May 1, 2009, 1:10 pm
Financial troubles are an ever more common reality as the economic climate continues to venture through the monsoon season, and not-for-profit organizations are no exception. Such appears to be the case for the GNOME Foundation, the forces behind the venerable GNOME desktop, as the organization’s 2009 budget is finalized and thoughts ‚Äî and worries ‚Äî turn to 2010.
Corporate sponsorship ‚Äî an increasingly difficult creature to find ‚Äî appears to have been the traditional financial staple for GNOME, paying for the foundation’s projects and programs as well as providing salaries for its small number of staffers. According to John Palmieri, Board Treasurer, the foundation is fine for 2009, but is “projecting that without a significant influx of steady contributions” it will face a significant shortfall in 2010. From Palmieri’s comments, the culprit appears to be the above-mentioned vanishing corporate contributions, though Foundation Executive Director Stormy Peters has reportedly been able to secure new sponsors, at least for 2009.
