Transparency – OSTIF Operational Efficiency and Salaries

The OSTIF board has discussed at length the issues of pay, overhead and efficiency for the organization. We have tackled the issue and are hoping to meet or exceed our goals for keeping overhead low and efficiency high, while rewarding successful campaigns and incentivizing good work. We also have created efficiency and overhead targets that we believe are in line with what any reasonable person would consider good for a charity.

Our goal is achieve 90% operational efficiency for funds that actually reach OSTIF. The numbers we show are for funds that we receive, so any fees or charges for transferring funds between accounts, or overhead charges such as Kickstarter fees, are not included in the figures as that money never actually reaches us.

Our desire is to both reward success as well as limit the impact of tough challenges. For this reason, all of the board has agreed that we should donate our time to the company and draw compensation in the form of bonuses. These bonuses will be 2% of the funds raised by OSTIF due to fundraising activities. This means that exactly 6% of the funds that are raised are shared among the three OSTIF members.

Other overhead is capped at 4% of total funds raised. While this is a goal and is not set in stone, we do everything reasonable to adhere to this standard. The main concern here is that fixed costs do not change with the size of the company or the success of our fundraising. We still need web hosting, we still need an SSL certificate, we still need to file for 501c3 status, and we still need legal advice, artists, and security consulting. Some of these expenses can be minimized, but they all have a floor in which we cannot cut them entirely without damaging the business.

Combined, this means that our goal is that 90% of our funds actually go toward OSTIF supported projects.

We do reserve the right to change this allocation of resources in the future, for example if we have to hire additional staff or wish to start awareness programs. However, whenever a reallocation of resources take place, it will be for all funds raised from that moment forward, unless special circumstances create additional challenges that we must meet (legal battles, etc).