Board Meeting 2026-07-28

This board meeting is scheduled Tuesday 28 July 2026 at 17:00 UTC through Jitsi, a record of motions is preserved on Loomio and actions on the OSGeo todo issue tracker.

Agenda

Current items

1. roll call
2. appoint meeting chair, meeting scribe/secretary
3. Review and approve past minutes
   • Board_Meeting_2026-07-07
4. FOSS4G Hiroshima update
5. Stichting OSGeo update
6. Horizon Europe project update
7. FOSS4G North America board participation / outreach
8. Website and systems update
9. AI policy discussion
10. Board elections timeline
11. Add your topic here. Please include what you expect from the board, and include (your name in brackets) !

Minutes

• Presiding: Jeroen
• Scribing:
• Attending: Jeroen, Joanna, Mike, Vicky, Tim, Tom, Codrina, Angelos
• Guests: Nobusuke
• Regrets: Marco

Review and approve past minutes

• Previous meeting minutes: Board_Meeting_2026-07-07
• Past minutes review was noted but not completed in detail during the meeting.

FOSS4G Hiroshima

• FOSS4G Hiroshima preparations are progressing well, with nearly 700 participants registered, 320 general talks, 55 academic talks, and 55 workshops.
• The OSGeo session will be moved away from a formal AGM format and renamed OSGeo Looking Ahead Interactive, with more time for community discussion.
• The Sol Katz Award ceremony is planned during the closing ceremony.
• An OSGeo Foundation booth will be available; board members attending are encouraged to bring promotional materials.
• Organizers are preparing disaster risk / cancellation policy documentation following a recent earthquake in Kumamoto; no current impact on the conference was reported.
• Several board members confirmed they expect to attend FOSS4G Hiroshima.
• The board discussed producing a short highlight-style community video as a more engaging way to share project updates.

Stichting OSGeo

• Stichting OSGeo has been officially established in the Netherlands. Initial board members are Jeroen, Tim, and Codrina.
• Additional board members can be added digitally.
• Documents for the Horizon Europe project have been submitted on behalf of Stichting OSGeo.
• The foundation will apply for Dutch non-profit status. This requires a short multi-year / business plan and is expected to take approximately eight weeks.
• Once non-profit status is granted, the foundation can request documentation equivalent to US 501(c)(3) status for receiving US donations.
• Professional Dutch bookkeeping/accounting support is needed, especially for Horizon Europe compliance.
• A small public announcement has already been drafted; a larger announcement is planned around FOSS4G Hiroshima.

Horizon Europe project

• OSGeo's Horizon Europe proposal with NLNet was successful and received a score of 15/15.
• The European Commission is reportedly enthusiastic about the project.
• Jeroen has registered as legal representative for Stichting OSGeo with the European Commission.
• The project is expected to start in late August or September, with a kickoff meeting anticipated.
• The project includes funding to hire staff and support a more professional foundation structure.
• A joint press announcement with NLNet is being prepared.

FOSS4G North America

• Mike and Tom are still working through approval processes to attend FOSS4G North America.
• Jeroen is unavailable due to other commitments.
• The board would like OSGeo to have a presence or message at the conference, including communication about the Horizon Europe project.

Website and systems

• A bi-weekly website check-in is proposed, starting the following Wednesday, to keep progress moving.
• A draft specification for OSGeo single sign-on using Keycloak is being prepared.
• The SSO proposal includes web-of-trust concepts, open account creation, privilege escalation, invite-based access, and provenance tracking.
• Funding may be needed to implement SSO professionally.
• The board discussed using OSGeo Gitea for a public volunteer task repository and project board, with broader access once SSO is available.

AI policy discussion

• The board discussed how OSGeo should position itself on AI use in the community.
• General direction: OSGeo should remain neutral and should neither require nor prohibit AI use.
• Individual OSGeo projects should be free to define their own AI policies.
• Responsible behavior and respectful communication remain essential, regardless of whether AI tools are used.
• The board recognized concerns around abusive or unsustainable AI-assisted contribution patterns, such as overwhelming maintainers with low-quality pull requests.
• Tim and Joanna volunteered to prepare a draft OSGeo board statement on AI use, balancing responsible use, project autonomy, and community expectations.

Board elections

• Luis proposed an updated board election timeline starting 14 September.
• The proposed timeline shortens the campaign period so voting concludes earlier than in previous years.
• The board was comfortable with the proposed timeline.
• Board candidacies should be promoted during FOSS4G Hiroshima to encourage more candidates.

Actions

• Nobusuke to rename the FOSS4G Hiroshima OSGeo session to OSGeo Looking Ahead Interactive and extend the interactive portion of the plenary.
• Draft a business / nonprofit plan for the Stichting OSGeo non-profit status application.
• Engage a Dutch bookkeeping company for Stichting OSGeo accounting, especially for Horizon Europe compliance.
• Jeroen to set up a Stichting OSGeo bank account once the tax number is received.
• Jeroen and Michiel / NLNet to prepare a joint press announcement for the Horizon Europe project.
• Begin defining roles and hiring plans for the Horizon Europe project.
• Mike and Tom to continue pursuing approval to attend FOSS4G North America.
• Ensure OSGeo has a presence or message at FOSS4G North America, including communication about the Horizon Europe project.
• Share the SSO / Keycloak specification draft with the board.
• Create a public Gitea repository with a project board for community volunteer tasks; expand access once Keycloak SSO is available.
• Tim and Joanna to co-draft an OSGeo board statement on AI use.
• Respond to Luis confirming that the proposed board elections timeline is acceptable.
• Advertise board candidacies at FOSS4G Hiroshima.
• Add / track actions at: https://git.osgeo.org/gitea/osgeo/todo/issues

IRC Log

• no log, Jitsi meeting

Next meeting

• Board Meeting 2026-08-25