Friends of Eclipse/Funds Allocation

This is a draft document and is subject to change.

In June 2010, the Eclipse Board of Directors passed a resolution calling for the creation of a governance process for transparently allocating the Friends of Eclipse funds. This document describes the process for allocating those funds.

Background

The Eclipse Foundation receives donations from individuals through the Friends of Eclipse programme. Those donations are used to fund various activities undertaken by the Eclipse Foundation in support of the Eclipse community. Some portion of those funds are allocated for grants in direct or indirect support of Eclipse projects and community.

How Much Money is available?

The exact amount varies from year-to-year, dependent on the amount of donations received. The table below provides specifics.

How can the Money be used?

Funds can be used to support purchases and activities that benefit (directly or indirectly) the Eclipse community. Examples include:

• test infrastructure (hardware)
• cloud computing time
• software tools
• student-related activities or events
• Eclipse-related events (e.g., campus events, code camps, project summits)
• Eclipse-related meetings (e.g., conference room for an Eclipse-related get-together)

Any allocation is subject to any restrictions defined by the Eclipse Bylaws, and Board Directives. For example, According to the Bylaws (section 11.4), we cannot fund member (includes committer member) work or travel expenses. We could, however, fund student work along the lines of the Summer of Code initiative (i.e. we could fund specific student activities for a fixed amount). We cannot provide anything akin to an ongoing salary.

One thing we can't do with this money is provide funding for ongoing expenses. In this regard, we have to be sensitive to hidden ongoing costs. Purchasing a computer for testing seems easy enough, but hosting that computer on eclipse.org infrastructure incurs an ongoing cost that must be carried by the Webmaster (so the webmaster would have to allocate budget for that item).

Who Decides?

The elected Committer Directors (aka. "Committer Reps") decide how funds will be allocated. Decisions are made an ad hoc basis.

How do I Apply?

Open a bug against Community/FoE Disbursements. Provide as much information about your request as possible in the summary. Please keep in mind that the bug must be made publicly available, so avoid including any personal information or information that should otherwise be kept private.

Be prepared to answer questions and otherwise interact with the Committer Reps through this bug. The community at large is encouraged to participate in this process, but it is the Committer Reps that will make final decisions. Expect that the decision process will take a minimum of ten (10) business days. It will probably take longer (be sure to indicate your own timing issues). The timing of your application is important, but is only one factor in the decision-making process.

If you request is denied and the bug is closed, please feel free to reopen it (essentially reapply for the next round). You do not have to restart from scratch.

How do I get the Money?

Once your application has been approved, contact EMO. Please cite the bug number in your message.

Approved Disbursements

• $500 USD - Texas A&M University Eclipse Symposium
• $600 CAD - RAM purchase for IP Team's scan server
• $749 USD - One new Mac Mini to run tests on eclipse.org
• $16798 USD - Hardware to replace dead (and old) NFS file servers

This page is moderated by the EMO.