Foundation/AGM2022/Election to Board/Answers and manifestos/Q02 Experience running organisations

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Experience running organisations

Do you have any experience helping run voluntary organisations such as sports clubs that might be a useful skill?

Daniela Waltersdorfer J. - Q02 Experience running organisations

Yes, I have helped run Maptime Miami from 2015- around March 2017. I then moved to Boston for work, where I started attending Maptime Boston and was then asked to apply to be one of the co-leads.
While in Boston, also for fun, I organized a Cooking Club, where we [friends, and friends of friends, and others] would have to cook a traditional dish from X Cuisine once a month. We had a notebook where we kept records of the dishes and their cooks. Every month at the end of indulging in delicious food, we would ask participants to put a country's name in a bowl and then we would randomly pick one. This meant that we would each have to make a traditional dish from that country for our next meet up. We had a tracker sheet online so that we wouldn't have any repeated dishes. So, not necessarily a sports club, but it brought people together, we had tasks, organizational materials, and a goal to eat delicious homemade food made by our peers. Unfortunately, COVID put a stop to it.

Arnalie Vicario - Q02 Experience running organisations

Yes, within OSM:

  • Organizer and advocate: OSM Philippines, Geoladies Philippines and Ministry of Mapping
  • Chairperson, HOT Community Working Group (2020-2022)

Outside of OSM, I co-led a small group of environmental advocates - participating in youth conferences to promote sustainable lifestyle.

Włodzimierz Bartczak - Q02 Experience running organisations

Due to my professional experience, I have more than 10 years of experience in managerial positions, and management of commercial companies. In my professional work I managed dispersed structures and large human teams (more than 100 people) as well as conducting commercial negotiations including all kinds of agreements and contracts with external partners.

I am directly involved in work on the development and preparation of the company's operational strategy.

As a member of the Board of Directors of OSMP, I am co-responsible for the functioning of the Association under Polish law.

Ariel Kadouri - Q02 Experience running organisations

From 2019 through 2021 I was on the board of Cascadia Users of Open Source Geospatial (CUGOS), an open source geospatial group that met monthly in Seattle. While working on that group I helped fundraise and organize a single day conference. I also helped recruit speakers and organized monthly meetups, transitioning to online when the pandemic kept us at home (and I moved across the country).

I think it is important to remember that in volunteer groups things only happen when people take the initiative to make those things happen. The work does not also have to come from those with elected titles, there are always ways to help out and hopefully people available to help when there's too much for a board person to do.

Victor N.Sunday - Q02 Experience running organisations

Christian Shadrack - Q02 Experience running organisations

Yes
My experience is with Wi.Ca.Ch. Global, a Congolese organization that helps Congolese students to gain the necessary experience to get a job. The areas of support are in computer science, cartography with OSM, ..... And as a personal experience, and with the DRC Red Cross I have organized outdoor participation sessions at a state of the map session and I have done translation directly English to Lingala in Lufu in the Central Kongo province.

Among my goals to achieve,
- To have a large number of African members in the OSM assemblies and in the OSM groups.
- To have more space for Africa and maybe one day to have Africa present at the highest level of OSM and HOT by showing our experience and knowledge

Sarah Hoffmann - Q02 Experience running organisations

No, sorry, all I need to know about life I've learned from the OSM community.

Logan McGovern - Q02 Experience running organisations

As far as voluntary organizations are concerned, I have mostly organized single-day mapathon events that are largely self contained. I also coordinated most mapping projects for Suriname undertaken during HOT's first COVID activation. I volunteer in my free-time at a homeless shelter on occasion in my city as part of a church group, but the organizing activities are undertaken by others.

Arun Ganesh - Q02 Experience running organisations

No.

Mateusz Konieczny - Q02 Experience running organisations

I do not see my role as leader of the entire OSM - rather as someone working on a specific project. Or someone remembering something relevant to the issue being discussed.

In other words, I was never a board member of some organization. I understand if for some that would be a blocker (or push significantly lower on a list of ranked choices).

But I have some experience in dealing with people offering feedback/suggestions/complaints via my activity in open source.

Craig Allan - Q02 Experience running organisations

Do you have any experience helping run voluntary organisations such as sports clubs that might be a useful skill?

Yes, but not sports clubs. My early voluntary organisation experience was in a different activity - politics. I volunteered a lot of my time and energy helping the liberation movement in South Africa fighting for basic human rights. People in a movement have to work together, organise meetings, do planning, raise funds, communicate with the public, print T Shirts, buy swag and design posters, be disciplined and so much more. Also you learn how to run meetings, efficiently and with proper rules. I have participated in thousands of meetings - as chair, as secretary, as a member and as tea guy. Learning to identify and evade Apartheid secret police is probably not relevant here.

OSM is not too different in that if you want to make stuff happen in OSM you need to build relationships between the mappers, members and volunteers, develop a common sense of purpose, ensure a spirit of co-operation, ensure willingness to contribute by treating people with respect, develop community support, raise lots of funds, and work hard to ensure good governance. Work hard to make sure people are included, are valued, are respected, are having fun and that they love what they do and will bring their friends along too. And make T Shirts and other swag too. Meetings that are well structured, run politely and efficiently are an important thing in OSM too. Secret police are not a big problem except that I think we're banned in The People's Republic of China.



OSM Foundation's board election 2022: official questions

All board candidates' manifestos


2022 OpenStreetMap Foundation's: Board election - Voting information and instructions - Annual General Meeting