[OpenID] [foaf-protocols] Oy

[Chris Messina]

Finding the right balance between paid memberships and open membership is
important.

I agree with John Bradley's sentiment about the piper and the tune he/she
plays, but I'm not quite sure we're making rock music that people want to
really listen to yet. That is, people may want or benefit from the efforts
of this group, community, and the foundation, but may not be willing to fund
or promote its development, because the outcomes of our work seem ephemeral
or too far away from their day-to-day experience to know what membership
means, or why it might be important.

Furthermore, without more clearly articulating the "value proposition" of
the foundation to members, it's hard to quantify how much membership might
really be worth to regular members. Being able to vote in the elections is
certainly a nice benefit, but the last vote we held had something like a 5%
turn out? Even those who are paid up don't seem interested (or aware) that
they've paid for a vote.

We've also made little to no progress on improving the OpenID libraries, and
how easy it is to implement or support OpenID — and our branding story is
all over the place. So while the government effort has been something of a
win, it's been at the expense of more near-term and tangible benefits.

Thus, in order to diversify where our income comes from, we must be able to
show value that's worth paying for, and then articulate that to the
membership. This is something that I believe Inventures is supposed to help
us with (i.e. growing the membership), but I've seen little movement in that
direction.

Curious what other [current] members see as the value proposition of being
an OIDF member?

Chris



On Tue, Nov 24, 2009 at 12:40 PM, John Bradley <ve7jtb at ve7jtb.com> wrote:

> Allan,
>
> I don't have the numbers but I suspect that individual memberships are a
> very small part of the overall income.
>
> The majority of the money comes from the Sustaining Members who get board
> representation.
>
> I don't know that it is wise to put more of our eggs in that basket.
>
> The old saying "He who pays the piper calls the tune"  should not be
> forgotten.
>
> As far as I recall large companies spend money to make more money,
>  otherwise there shareholders get cranky.
>
> The large companies need to get something from there membership or it is
> not a good investment for them.
>
> So we need to make sure there is a value proposition for them to keep
> spending $50,000/year.
>
> We also need to consider what the foundation can be reasonably expected to
> accomplish other than being a steward of the IPR.
>
> Diversifying the funding would also be beneficial.   A broader base of
> corporate members at $5K would be more stable.
>
> I know that ongoing legal costs related to the IPR take a big bite out of
> the annual budget.
>
> It may not be a popular idea but perhaps we could offload some of those
> costs to a partner SDO.
>
> It is not that I have any doubts about the commitment of our Sustaining
> members.
> Rather that I am concerned that unexpected events affecting only one or two
> of them would be enough to severely jeopardize the foundation.
>
> So yes a broader individual base, but also a broader corporate base.
>
> John B.
>
> On 2009-11-24, at 4:15 PM, Allen Tom wrote:
>
> > On a related note, I think it would be a great idea to lower the
> membership
> > fees to $5 or even $1. As far as I know, the $25 membership fees are an
> > insignificant revenue source, and it's really only there to discourage
> > automated registrations of accounts. Making membership more inclusive and
> > accessible is definitely a good thing.
> >
> > Allen
> >
> > On 11/21/09 11:15 AM, "SitG Admin" <sysadmin at shadowsinthegarden.com>
> wrote:
> >
> >>> Are you a member of OIDF? If not I would like to invite you to join
> OIDF.
> >>
> >> *facepalm* I hope you meant "will pay for his membership"; the OIDF
> >> is *not* a by-invitation-only group!
> >>
> >
> > _______________________________________________
> > general mailing list
> > general at lists.openid.net
> > http://lists.openid.net/mailman/listinfo/openid-general
>
>
> _______________________________________________
> general mailing list
> general at lists.openid.net
> http://lists.openid.net/mailman/listinfo/openid-general
>
>


-- 
Chris Messina
Open Web Advocate

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