[TYPO3-dev] Funding and the Association

[Johnny Peck]

Aloha Devs,

I am not certain, even after years of perusing the lists here, where the 
most appropriate place for such a discussion would be appropriate now 
but I thought the subject matter would fit for this group.  I apologize 
if I overlooked something though I search a listing for association or 
business on the newsgroups and find nothing directed.  As a side note, I 
just posted a reply in ECT that made remarks to this matter and moved me 
to broach the subject.  Coming from that post I thought it may be a good 
idea to create a newsgroup for 'business of TYPO3.'  Just a thought and 
I have zero time to manage such a thing.

On to the subject matter.  Various points of view regarding contribution 
or types of contribution be it development or monetary have come up on 
the ECT mailing list.  This post brought me to a series of questions of 
which I have zero answers for.  So, I have some questions regarding 
project/extension funding that I would greatly appreciate answers to.

How are contributed funds to the TYPO3 Association appropriated to 
projects or developers?

Whom ultimately decides on resource/monetary distribution?

Is there a way to contribute monetarily to TYPO3 in the name of a 
particular project but still leave the fund distribution up to the 
Association? By project I mean, for example, lib/div, ECT in general, 
IRRE, or better this or that type of behavior.  The reasoning for this 
is to allow money to indirectly drive the direction of TYPO3 based on a 
sort of, I suppose merit, of a particular project or extension.  For 
instance, much funding coming via interest in a particular project could 
go to TYPO3 5.0 development with the intent that said interest would be 
taken into account in some way but not influence the direction of TYPO3 
in a singular manner.  Someone contributing say 100 dollars would be 
just as or less influential as 10 people contributing 10 dollars, or 
other relevant currency.

I am aware of the bug tracker funding particular bug fixing or features 
and what not but am cloudy on the more generalized funding.  Elmar Hinz 
and Fabian Udriots' discussion on funding in the ECT list sparked an 
idea that I believe extends well into our community.

Particular projects require greater developer effort than others and 
keeping an open environment for dev work is hard in certain situations 
when money is the sole contribution and we need general usefulness as 
implemented in ECT projects such as lib/div, which are completely dev 
and community oriented with very obvious benefits to everyone.

Anyhow, these are just some thoughts and I hope they are well placed. 
Thank you for your time and your efforts with TYPO3, they are a great 
example, influence, and contribution.  I apologize if my thoughts appear 
to be so stream of consciousness but that is really all I have time for 
these days, don't think so much just trust and move kind of thing. 
Please don't expect me to coordinate any efforts at the moment, I just 
wanted to share some thoughts and find a few answers to the questions above.

On a side note, but important to me, how do I find a link for a 
newsgroup thread to post as reference?  If it matters, I use Mozilla 
Thunderbird.  Thank you.

Aloha and take care,

Johnny