[DECISION] - Approve 2023 annual budget and reserves

Hello,

the following decision, which was taken in private on 2023-12-31, is now made public in accordance with our statutes.

The Board of Directors at the time of voting consists of 7 seat holders (not including deputies).

In order to be quorate, 4 members need to participate to the vote.
A total of 7 Board of Directors members have participated in the vote.
The vote is quorate.
A decision could be reached with a simple majority of 4 votes.

Result of vote: 5 approvals, 0 abstains, 2 disapprovals.
Decision: The proposal has been accepted.
The vote was also supported by one deputy director.

Participants in the vote:
Thorsten Behrens
Cor Nouws
László Németh
Ayhan Yalçinsoy
Paolo Vecchi
Emiliano Vavassori
Gábor Kelemen
Gabriel Massei

Thorsten Behrens wrote on 29/12/2023 00:40:

Dear board,

as discussed in the last few days, I hereby put to vote the TDF annual
budget for 2023.

Please see the original budget discussion started by Florian for
history and context:

[DISCUSS] 2023 budget

A note: the annual budget (which is part of the annual reporting to
the foundation authorities) consists of the activity report (already
approved) and the financial report. Of that, the closing ledger was
also approved. What is missing is the reserve building, and 2023
budget.

Now for the reserve building and 2023 budget.

The budget drafts have been shared with the board before already, you
can find the final version here:

[board internal link]

As discussed before, and after cross-checking by tax advise, a total
of 1,955,195.41 € needs to be planned in.

The capital stock we can’t spend is 50,000 €

The Free reserves we can, but do not have to spend, are 953,768.13 €

The recurring costs, including compensations, accountant, legal advice
are 947,864.56 €

Running cost & discretionary spending are 32,500.00 €
Trainings are 5,000.00 €
Infrastructure is 74,000.00 €

For LibOCon and FOSDEM 40,000 € are planned in
For community projects 65,000,00 € are planned in
For the marketing budget 20,000 € are planned in

This sums up to 1,184,364.56 €.

Assigned to pending projects that should still happen from 2022 and
earlier are 94,567.04 €. These projects are:

(Note that projects are listed as per January 1, 2023)

  • MC request: Improvements on the Membership Committee tooling Tool
    zur besseren Verwaltung der Kuratoriumsmitglieder
  • 2-4% budget to FLOSS software as devprojects or support Förderung
    gemeinnütziger Projekte und Aktivitäten anderer Organisation mit
    gleichen Zielen
  • MC request: TDF welcome kit for the members Informationsmaterial zur
    Förderung ehrenamtlichen Engagements interessierter und neuer
    Kuratoriumsmitglieder
  • Contract Weblate to sort out issues pointed out by the l10n
    community Weiterentwicklung Lokalisierungs-Tool zur Verbesserung der
    digitalen Teilhabe
  • Update & translate LibreLogo manual, complete LibreLogo unit tests
    Aktualisierung und Ăśbersetzung des LibreLogo-Handbuchs, zur
    Wissensweitergabe
  • Decidim startup Implementation eines Tools zur Förderung
    bĂĽrgerschaftlichen Engagements und Mitwirkung an Stiftungszielen
  • [MC] Carbon compensation Klimakompensation und CO2-Ausgleich fĂĽr
    Reisen von Mitwirkenden und Betreiben von Stiftungs-Infrastruktur

This leaves 676,263.81 € to be spent for new projects. Proposedas new
projects for 2023 are 184,328.99 €. These projects are:

  • 10% project budget for members Von Kuratoren zur ErfĂĽllung des
    Stiftungszwecks vorzuschlagende Projektbudgets
  • Hardware for members Hardware zur UnterstĂĽtzung und Ermöglichung
    ehrenamtlicher Mitarbeit
  • BZ release funding Weiterentwicklung des Systems zum Melden und
    Beheben von Programmfehlern und Vorschlägen
  • [MC] Training on the reform of foundation law changes incl. BoD
    Trainings fĂĽr Vorstand und Mitglieder-Komitee zu
    gemeinnĂĽtzigkeitsrechtlichen Themen
  • Outreachy Stipendium fĂĽr SchĂĽler und Studenten
  • Trademark filing Markenanmeldungen
  • External advise on board topic and procedures (Central Consultancy
    report) Beratung fĂĽr den Vorstand zur StiftungsfĂĽhrung und
    Governance
  • Legal consultations Projekt-Rechtsberatung
  • “Compensation raises and fees” Gehaltserhöhungen

With all currently ranked and reviewed projects, we would underspend
by 491,934.82 €.

Additionally, the board decides
to budget the following emergency reserves (the numbers have been
discussed with the executive director, but are based on estimates and
limited information):

  • Addition legal advice required
  • Expert advise on trademarks
  • Independent expertise on trademarks
  • Legal reserves

The above amounts to 491,000.00 € emergency spending and reserves,
resulting in a total budget for 2023 of 1,954,260.59 €.

The board authorizes Florian, in collaboration with tax advise, to
adjust budget details to match current accounting and tax rules, as
well as the total required reserve building for 2023.

This vote runs for 48h, starting now.

Cheers,

– Thorsten

So, an approved budget for 2023 is not published until it is already 2024 :crazy_face:

@sophi , @italovignoli , @nemeth , @webmink , @erAck, @elianedomingos , @Sweetshark :

Me, and many trustees I am sure, would like to see the opposite of this situation happening. That is, the prospective budget for a coming fiscal year should be planned, presented as a draft for comments, discussed, modified as necessary, and approved - before that year begins, not when it ends, when the approval is just the rubber stamp for what has already transpired.

You are starting out at the beginning of a fiscal year, with no annual budget draft (AFAIK), so you can’t attain that lofty goal, but you can and should IMNSHO produce with Florian’s help a working budget draft ASAP, and go through the process with it - even if you might need to change it in mid-year. And in late 2024 I hope to see a draft of the 2025 budget. Hopefully with columns for previous annual budgets and budget-execution.

See also the back-and-forth about these points on the budget proposal thread.

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Hi Eyal,

Thanks for your collaboration. It’s very appreciated.

You’re absolutely right about the budget issue. The budget needs to be drawn up, discussed, planned and approved before the end of the fiscal year.

Be sure that I will be working hard to garantee that the next budgets are discussed and approved on schedule. I am very confident that the new board will be united, productive and focused on the growth of the project and the good of the foundation.

Have a nice weekend!

Best,

Eliane Domingos
Brazilian LibreOffice Community

1 Like