February 2025 Minutes

Finance Report by Chris Barbeau - The Charity CFO

• Budget finalization with Andrew still in progress; audit draft prepared, awaiting finalization.
• January 2025 financials: Cash decreased by $85,000, AR increased by $118,000, net assets increased by $43,000, liabilities decreased by $134,000, total net assets up by $169,000.
• Income: $341,000 (up from $132,000 in December 2024), driven by $270,000 in sponsorship revenue.
• Expenses: $171,000 (up from $153,000 in December 2024), including travel bookings for the Barcelona Global AppSec Conference.
• Net income: $170,000.
• Discussion on cash sweeps accounts (suggested by Sam from prior meeting); Andrew noted a Citizens money market account at 4.25% interest, FDIC insured up to $250,000, with access issues to be resolved.

Background: Rob van der Veer has been working on standardization for OWASP. This is a chance to discuss the progress and ask questions.

• Rob highlighted OWASP’s role in AI security standards (e.g., ISO 27090, AI Act) via LLM Top 10 and AI Exchange.
• Proposed a blog post and press release to position OWASP as driving practical AI regulation.
• Coalition for Secure AI (CoSAI): Proposed OWASP join as a non-funding partner in a technical steering committee with Microsoft, OpenAI, Google, etc.
• SANS proposed a partnership with OWASP for the AI Summit (April 1), leveraging OWASP AI Exchange framework.

Background The 2025 Budget has been finalized with a -$72k deficit, which takes into account the 200K USD of investment in a new website and certification, and increased outreach spending. The Budget needs to be approved to allow BAU operations to work per the Spending policy.

• Draft 2025 Budget Summary
• Draft 2025 Budget Detail - for Board Members only

• Income: $4.414 million, down $74,000 from 2024 due to smaller DC exhibitor space.
• Expenses: $4.498 million, up $881,000, including website redesign, increased bills for food & beverage, and video recording
• Deficit: -$72k, offset by cash reserves (2.5% of total).
• Strategies: Increase revenue, reduce food/beverage costs (e.g., sponsor lunches/drinks), explore community video recording.

Motion: "Resolved, that the 2025 Budget is approved, effective immediately."

Sponsor: Harold Blankenship Second: Ricardo Griffith

• Steve Springett: YES
• Harold Blankenship: YES
• Sam Stepanyan: YES
• Avi Douglen: YES
• Diego Silva Martins: YES
• Ashwini Siddhi: YES
• Ricardo Griffith: YES

Results: Passes 7-0

Background: OWASP has various CRA initiatives. Let’s discuss how we can support open source projects that might be impacted by the CRA

• Maxim Baele introduced the Cyber Resilience Act (CRA), effective 2028 in Europe, mandating security requirements for products entering the European market.
• OWASP’s potential role as an open-source steward was discussed, supporting projects to comply with CRA
• Maxim Baele shared the draft OWASP CRA Stewardship document
• Concerns raised by Steve about scale and volunteer availability; proposed a working group to develop processes.

Background: The new European entity will likely be formed in March with Andrew's visit to Brussels. This is a chance to meet the proposed Directors and ask questions.

• Candidates Maxim Baele and Aram Hovsepyan introduced themselves as potential OWASP EU Board members.

Background: The new European entity will likely be formed in March with a visit to Brussels. This is a chance to discuss the new entity and ask questions.

• Andrew reported delays in drafting bylaws due to communication issues with VAT desk lawyers (OWASP.com e-mail issues)
• Target formation date shifted to April; structure intended as a wholly owned subsidiary, pending legal advice on tax and EU grant implications.