OSMF Membership Drive 2024
Rationale
Members of the Foundation are entitled to vote in the affairs of the Foundation. They have no special say in how the OpenStreetMap project is run, just the running of the Foundation. OSM contributors who want to influence the activities of the Foundation are welcome to join. Note that you do not have to be a member in order to use or contribute to OpenStreetMap.
OSMF Members can self-nominate or run for board (see requirements) as well as vote during the elections provided
As of 16 January 2024, there are a total of 1,929 members of OSMF. The regional distribution is as follows:
| Continent | Number of OSM Foundation members | Percentage % |
|---|---|---|
| Europe | 1228 | 63.64% |
| North America | 385 | 19.94% |
| Asia | 117 | 6.07% |
| Africa | 73 | 3.78% |
| South America | 49 | 2.54% |
| Oceania | 47 | 2.44% |
| Countries which span both Europe and Asia continents* | 29 | 1.50% |
| no data | 1 | 0.05% |
| Total | 1929 | 100% |
Note: *Turkey, Georgia and Russia
Source: OSMF Membership Working Group
In our aim to grow and diversify OSMF membership, there is an opportunity to grow membership in regions and countries where there are no or very few OSMF members.
Objectives
- Promote OSMF memberships (normal, associate, active contributor) with support from OSMF Communications WG
- Provide general stats on membership make up (per region / per country)
- Collaborate with regional/national community leaders especially in regions/countries where OSMF membership is low
OSMF Membership Drive 2024 Plan
Timeline
| Date | Action | Responsible Party / Point of Contact (POC) | Remarks |
|---|---|---|---|
| January 2024 | Conceptualizing and planning; gather and clean membership stats; call for volunteers | Arnalie -lead; Dorothea & MWG -support; CWG, MWG and board -informed | Call for Volunteers |
| 3 Feb | Volunteers Meetup; confirm roles and tasking | Arnalie | Meeting notes ; osmcal invite |
| 7 Feb | Team Leads meetup; expectation setting | Arnalie; team leads | Meeting notes |
| 18 Feb - 2 March | design visual comms / pubmats | Mapmakers / visual comms designers | Member stats data; See Important Links section for details about Membership and how to apply |
| 25 Feb - 2 March | provide testimonials to visual comms designers | Campaign Ambassadors | board to add testimonials |
| 29 Feb | Request and implement page and text changes to Active Contributor Membership Application page | Arnalie - lead request ; board & MWG -support; MWG & Dorothea - implement | Doc: Proposed page and text changes to Active Contributor Membership Application page |
| 17 Feb | 2nd Volunteers Meetup - provide updates to tasks | Arnalie and volunteer leads -required; members -optional | Meeting notes ; osmcal invite |
| 4 March? | launch/start campaign: OSM blog, pubmats (Call to Action) | Arnalie, volunteer leads and CWG -lead; members -amplifiers | Meeting notes ; osmcal invite to be shared soon |
| 18-26 Feb | Updates to board and WGs and community forum | Arnalie | |
| 29 Feb | Board meeting - provide updates and inform launching | Arnalie and/or 1 volunteer lead | Dorothea/Arnalie to share details and invite |
| March - May | campaign period | All | links to pubmats and comms plan |
| 9 March | 3rd Volunteers Meetup - provide updates to tasks and campaigns | Arnalie and volunteer leads -required; members -optional | Meeting notes ; osmcal invite to be shared soon |
| 28 March | Board meeting - provide updates | Arnalie and volunteer leads -required; members -optional | Dorothea/Arnalie to share details and invite |
| 13 April | OSMF Membership Campaign Webinar (English) | volunteer team | osmcal |
| 4 May [tentative] | OSMF Membership Campaign Webinar (French) | volunteer team | |
| 4 or 18 May | 5th Volunteers Meetup - provide updates to tasks and campaigns | Arnalie and volunteer team | Meeting notes |
| 8 or 22 June | 6th Volunteers Meetup - retrospective and recognition of contributions of volunteers | Arnalie and volunteer team | Meeting notes |
| 27 June | Updates to board and WGs and community forum
and conclusion/recommendations |
Arnalie |
Target: First semester of 2024 (Jan-June)
- Jan to Feb - planning
- March - launch and start
- March to May - campaign period
- Board meetings
- Feb 29
- March 28
- May 30
- June 27
- Volunteer meetings
- 3 Feb - kick off and planning
- 7 Feb - team leads meetup
- 17 Feb - prep for launch of campaign
- 9 March - updates and prep for launch of campaign
- 6 April - Retrospective
- Other dates to note:
- Local Chapters and Communities Congress - 2 March
- Open Data Day - 8-14 March
- International Women's Day - 8 March
- Women's Month - March
- Holy week holiday - 28 to April 1
- Arnalie on leave / personal commitment - 18-24 March; 18-26 April
Roles and tasks
Campaign Ambassadors
- Lead: [preferable one per region]
- provide updates to board POC (Arnalie)
- volunteer mover and amplifier who will lead the team to promote the membership campaign
- provide testimonials about their experience being an OSMF member and why it is important
- team leads:
- Geoffrey Kateregga
- Priscovia Ng'ambi
- Charles Chilufya
- Members:
- volunteer movers and amplifiers who will promote the membership campaign
- provide testimonials about their experience being an osmf member and why it is important
- members:
- Ezekiel
- Anuradha
- Daniel
- Emmanuel Alio
- Kapay
- Mary
- Nadaraj
- Hopeful
Mapmakers / visual comms designers
- Lead: (1-2 leads)
- provide updates to board POC (Arnalie)
- lead the team to design visual communications materials (e.g. maps, posters, leaflets, etc) to be used for the campaign
- team leads:
- Engelbert Modo
- Eka Diweti
- Trudy Namitala
- Members:
- design visual communications materials (e.g. maps, posters, leaflets, etc) to be used for the campaign
- members:
- Arnold
- Muluba
- Dennis
- James
- Bukenya
- Brazil
- Daniel
Communications Working Group (CWG)
- posts on official osm channels and accounts
- amplify Campaign Ambassadors' testimonial posts
- update page and form text relating to OSMF Membership, as requested
- Lead / POC: ?
Arnalie (Board member)
- board POC for this campaign
- posts on OSM global community channels
- report and update on progress of the membership drive
Membership Working Group
- provide stats as requested
- provide timely feedback in case there are challenges encountered
- POC: Steven
OSMF Board
- impartially review and evaluate Active Contributor Membership applications
- provide timely feedback in case there are challenges encountered
- POC: Dani and/or Craig?
Fundraising Committee
- monitor and document payments on membership applications
- provide timely feedback in case there are challenges encountered
- POC: ?
Pubmats
POC: Mapmakers / visual comms designers
- OSMF Visualization make up e.g. map showing stats of how many OSMF membership is there
- Call to Action poster/s
- Leaflet about OSMF Membership, why apply, how to apply
- Poster / videos/ reel on campaign ambassadors' testimonials
POC: Campaign Ambassadors
- Testimonial posts about
- Experience and learnings / challenges about being an OSMF member
- Why being OSMF member is important
- What is the OSMF membership, how to apply, different applications, benefits of being a member
Channels
POC: CWG
- OSM blog
- OSM social media accounts
- OSM Youtube?
POC: Arnalie
- Community forum
- OSM-wide channels e.g. OSM channel in Telegram
- osm-talk and osmf-talk mailing list
- virtual and online community meetups, mapathons, conferences etc
POC: Campaign Ambassadors
- Professional social media accounts
- Regional and local OSM community channels e.g. WhatsApp, Telegram, mailing lists, Facebook Messenger, etc
- Virtual and online community meetups, mapathons, conferences etc
Hashtag/s to use
HASHTAGS (top 3 are most important)
- OSMFMembershipCampaign
- openstreetmap
- OpenStreetMapCommunity
- foss4g
- opencommunity
FAQs
What is this campaign all about and what is the OSMF?
- *refer to [OSMF Membership Drive 2024 Plan](https://wiki.openstreetmap.org/wiki/OSMF_Membership_Drive_2024) and [OSMF website](https://osmfoundation.org/)*
- In simple terms, OSM Foundation is not-for-profit organization (incorporated in the UK) supporting the OpenStreetMap Project. It is dedicated to encouraging the growth, development and distribution of free geospatial data and to providing geospatial data for anyone to use and share.
Are we also trying to grow membership in all parts of the globe even though there are lots of members already in those countries/regions e.g. Europe and North America?
- Yes everyone is welcome to join as OSMF Members. Note that we are doing this campaign to target population in regions and countries where there are no or very few OSMF members
How do we monitor success and aims of this campaign? are there any metrics?
- We will be coordinating with Membership WG for regular updates of membership sign up's as well as checking engagement with CWG in social media accounts of OSM
- for the first month, we will see how feasible the campaign is in encouraging new members in regions/countries where there is no to less osm members
Important links
- OSM Wiki: OSMF Membership Drive 2024
- OSMF Membership page
- Membership categories
- Membership applications:
- Annual payment of 15gbp
- Active Contributor Membership:
Note: In the process of revising the page and form text