I am fundraising on behalf of the Team of the Mambo open source content management system
http://mambo-foundation.org

Mambo was in pretty bad shape following a much-publicised fork in late 2005 and a lot of work was needed to get the project back on track. It's back on track and achieving a steady 100,000 downloads a month, but is missing out on a lot of networking and upskilling opportunities due to a lack of income.

We want to send three people to OSCON this year in Portland, Oregon, USA - the President and Vice-President of the Mambo Foundation, Inc which is the not-for-profit entity which governs the Mambo project and provides the infrastructure, and one developer.

There is a two-day meet-up of foss governance entities before OSCON which will be of great benefit to the Board, and OSCON itself provides an opportunity for building relationships and learning from peers.

Everyone who works with Mambo is a volunteer and some of us have invested a considerable amount of money from our own pockets to keep Mambo going. It's future is now secure but while we were so busy getting it back on track we have not done any promotion and have not been soliciting for donations to help pay the bills. Consequently, Mambo's finances are in the "if you can get yourselves there, we can pay for a hamburger" league.

With your help we hope to raise enough to send three people to OSCON. Each of the three will be responsible for reporting back to the Board of the Foundation and to the team, and for advocating on Mambo's behalf at the conference itself.

I have set a target of $15,000. This will cover international airfares to the US, accommodation and the costs of developing promotional materials. If we raise less than this we may still be able to send one person. If not enough is raised even for sending one, all donations will be used towards the ongoing support of the Mambo project.

The Mambo Foundation publishes an Annual Report at the end of each financial year so our activities are transparent. Income and how it has been used is always accounted for and made public. Your donation here goes directly to the Mambo Foundation and will only be used in the way I have stated here.

I hope you will find it in your hearts to support this fundraiser. If you have any questions, please ask them on the Mambo forums at http://forum.mambo-foundation.org

Thanks for reading!