2022-11-29 Response to DjangoCon Europe Request for Support

Request

The director of the DjangoCon Europe 2023 conference contacted the UKPA trustees to request support for their event.

Specifically, the organisers suggested that the UKPA could use its incorporated status to become party to contract associated with the event. This would assist, for example, in the booking of the venue, the provision of insurance, the sale of tickets and the purchase of various items.

In addition, the organisers also requested some assistance with the necessary accounting effort for the event.

Decision

The trustees decided that the UKPA would support DjangoCon Europe in the manner requested subject to a number of conditions:

  • That the DjangoCon Europe director provides a financial forecast for the event.

  • That the UKPA trustees are satisfied with the forecast described above.

  • That the DjangoCon Europe director is responsible for the effort involved in complying with any contractual obligations.

  • That DjangoCon Europe is a diverse and inclusive event to the satisfaction of the UKPA trustees following the DSF DjangoCon standards.

  • That the DjangoCon Europe’s programme is of sufficient educational benefit to meet the charitable obligations of the UKPA to the satisfaction of the UKPA trustees (for example similar to PyCon UK Programme Selection Policy). In the exceptional circumstances of an item not meeting these requirements, the UKPA may retain a power of veto. This would be done in agreement with all trustees of the UKPA and in discussion with the DjangoCon Europe director.

  • That DjangoCon Europe tickets sales are handled from within the UKPA’s current ticketing system: pretix.

  • That the UKPA trustees are kept updated with status, progress and significant decisions, incidents and events with agreed frequency.

  • That the DjangoCon director publicises the involvement and support of the UKPA.

  • No agreement has yet been reached about how financial surplus/loss would be handled. This needs to be agreed before proceeding.

  • No agreement has yet been reached about how financial assistance would be handled. This needs to be agreed before proceeding.

Follow Up 19-Dec-2022

After further discussion, the trustees have decided that all the requirements have been met and that support for DjangoCon Europe will go ahead.

In particular, the trustees have had sight of the event budget and have agreed to its content and have seen the correspondence with the Django Software Foundation where they agreed to forego any claim to any financial surplus the event might generate.

Financial assistance will be handled by the DjangoCon Europe team operating within their stated budget and the UKPA treasurer will make any necessary payments.