2024 budget refresh and request for urgent pre-approval of some 2025 costs

[derberg]

Budget situation

In January 2024, we planned to spend $102,088.27 while expecting an income of $78,300.00 (plus having $47,962.31 in the account from the previous year). We projected to leave $24,174.04 for 2025.

View of budget January 2024

As of November 2024, we already know that our 2024 expenses will be lower than estimated: $84,000 (potentially around $86,000 due to closing the swag store and some extra shipping costs). Income was $121,585.20—much higher than expected. This leaves us with approximately $86,000 for 2025, though the exact amount will be confirmed in January.

View of budget November 2024

The budget for 2025 is not yet finalized, as we need to wait until the end of the year to account for all expenses.

However, some expenses require immediate approval due to time constraints:

• Thulie's Contract Renewal:
  This must take place around February, and we must ensure we don't keep her waiting until the last minute.

• Bounty Program for Q1 2025:
  The program requires maintainers to submit proposed issues before the start of the "Bounty Quarter," meaning we need to initiate Q1 2025 planning in early December.

Proposal for Approval

Given the current budget situation, we can confidently afford the following costs for 2025:

AsyncAPI Bounty 2025 Q1

Allocate the budget of $5,000

• Throughout the year, there have been no concerns about the program. No signals we should stop doing it.
• It has been highly effective, resulting in significant contributions: AsyncAPI Bounty Program 2024.
• @aeworxet is still interested in coordinating the program as it is and within the same budget we needed for 2024

Thulie's Contract Renewal

Renew Thulie's contract with a salary increase from $24,000 to $30,000, along with a role change to Senior Community Manager

• Thulie is essential to the community, serving as a key leader of AsyncAPI community.
• She managed challenges caused by the Postman layoffs in June, which impacted many community contributors, ensuring no visible disruption from the outside.
• She single-handedly organizes all AsyncAPI conferences, acting as the main contact for partners and negotiating terms.
• She onboarded and mentors Bami, who was hired for Community Marketing, effectively covering gaps caused by layoffs. Normally that would be my duty.
• In her annual review, Thulie expressed her interest in staying with us for another year.

Summary

Please vote to approve the following 2025 expenditures:

• $5,000 for Bounty Q1
• $30,000 for Thulie's salary

[aeworxet]

I would strongly suggest defining a set date on which AsyncAPI will have the TSC-approved budget to avoid urgent budget votings in the future. It may or may not correspond to the calendar year, but the idea I'm suggesting is to have the budget TSC-approved no less than 45 calendar days prior to the start of the budgetary period.

Considering that AsyncAPI relies on donations from legal entities with fiscal years that do not necessarily end on December 31st, I would propose having the main budget correspond to the calendar year and be TSC-approved before November 15th, BUT to also have a mandatory six-month review period that will trigger each next TSC budget voting (primarily to reapprove the previously approved expenses, while also allowing for timely adjustments in case of newly discovered circumstances) before May 15th.

Six-month budgetary TSC votings will give much greater flexibility to AsyncAPI in financial planning.

[derberg]

@aeworxet definitely such urgent calls should be avoided in the future - 100% - I'll do my best to find the right schedule also to address the topic of salaries

[derberg]

/vote

[git-vote]

Vote created

@derberg has called for a vote on 2024 budget refresh and request for urgent pre-approval of some 2025 costs (#1598).

The members of the following teams have binding votes:

Team
@asyncapi/tsc_members

Non-binding votes are also appreciated as a sign of support!

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The vote will be open for 28days. It will pass if at least 51% of the users with binding votes vote In favor 👍. Once it's closed, results will be published here as a new comment.

[derberg]

@asyncapi/tsc_members kind reminder to take a vote: #1598 (comment)

[quetzalliwrites]

Sounds good!

Always nice when you can afford to give raises to folks. 😺

[aeworxet]

The preliminary result of 18 out of 38 votes, with 18 'In favor' and zero 'Against,' indicates the possibility of starting preparations for the Bounty Program calendar quarter round 2025-Q1 while still retaining the option to cancel it before the assignments begin in two weeks, should this vote not pass.

[git-vote]

Vote status

So far 47.37% of the users with binding vote are in favor and 0.00% are against (passing threshold: 51%).

Summary

In favor	Against	Abstain	Not voted
18	0	2	18

Binding votes (20)

User	Vote	Timestamp
dalelane	Abstain	2024-11-26 9:22:05.0 +00:00:00
derberg	In favor	2024-11-26 11:01:52.0 +00:00:00
whitlockjc	In favor	2024-11-26 16:03:40.0 +00:00:00
Amzani	In favor	2024-11-27 9:06:22.0 +00:00:00
fmvilas	In favor	2024-11-26 10:44:02.0 +00:00:00
Tenischev	In favor	2024-11-26 11:44:52.0 +00:00:00
aayushmau5	In favor	2024-11-26 16:02:26.0 +00:00:00
smoya	In favor	2024-11-26 9:54:19.0 +00:00:00
quetzalliwrites	In favor	2024-11-30 15:12:26.0 +00:00:00
sambhavgupta0705	In favor	2024-11-27 15:22:39.0 +00:00:00
CameronRushton	In favor	2024-11-29 17:33:18.0 +00:00:00
Samridhi-98	In favor	2024-11-30 15:14:59.0 +00:00:00
Shurtu-gal	In favor	2024-11-26 12:13:48.0 +00:00:00
Florence-Njeri	In favor	2024-11-27 9:47:03.0 +00:00:00
ashmit-coder	In favor	2024-11-26 9:52:55.0 +00:00:00
thulieblack	In favor	2024-11-28 14:21:02.0 +00:00:00
Souvikns	In favor	2024-11-27 9:13:02.0 +00:00:00
rcoppen	Abstain	2024-11-29 13:16:49.0 +00:00:00
akshatnema	In favor	2024-11-26 8:35:36.0 +00:00:00
anshgoyalevil	In favor	2024-11-29 10:55:32.0 +00:00:00
@GreenRover	Pending
@theschles	Pending
@ivangsa	Pending
@dan-r	Pending
@kennethaasan	Pending
@lbroudoux	Pending
@Pakisan	Pending
@anandsunderraman	Pending
@VisualBean	Pending
@jonaslagoni	Pending
@BOLT04	Pending
@magicmatatjahu	Pending
@KhudaDad414	Pending
@AceTheCreator	Pending
@devilkiller-ag	Pending
@princerajpoot20	Pending
@imabp	Pending
@Mayaleeeee	Pending

Non-binding votes (1)

User	Vote	Timestamp
aeworxet	In favor	2024-11-26 9:14:31.0 +00:00:00

[git-vote]

Vote closed

The vote passed! 🎉

52.63% of the users with binding vote were in favor and 0.00% were against (passing threshold: 51%).

Summary

In favor	Against	Abstain	Not voted
20	0	2	16

Binding votes (22)

User	Vote	Timestamp
@smoya	In favor	2024-11-26 9:54:19.0 +00:00:00
@Tenischev	In favor	2024-11-26 11:44:52.0 +00:00:00
@fmvilas	In favor	2024-11-26 10:44:02.0 +00:00:00
@whitlockjc	In favor	2024-11-26 16:03:40.0 +00:00:00
@derberg	In favor	2024-11-26 11:01:52.0 +00:00:00
@aayushmau5	In favor	2024-11-26 16:02:26.0 +00:00:00
@Florence-Njeri	In favor	2024-11-27 9:47:03.0 +00:00:00
@sambhavgupta0705	In favor	2024-11-27 15:22:39.0 +00:00:00
@anshgoyalevil	In favor	2024-11-29 10:55:32.0 +00:00:00
@ashmit-coder	In favor	2024-11-26 9:52:55.0 +00:00:00
@akshatnema	In favor	2024-11-26 8:35:36.0 +00:00:00
@Shurtu-gal	In favor	2024-11-26 12:13:48.0 +00:00:00
@Amzani	In favor	2024-11-27 9:06:22.0 +00:00:00
@rcoppen	Abstain	2024-11-29 13:16:49.0 +00:00:00
@CameronRushton	In favor	2024-11-29 17:33:18.0 +00:00:00
@thulieblack	In favor	2024-11-28 14:21:02.0 +00:00:00
@Samridhi-98	In favor	2024-11-30 15:14:59.0 +00:00:00
@AceTheCreator	In favor	2024-12-03 9:30:16.0 +00:00:00
@Pakisan	In favor	2024-12-03 9:54:05.0 +00:00:00
@dalelane	Abstain	2024-11-26 9:22:05.0 +00:00:00
@Souvikns	In favor	2024-11-27 9:13:02.0 +00:00:00
@quetzalliwrites	In favor	2024-11-30 15:12:26.0 +00:00:00

Non-binding votes (1)

User	Vote	Timestamp
@aeworxet	In favor	2024-11-26 9:14:31.0 +00:00:00

[derberg]

Huge thanks to all folks that voted 🙏🏼

@thulieblack congrats!!!