Since this was not posted publicly, I think we should disclose the budget and numbers for this year like we did last year.
Also I think each of the staff members need to share what will they “deliver” for the salaries they get and how will this be reported to the community / donors. I don’t think we did a good job of this last year, but we should improve this year.
Also maybe each staff member should share their “self review” of their own contributions / performance last year.
FOSS United is run more like an NGO than a movement, and I think we should expect professionalism at that level. Everyone would be at a loss if no one asks for accountability.
edit: I have ~18 years experience in running an organisation, these things are not as hard as they seem but yet few organisations do this well. Happy to help if anyone needs it.
3 Likes
Hi Rushabh, Thanks for reminding.
I missed to post here earlier.
Expenses
| Operations |
|
| Salary |
11,993,333 |
| Travel |
750,000 |
| Server Bills |
200,000 |
| Office Expenses |
500,000 |
| Miscellaneous |
500,000 |
| Accounting |
500,000 |
| Health Insurance |
500,000 |
|
14,943,333 |
| Programs |
|
| IndiaFOSS |
500,000 |
| FOSS Hack |
500,000 |
| Season of Commits |
500,000 |
| City Communities |
750,000 |
| FOSS Clubs/Studnet Activities |
1,000,000 |
| Public Policy |
750,000 |
| Event Grant |
200,000 |
| FOSS Grant |
2,500,000 |
|
6,700,000 |
|
|
| Total Expense |
21,643,333 |
| Salary |
|
|
| 1 |
Rahul |
3,000,000 |
| 2 |
Vishal |
2,133,333 |
| 3 |
Ashlesh |
1,320,000 |
| 4 |
Ansh |
1,200,000 |
| 5 |
Harsh |
1,000,000 |
| 6 |
Ruchika |
800,000 |
| 7 |
Jeswin |
800,000 |
| 8 |
Hari |
500,000 |
| 9 |
Interns |
240,000 |
| 10 |
SDE yet to hire |
1,000,000 |
|
Total |
11,993,333 |
Income
| Company Name |
Amount |
| Samagata |
8,871,667 |
| Zerodha |
8,871,667 |
| Frappe |
2,400,000 |
| The Commit Company |
500,000 |
| Sensibull |
1,000,000 |
|
|
|
|
| Total Income |
21,643,334 |
Regarding the SOP and self review, I will start with this and request team members to post the same.
5 Likes
Thanks @fossdot for the update. Would also like the following to be answered:
- How does the team measure its impact?
- How does pay get set?
- How does performance get reviewed?
- How does accountability happen for non performing staff?
- What impact did FOSS United create in the last year?
- How are we going to measure the impact in the current year?
- What are the broad goals for this year?
- How will quality get measured?
We can definitely share (5) and (7) but we don’t have any written methods/policies to measure impact, salary increments, reviews, and quality measures. But we should work on it.
We never attempted to work on this in the first 4 years of the foundation or even last year, as we were growing, and since you were also part of the foundation as a director then, so you can comment on it. But now feels like the right time to do it as we’ve grown enough to have these systems.
I was wondering we might be able to get help from the community to work on methods/policies for measuring impact, salary increments, reviews, and quality measures, since none of our current full-time staff has experience in setting this up - no one has held a leadership position at an organization before.
Would you be willing to guide us through this? Your experience would be incredibly valuable.
2 Likes
Also I think each of the staff members need to share what will they “deliver” for the salaries they get and how will this be reported to the community / donors. I don’t think we did a good job of this last year, but we should improve this year.
Also maybe each staff member should share their “self review” of their own contributions / performance last year.
I personally think this is over the top, rather performative and in the long run problematic/counterproductive.
While accountability to the community and donors is super essential and something we should strive for, asking individuals to publicly justify their worth and what they “deliver” for the salaries they get is not how you fulfill this goal. This is not professional.
A better and more professional way is looking at the foundation’s output collectively, measuring it against set agenda and charter,
- Yearly plans are a good start, we did make one this year, and we should see it through. Some civil society also lay out 4 year plans and set broader directions.
- Better and consistent reporting on what work is happening, as in form of quarterly calls and improved annual reports. We talk about what work happened, what did not and why, and what can be improved upon.
- Ensuring the foundation has workplace policies and accountability structures in place internally.
In my limited years of working as a professional, how it usually goes around is: individual workers are accountable to the organisation, and the organisation is accountable to the community/donors.
The organisation should strive for accountablity and transparency. And there are many smart and professional ways to do it, unfortunately what you’ve suggested, is not one of them.
4 Likes
Have already signalled my interest - I have also put my heart and soul into FOSS United, not just money. Let me know how you want to engage.
Sure, why don’t you suggest something. Right now it seems like there is ZERO accountability and transparency. Not sure how sustainable that is. Maybe it will go on for a year or two as long as there are benevolent donors. Other than the events (and that too IndiaFOSS, which should ideally pay for itself), I really don’t see what value does FOSS United add. (Maybe there is work done but it isn’t communicated well enough)
At minimum the organisation should be able to report to the donors what value it has created in some measurable terms (both qualitative and quantitative).
1 Like