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Board/Minutes/2026-07

From OpenStreetMap Foundation

Participants

  • Brazil Singh
  • Craig Allan
  • Dani Waltersdorfer (joined 4' after start)
  • Maurizio Napolitano
  • Laura Mugeha

Absent

  • Héctor Ochoa Ortiz
  • Roland Olbricht

Officers and Board Historic
Board member biographies Historic
Minutes by Dorothea Kazazi.

Guests

  • 6 guests

Open to all OSM Foundation members. (Become a member of the Foundation, even for free if you are an active OSM contributor)

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Administrative

Approval of previous minutes

Circular Resolutions

2026/Res12 The OSMF Board to approve the signing of a new contract with Martin Raifer for iD development and maintenance, until the end of the year

The contract would run until 2026-12-31, and the billable days per month would decrease from 13 in the current contract to 11 in the new contract. All other conditions would be unvaried.

Unanimously approved on 2026-07-02 with 7 votes in favour: Craig Allan, Daniela Waltersdorfer, Héctor Ochoa Ortiz, Laura Mugeha, Maurizio Napolitano, Brazil Singh, Roland Olbricht.

Circular by Héctor Ochoa Ortiz.

2026/Res13 Grant authority to three directors to brief Impact Advocaten

Our Belgian legal firm have asked for an instruction about who is authorised to instruct them on behalf of the Board. The most effective way to do that quickly is to pass a Loomio resolution of the Board authorising Craig, Roland and Héctor to represent the OSM Foundation Board.

If the resolution is not approved we will be delayed in working with Impact Advocaten until an alternative resolution can be passed.

Basis for voting by Circular

This decision is taken as a circular under 7.2 of the rules of order as it is a time sensitive matter. We are fast-tracking the EU work. The next available Board meeting is 30 July 2026.

Resolution:

This Board resolves to authorise Company Directors George Craig ALLAN, Roland Markus OLBRECHT and Héctor OCHOA ORTIZ to represent the OpenStreetMap Foundation in all matters related to creating and operating a Belgian non-profit company on behalf of the OpenStreetMap Foundation.

Approved on 2026-07-21 with 6 votes in favour: Craig Allan, Daniela Waltersdorfer, Héctor Ochoa Ortiz, Laura Mugeha, Maurizio Napolitano, Roland Olbricht.
1 did not vote: Brazil Singh.

Circular by Craig Allan.

Note: Board rule of order 7.2 can be found hereHistoric link

Chairperson's report

The chairperson has been busy mostly with two legal issues.

OSMF move to the EU

OSMF is in the process of relocating to the European Union.

Articles of Association: The Chairperson was busy with writing the articles of association for the new European entity. The articles are being drafted in English, but will eventually be translated to Dutch, as the Foundation's lawyers (Impact Advokaten) are based in Leuven, Belgium.

Entity naming: A possible name for the new organisation has not been decided yet - there are two candidate names.

Progress on the EU move has been delayed by a legal matter in Canada, see below.

Issue: A keen cyclist in Whistler, British Columbia, built a cycling trail in the woods on what is believed to be public land and objects to the trail being depicted on OSM.

The trail was logged by another cyclist using GPS and added to OSM. The dispute has escalated and the trail builder claims copyright of the trail in Canada as an artistic work. They also engaged a lawyer who has sent letters threatening litigation against the OSMF, two members of the DWG, and the original mapper.

Current status: Finding and engaging lawyers in Vancouver. The Chairperson has identified three firms and one has expressed interest in taking the case. The first briefing call is scheduled for Tuesday with Arvey Finlay LLP and OSMF will check whether we can afford them.

Other points mentioned during discussion

  • It has taken the Chairperson some time to find the three firms.
  • Vancouver lawyers' fees will probably be quite high.

Other work

The Chairperson has answered a few territorial queries.

Secretary's report

As always, thank you everyone for joining us today.

Before I get started, I want to remind everyone that all of us here are volunteers. We all care deeply about OpenStreetMap and the Foundation, but sometimes things can take longer than we'd like because we're balancing OSMF work alongside our jobs, families, and our day-to-day schedules. We know there are often things people would like to see happen faster, and we appreciate your patience as we work through different schedules and priorities.

Fundraising

As Secretary, my main focus over the past month has been fundraising. I've reached out to a number of companies and organizations that use OpenStreetMap to let them know about the different ways they can support the Foundation. OpenStreetMap is open and free for everyone to use, but the Foundation relies on donations and support from the community and organizations that benefit from the project. If you know of a company or organization that we should be speaking with, please let one of us know.

Thanks for 2 BTC donation on 2026-07-25

On that note, we've recently received an anonymous generous donation in BTC. Thank you, whoever you are, for supporting us and believing in the project. For anyone out there who may not be aware, if you'd rather support us anonymously, please know that it is possible.

OSMF move to the EU

Craig and Roland have continued the Foundation's efforts to move to the European Union. This is a large undertaking and there is still work to do, but we are slowly, and surely, getting there.

Communications Working Group update

This past month has also been an important one for the Communications Working Group. The CWG has a new leader, Mila, who has been leading efforts around fundraising and volunteer outreach. I'd encourage anyone interested in getting more involved with the Foundation to consider joining one of our Working Groups. They do a tremendous amount of work behind the scenes. If you'd like to learn more about them, please reach out.

Importance of community

I always like to share this, and it will never get old: we are nothing without the community. Especially at a time when it can feel like bots and AI are becoming part of so many aspects of our everyday lives, let's not forget the importance of human connection and community.

Board members to attend State of the Map 2026

Speaking of community, members of the Board will be attending this year's State of the Map in Paris. We are looking forward to meeting some of you in person, connecting with new and existing members of the community, speaking with sponsors, and sharing more about the work of the OpenStreetMap Foundation. We hope to see you there.

Treasurer's report

Skipped, as the Treasurer was absent.

OSMF CiviCRM clone and enlisting professional help for the CiviCRM instance

CiviCRM is the OSMF's membership management system. It is used for managing OSMF memberships, handling renewals and payments, and determining the voting eligibility for the board elections.

There is a board election coming up and the board would like to have the OSMF's CiviCRM instance updated. There were recurring problems during past elections, which included:

  • Eligible voting members not receiving their ballot.
  • Eligible members receiving Annual General Meeting notices which mentioned they were not eligible to vote.
  • Automated renewal reminders which were not sent in time, requiring members to renew their memberships manually.

For the past years, there was manual work before each board election to create the list of eligible voting members.

Last year, the Membership Working Group (MWG) proposed to the board to get external help to fix the CiviCRM issues. The conversation has recently restarted, and the cost has already been budgeted and approved.

Next steps

  • Create a sandbox clone of CiviCRM, so that the contractor won't work on the live system, which is fragile. Grant Slater (Senior Site Reliability Engineer) has been working with creating the clone. The first run was unsuccessful, due to many outdated plugins.
  • Hire a contractor to fix the CiviCRM issues. (Post-meeting note: CiviCoop was contracted).

Other points mentioned during discussion

  • The MWG is looking for volunteers to help out with regular Working Group work.
  • Updates from Grant and the MWG expected in the coming weeks.

Thanks were expressed to Laura Mugeha (board), who is the board's liaison for the MWG.

State of the Map 2026 update

State of the Map 2026 is taking place in Paris at the end of August.

  • Tickets are still available for both in-person and virtual attendance.
  • The call for posters is open until the day after this meeting.

SotM 2027

The deadline for the call for bids for State of the Map 2027 is in one or two days. Two bids have been received so far, from the OSM communities in Colombia and Rwanda.

August board meeting

Action item: The Secretary to reschedule the 27 August board meeting. It is currently scheduled one day before the conference starts, when many board members might be traveling. (post-meeting note: meeting rescheduled for the 10th of September)

State of the Map Africa 2026 update

State of the Map Africa 2026 was held in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania, from 26 to 28 June 2026. The conference was initially scheduled for November 2025, but was postponed due to post-election violence.

Stats:

  • Three-day conference
  • 76 speakers
  • Over 100 in-person attendees
  • Over 100 online attendees.

OSMF presence

Laura represented the OSMF board at the conference. Laura had a one-hour community workshop, covering the Foundation, the Working Groups, and membership. Many attendees were not aware of the OSMF,or knew how to get involved.in terms of shaping how the project and the community continues to grow. Some attendees applied to join Working Groups.

Next SotM Africa

In 2028. The hosting country has not been decided yet - there will be a call for bids.

Any other business

Grant authority to three directors to brief Impact Advocaten

See #2026/Res13_Grant_authority_to_three_directors_to_brief_Impact_Advocaten.

Impact Advocaten is a law firm in Leuven, half an hour outside Brussels. OSMF is currently being on-boarded, a process which requires the submission of identification documents for all directors. Once on-boarding is complete, the first step is the review and translation of the proposed Articles of Association for the new entity. Progress has been delayed, as the Chairperson's time has also been taken up by the legal matter in Canada related to a cycling trail dispute.

Vote

Motion: This Board resolves to authorise Company Directors George Craig ALLAN, Roland Markus OLBRICHT and Héctor OCHOA ORTIZ, each acting individually to represent the OpenStreetMap Foundation in engagements with Impact Advocaten in all matters related to creating and operating a Belgian non-profit company on behalf of the OpenStreetMap Foundation.

Approved on 2026-07-30 with 4 votes in favour: Craig Allan, Daniela Waltersdorfer, Laura Mugeha, Maurizio Napolitano.
3 did not vote: Brazil Singh (not connected during the vote), Héctor Ochoa Ortiz (absent), Roland Olbricht (absent).

Motion by Craig, seconded by Laura.

Grant authority to three directors to brief Arvay Finlay LLP

Vote

Motion: This Board resolves to authorise Company Directors George Craig ALLAN, Roland Markus OLBRICHT and Daniela WALTERSDORFER JIMENEZ, each acting individually to represent the OpenStreetMap Foundation in engagements with Arvay Finlay LLP of Canada in all matters relating to litigation over the [redacted] biking trail on behalf of the OpenStreetMap Foundation.

Approved on 2026-07-30 with 4 votes in favour: Craig Allan, Daniela Waltersdorfer, Laura Mugeha, Maurizio Napolitano.
3 did not vote: Brazil Singh (not connected during the vote), Héctor Ochoa Ortiz (absent), Roland Olbricht (absent).

Motion by Craig, seconded by Dani.

Catalan countries - Local Chapter application by Associació Catalana de l'OpenStreetMap

Related to the application of Associació Catalana de l'OpenStreetMap to become a Local Chapter.

The motion on approving the Catalan countries Local Chapter application during the June 2026 board meeting did not pass as not enough board members participated and approved the motion.

Decision: Vote via a circular in order to allow board members who are not present today to also vote.

The result will be available in a few days.

Post-meeting note: The Local Chapter application was approved with circular 2026/Res15.

Guest comments or questions

Question on anonymous donations

Question by imagico (guest) on whether the board has considered the reputational risks in accepting large anonymous donations. Is there a limit of the size of anonymous donations that the board would accept? Acceptance of anonymous donations has historically been disputed (was discussed back in the days when Kate and Frederik were on the board iirc).

  • via chat: "as far as I'm aware, we have not had those discussions yet. As you can see on our sponsors' wiki, we have set values from our corporate sponsors. As far as the anonymous donations mentioned today, it has been a BTC here and there. We have not gotten any crazy big donation amount recently (or at least since I've been on the board)."
  • Having no knowledge of the source, keeps the money clean.
  • It is very important from the board's point of view that no one is trying to buy influence. Anonymous donations come with no strings & influence attached to them.

Suggestion: A formal policy on anonymous donations should be drafted and brought to the next board meeting.

Other points mentioned during discussion

  • We have no knowledge of where the money came from.
  • The board does not read old minutes at the time the join the board, so they rely to other people for institutional knowledge.

Question on board attendance of SotM Latam 2026 for the Colombia Local Chapter agreement signing

Question by Eugene (guest) on whether any board member plans to attend SotM Latam 2026 from 27 to 29 October 2026. OSM Colombia (new Local Chapter ) would not be able to attend SotM in Paris so maybe the Local Chapter agreement signing ceremony could be done at SotM Latam instead.

State of the Map LatAm 2026 will take place in Mexico. Dani is Latin American, geographically closest and is willing to attend if her travel could be funded by OSMF.

Comment on Local Chapter agreement signing for Catalan Counties

Comment by jmaspons (guest) that a member of the Catalan community will attend the SotM2026 conference and can sign the Local Chapter agreement, but still has not received the ticket. "Hopefully, we may be an accepted Local Chapter then :)".

> Assuming that the OSM Catalan Local Chapter application gets approved, there could be a signing Local Chapter ceremony at State of the Map 2026 in Paris.

Comment about audio of participant

Comment by Morten Lange (guest) that it was a bit difficult to hear Laura.

Craig and jmaspons also had issues with Laura's audio. Dani did not. Laura will try to fix it for the next meeting.

Next meetings

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Mid-month board chat: 13 August 2026 at 12:00 UTC, unless rescheduled

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Open board meeting: Thursday, 27 August 2026, at 12:00 UTC - will be rescheduled

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Meeting adjourned 38 minutes after start.

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