GlobalMembershipCommittee Notes 20110315

Tuesday March 15, 2011

Held via conference line

Attendees

- PRESENT -

Dan Cornell

Michael Coates

Kate Hartmann

Tony UV

Helen Gao

- NOT PRESENT -

Ofer Maor

Notes

All-committee-chair call was held. Membership-relevant items that came out of that include:


 * The Industry Committee has had folks express a desire for an NDA-like environment where members could discuss issues within OWASP but not have the results of those discussions broadcast. This may be of value, but would need to be reconciled with OWASP's requirement for Openness.
 * The Conference Committee is in the process of creating a model for organizations to sign up for a package of sponsorships for conferences throughout the year. We may be able to link Membership with this to accomplish our goal of allowing organizations who want to give more than that $5k USD supporter fee to do so.
 * There is talk of creating student chapters and people participating in those chapters would need some sort of membership. This needs to be deconflicted with University Supporters and other educational efforts coming out of OWASP

Helen spoke with OWASP chatpers around the world:


 * Based on Helen's research talking to parties interested in OWASP around the world, it appears that a $20 Individual Membership fee and a $2000 Organizational Supporter fee is what the market will bear in non-US and non-Western Europe economies (note: Singapore folks appear to be all right with the existing fees of $50 and $5000 respectively).
 * However we still need to address the issue of incentives to become a Member/Supporter because the altruistic model promoted to US/Wester European folks does not necessarily have a cultural analog in other parts of the world.
 * "Certificates of participation" might be a potential benefit
 * We could also partner with other developer and security organizations to try and drive awareness of OWASP membership and participation
 * We need to be aware that having foreign organizations pay OWASP might be challenging. Using a personal account (specifically a credit card account) as an intermediary might be an option in some cases.  Tax-free contributions to nonprofits are less common in other parts of the world.  For example in China most organizations are either State-owned or private - there is less of a concept of non-profits

Regional Supporters


 * We made a "one-off" deal with a pseudo-government agency in Malaysia to make them an Organizational Supporter for $2k USD. They may be able to additionally donate space, etc.
 * We will try to test the waters with this approach and see how it progresses
 * Ofer Maor provided a draft model for expanding Regional Supporters and that will be reviewed and discussed at the next meeting

The list of Organizational and Educational Supporters on the OWASP Membership page is getting a bit crowded.


 * Perhaps create a separate page that is searchable?
 * Perhaps move to a model with different levels of support - organizations that gave money versus those that provide other support such as meeting space, etc.

Ongoing hard question: How does OWASP Membership best provide value to "Industry" members versus "Vendor" members


 * OWASP NDA-like relationship (as mentioned above)
 * Need to have more discussions with Industry folks - likely brokered by the Industry Committee

Plan for using administrative support for OWASP Membership Committee


 * Use same person who is providing support for NY/NJ - will need to provide clear guidance to deconflict and create an actual job description before she starts
 * Main thrust - provide consistent "touches" with Organizational Supporters to get feedback from them and maintain more ongoing relationship

Budget:


 * Administrative support
 * Marketing ?

For next meeting:


 * Distill notes from Helen's efforts as well as Ofer's draft Regional Supporter plan