[Tinyos-alliance] Notes 3-28

[Jack Stankovic]

Here is a first draft of the funding section with some
questions for discussion at next week's conference call.


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\section{Funding}

Initially, we expect that there are no full time employees 
in the Alliance and
that funding needs are limited to 
such items as lawyer's fees, web site
costs, and  xxxx  (what else??). If the Alliance eventually
requires full time support personnel, the funding structure will 
have to be re-visited.

Since some funding is required, there are three initial mechanisms 
for raising funds. First, contributing corporate or
University members
will pay an annual membership fee of $xxxx. In some cases, a 
contributing corporate member may provide in-kind services
such as lawyers' time used to
draw up or comment on by-laws. Second, the TinyOS
technology exchange and other potential meetings of this nature 
will be used to generate a profit and support the Alliance 
with those profits. Third, targeted contributions will be
solicited and encouraged. In this case the donator need not 
become a contributing corporate member, e.g., in those cases
where such a membership may be prohibited or unwanted.

There are no financial charges for members, contributing
members or corporate members. Individuals are responsible
for their own costs such as 
for travel, meeting costs, or costs for contributing
software or documentation to the Alliance. The Alliance
is primarily a volunteer organization. 


Questions for discussion:  

Do we want different grades of corporate membership
with different fees?  (I personally think not)

Do we want to articulate the value gained for the membership fee
(here or in the membership section)?

Do we want individual membership fees (a minimal amount)
of any kind?   (I think not, but this was brought up during one
of the conference calls)