[FreeBSD-Announce] Accepting Travel Grant Applications for meetBSD

[Deb Goodkin]

Calling all FreeBSD developers needing assistance with travel expenses
to MeetBSD.

The FreeBSD Foundation will be providing a limited number of travel
grants to individuals requesting assistance. Please fill out and submit
the Travel Grant Request Application at 
http://www.freebsdfoundation.org/documents/TravelRequestForm.pdf by 
October 31, 2008 to apply for this grant.

How it works:

This program is open to FreeBSD developers of all sorts (kernel hackers, 
documentation authors, bugbusters, system administrators, etc).  In some 
cases we are also able to fund non-developers, such as active community 
members and FreeBSD advocates.

(1) You request funding based on a realistic and economical estimate of
travel costs (economy airfare, trainfare, ...), accommodations 
(conference hotel and sharing a room), and registration or tutorial 
fees.  If there are other sponsors willing to cover costs, such as your 
employer or the conference, we prefer you talk to them first, as our 
budget is limited.  We are happy to split costs with you or another 
sponsor, such as just covering airfare or board.

If we are an official sponsor of a conference and you are speaking at 
the conference, we expect that conference to cover your travel costs, 
and will most likely not approve your direct request to us.


(2) We review your application and if approved, authorize you to seek
reimbursement up to a limit.  We consider several factors, including 
      our overall and per-event budgets, and (quite importantly) the 
benefit to the community by funding your travel.

Most rejected applications are rejected because of an over-all limit on
travel budget for the event or year, due to unrealistic or uneconomical
costing, or because there is an unclear or unconvincing argument that
funding the application will directly benefit the FreeBSD Project.
Please take these points into consideration when writing your application.

(3) We reimburse costs based on actuals (receipts), and by check or bank
transfer.  We require you submit a report on your trip, which we may 
show to current or potential sponsors, and may include in our quarterly
newsletter.

There's some flexibility in the mechanism, so talk to us if something 
about the model doesn't quite work for you or if you have any questions. 
  The travel grant program is one of the most effective ways we can 
spend money to help support the FreeBSD Project, as it helps developers 
get together in the same place at the same time, and helps advertise and 
advocate FreeBSD in the larger community.


Thank You,

The FreeBSD Foundation