To whom this may concern,
My name is Emma Stamm. I am an MS candidate in nonprofit management at The New School in New York City. For my master's thesis, I am required to investigate the business structure of a nonprofit organization, and I am considering the GNOME Foundation as my organization of choice. For this reason, I am curious to know if it would be possible for me to speak with representatives from GNOME.
I am very interested in F/OSS development, the free/libre software movement and leveraging open source technology for social change. My career goal is to work in a managerial capacity for an organization similar to GNOME in terms of goals and guiding principles. The aim of my research is to determine best practices in managing such an enterprise. This is particularly in light of the fact that, as a developing field, management of F/OSS-focused nonprofits has not yet received wide scholarly attention.
Although I have something of a background in coding and web development, my research and career focus is on management and business strategies in the realms of fundraising, internal and external communications and human resources. To that end, I am looking for individuals who can speak to that as opposed to more tech-focused representatives of the foundation.
I am a user of GNOME products and a great admirer of what you do. Any information you can share with me will be greatly appreciated.
