[openbeos] Re: "One Hour for Haiku" - Coordinating Voluntary Cash Donors

Hi Simon,

Simon Porter wrote:

Correct me if I'm wrong, Haiku Inc = Micheal Phipps.
AFAIK, Michael is the president of Haiku Inc., which has a BOD of three (including Michael). I guess Michael could give us here the details of who the other members are, and in what capacity they seat on the Haiku Inc. board, as I am not sure myself.
I am guessing only he has access to figures such as how much donations has been received and also what it has been spent on. I did see that there are financial statements for 2004 and 2005. This information could potentially be presented in a more easily digestible format.
To my knowledge (and I may be wrong), Michael is the only one with access to any financial information beyond what's available on the reports online. Ii does not look like the admins know who is donating what and for what purpose (see next paragraph below).
Would it be possible to have access to such information on a more regular basis?
While I was an admin, I made a proposal requesting Haiku Inc. to internally report (to the admins) on a quarterly basis, so that the admins could have a better understanding of the financial situation in order to make better (more informed) decisions on where and when to spend the donated funds.
My other concern which triggered this request was that Haiku Inc. seemed to be sitting on the donated funds for far too long, which would be a pity.
I left the admin group a few weeks later, so I don't know if this actually happened or not; perhaps the admins or Michael himself could shed some light on this.
If that is possible then maybe the next step is to set goals/budget like you mentioned.
The transparency factor would be covered by the "periodic financial reporting" that I mentioned in my previous email. But, yes, to answer your question, having more transparency could be considered a good first step, and a necessary one.
I would even go further to say that transparency is not only important/necessary in financials, but also in a broader scope, as in what Haiku Inc's role is, who the people behind it are, and how they plan to achieve their goals. A well thought out articulation of the whys/whos/hows of Haiku Inc. would be a necessary first step, IMHO. 

Cheers,

Koki

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