has not been mentioned on
this list (though I believe Jon touched on it - or at least touched on
the fact that the NGO sector is widely diverse, and has diverse needs)
is the accessibility of groups in the south to technology, fast internet
connections, etc. Since Plone has the reputation of being heavy and
slow, I think this is something we should address as a community (how
accessible is a Plone site on a 56k modem? etc). This is another reason
I believe orgs are turning to Drupal and other lamp solutions.

The "digital divide" was touched upon at the ploneability event.

Anyway, I'll write more about this later, I just wanted to say that we
would like to collaborate on a funding proposal, to get some plone
development work done. Listen is just one option, obviously :-)

Cheers,
sisi

Nate Aune wrote:
> I already forwarded this to the fundraising committee list, but  thought
> that it's very relevant to this list as well. The Mellon  Foundation is
> offering $25,000 and $100,000 grants to non-profit  organizations that
> are advancing the development and use of open  source software.
> 
> This grant is somewhat limited to software that benefits Mellon's 
> traditional constituencies:
> ... "higher education, with a special emphasis on the arts and
> humanities; libraries and scholarly communications; performing arts;
> conservation and the environment; or museums and art conservation."
> 
> You can find more information on their website:
> http://rit.mellon.org/awards/   (Note that it is a Plone site! :)
> 
> If you are planning to submit a nomination, please let everyone on  the
> NGO list know so that we can coordinate to some degree the number  of
> "Plone" submissions.
> 
> thanks,
> Nate
> 
> -- 
> Nate Aune - natea at jazkarta.com
> http://www.jazkarta.com
> 
> 
> Begin forwarded message:
> 
>> From: Adam Bernstein <adam at amberbug.org>
>> Date: May 26, 2006 3:33:38 PM EDT
>> To: nosi-discussion at nosi.net
>> Subject: [NOSI discussion] money for OSS
>>
>> Dunno if everyone else already knows about this, but it looks great --
>> $25-$100K awards!
>>
>>       ab
>>
>>
>>   14) Mellon Foundation Announces Awards for Open Source Software
>>
>>   Deadline: August 15, 2006
>>
>>   The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation has announced a Call for
>>   Nominations for the 2006 Mellon Awards for Technology
>>   Collaboration. These awards, to be bestowed for the first time
>>   at an international technology conference in the fall of 2006,
>>   will recognize notprofit organizations that have demonstrated
>>   exceptional leadership in the collaborative development of open-
>>   source software through the contribution of substantial, self-
>>   funded organizational resources to the open-source project for
>>   which they are nominated.
>>
>>   MATC awards will be made at two levels -- $25,000 and $100,000
>>   -- for significant contributions to collaborative, open-source
>>   software development that serves one of the foundation's
>>   traditional constituencies. The level of the award will depend
>>   on the scale and significance of the nominated project.
>>
>>   Any U.S. or foreign organization that meets the foundation's
>>   legal criteria for receiving grants and its strict standards for
>>   excellence is eligible for consideration. The board of trustees
>>   of the Mellon Foundation has authorized multiple awards at each
>>   level.
>>
>>   Visit the Mellon Foundation Web site for the complete Call for
>>   Nominations.
>>
>>   RFP Link: http://fconline.fdncenter.org/pnd/10002728/mellon
>>
>>   For additional RFPs in Science/Technology, visit:
>>   http://fconline.fdncenter.org/pnd/10002729/science
>> _______________________________________________
>> nosi-discussion mailing list
>> nosi-discussion at nosi.net
>> http://lists.nosi.net/listinfo.cgi/nosi-discussion-nosi.net
> 
> 
> _______________________________________________
> NGO mailing list
> NGO at lists.plone.org
> http://lists.plone.org/mailman/listinfo/ngo

-- 
# sisi nutt # web campaigner
# Friends of the Earth International
# PO Box 19199 # 1000 GD Amsterdam # The Netherlands
# Tel 31 20 6221369  # Fax 31 20 6392181  # http://www.foei.org

# I have never met a man so ignorant that I couldn't learn something
# from him.
# # Galileo