On 9/22/07, geni geniice@gmail.com wrote:
... we are more likely to find the skills we need for our development in a big multicultural city than in St Pete, in particular for the senior management. St Pete is a very confortable place to live, but not exactly a anthill of experts in fundraising, business development, grant making, open source mouvement etc...
Means nothing if you can't afford them in SF.
Moving to San Francisco (or really any of the other places mentioned on the short list) also means additional opportunities to raise funds. It's a very different thing to be able to follow a phone call with an impromptu lunch or dinner meeting then having to schedule a separate day and arrange for air travel. In that regard, St. Petersburg isn't the place to be because any significantly large potential donor is not going to live anywhere nearby.
These additional opportunities come with a cost, of course, but you can bet your grandma these costs have been calculated and compared to the opportunities each location brings. Anything less would be unprofessional, and we all know that's not a characteristic applicable to Sue. It wasn't just a "you know what? how about we move to San Francisco? - ok, sounds great!" kind of decision-making process.
Sebastian