Hello all,
The BIMe Initiative is delivered through the generous efforts of specialist volunteers who contribute their personal time and expertise to generate and openly share their knowledge. While expertise is the bedrock of our community, to meet the initiative’s goals, we also need to invest in easy-to-use knowledge-sharing tools! These tools include off-the-shelf solutions (e.g. WordPress and its plugins we use for BIMexcellence.org) and to develop custom tools that allow others to search, browse, and benefit from the rich materials the Community generates. These custom tools require funds to continually develop, maintain and continuously extend.
To help achieve our Mission and Goals, we are now inviting to secure more support in the form of financial sponsorship and research funding. Sponsors are welcome from all industries and sectors and can support specific projects (e.g. the BIM Dictionary, Competence and Learning, or Macro Adoption)
What is the focus of the Funding Drive 2020?
Over the next 10 weeks (through to end of November 2020), we aim to secure additional sponsors to help us to invest in the BIM Dictionary (as our premiere platform) so we can develop new modules and tools. These modules include improving the Language Editing Module. improving the Extended Descriptions module (refer to A3 strategy), adding a new Country Notes module (for localisation), developing a Software Selector module (refer to F3 strategy), and a Learning Module so users can create learning units out of our rich materials. There are other modules that will/can be added but these are the ones that are currently planned and some of them are ready for prototyping.
Are we only seeking financial sponsorship?
Yes, we will only seek financial support to mainly pay professional developers (front end, back end, and UI/UX designers). The remaining funds will be spent on maintenance activities, improving the website through premium plugins, and paying for hosting expenses and the like.
Why don’t offer the BIM Dictionary as an open-source project?
We did offer the BIM Dictionary as open source in the past without success - no public commits were made over a full year. We may however revisit this option in the future once we have the human talents to manage open-source projects. At this stage, we will continue to offer everything as open-access (free even for commercial use, but source code will not be shared). We will however aim to open the API to 3rd parties as soon as we have funds to do so (a Sponsor may wish to suppot this specific objective).
What about Research Funding?
The Community welcomes research funding provided it does not come with IP restrictions or conditions to conduct research which conflicts with our General Principles. We are always open to join research funding applications in nearly all jurisdictions.
How much funding does the Community need?
There is no minimum or maximum: the more funding is secured; the more work can be done. Funds will only be used for development and related activities. That is, if we didn’t aim to extend our tools, we’ll need practically no funds to continue operating.
What about transparency of how funds are spent?
Any funding partner can have open and full access to how their funds are allocated. Additional transparency measures can be tailored to meet the requirements of funding bodies.
Is there more information about BIMei support packages?
Please refer to the BIMei Sponsorship Guide and sponsorship addenda for respective projects. There is an addendum for supporting the BIM Dictionary and another for supporting the Macro Adoption project (available upon request). The Initiative is also open to considering different support formulae provided they do not clash with the General Principles.
If your organization is interested in becoming a supporter, or if you’d like to learn more about sponsorship tiers and benefits, please contact us to receive more information or to set up a private presentation: https://bimexcellence.org/contact/
Thank you!